Hearing what seemed like hundreds of teenage and pre-teen girls scream, at their highest pitches, in the general direction of the Jonas Brothers outside the Ziegfeld Theater last Wednesday before a screening of Disney Channel's Camp Rock made this aging Wire correspondent wonder something: Are Joe, Kevin and Nick Jonas reviving Beatlemania or has the impulse to primally scream in sheer delight never really gone away?
Whichever. The shrieks sure felt genuine on 54th Street near the outdoor white carpet. As did those within the theater when the Jonas trio, Demi Lovato and other stars of the movie stood and waved to an invited audience Disney pegged at 1,000 strong.
Probably not screaming, but there with their kids, were bold-face names Jeff Zucker (crossing over from rival network group NBC Universal), ESPN Radio host Mike Greenberg and actor Stephen Baldwin, who stumbled and nearly fell while politely telling a Wire correspondent the time after the screening.
Disney Channels Worldwide president Rich Ross acted as emcee, spreading around shout-outs to cast and crew members; to Disney luminaries including DCW entertainment president Gary Marsh and Disney-ABC TV Group president Anne Sweeney, seen chatting in the aisles with popcorn in hand; and to his parents, who sent him to camp as a kid.
Afterward, the party across the street at restaurant Remi (near where barricade-bursting teen fans stood hours earlier) was as packed as the theater had been. Kids there had the added bonus of a live performance from Lovato and the scream-eliciting Jonases.
The brothers said on their Myspace page that they later dined at John's Pizza on 44th Street. No mention of screams there. For more Camp Rock, see page 8 and www.multichannel.com.
