Jude Law as Hamlet. Catherine Zeta-Jones in A Little Night Music. Stephen Sondheim’s Sondheim on Sondheim. Or how about American Idol favorite Constantine Maroulis in the ’80s rock-and-roll tribute, Rock of Ages?

With a long and growing list of classic and new performances to choose from, the neon lights can become overwhelming bright to the more than 12 million theatre fans who flock to Broadway each season.

Luckily, theatre goers from the budding novice to the savvy and sophisticated can turn to the beautifully designed and informative pages of Broadway Magazine for guidance.

Launched by Carousel Brothers Communications in March 2007 and edited by actor Christopher Moore, Broadway Magazine began as New York City’s only free, hand-distributed tourist guide, recapping what’s playing where, who’s in the leading roles — along with in-depth interviews with the actors — what the shows are about, what the critics are saying and even including a theatre district map.

“We are to theatre lovers what Sports Illustrated is to sports fans,” Moore says. “We deliver the information and knowledge New York City residents and visitors alike need to help them pick the shows that they’re likely to enjoy most. It has been so exciting to see people walking around with and reading our magazine in Times Square.”

Popularity, however, doesn’t always result in profitability. Because Moore was using traditional printing and publishing methods, the costs associated with ordering, say, more than 100,000 copies at a time were becoming prohibitive. In fact, Moore and his team began focusing more of their efforts on the associated website, Broadway.tv, where visitors can read about the shows, watch video snippets and even buy tickets and make travel arrangements.

When Moore heard about MagCloud’s print on demand service, he felt a renewed excitement for the magazine. With print on demand, Moore no longer has to order a minimum number of copies — he can order as many or as few copies as he wants. In fact, anyone in the world can go to the MagCloud website and place orders — the magazine’s distribution can now reach far beyond Times Square.

“People love the website and it’s certainly a great way to get information out there quickly and inexpensively,” he says. “But there is no doubt in my mind that people will always want to experience an actual, tangible magazine in their hands, especially one as beautiful as ours. With access to print on demand, MagCloud has enabled us to return to what we hoped we would be — a comprehensive magazine that celebrates Broadway. While the magazine is no longer distributed for free, the cost is low and the quality of each issue is remarkable.”

Pricing for each issue is $5. President and First Lady Obama’s trip to Broadway is featured on the cover of the first MagCloud-produced issue, June 2009. Covers since then have featured Jude Law, Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Scarlett Johansson and Liev Schrieber, Stephen Sondheim and, most recently, Green Day.

“The great thing about Broadway is that we have access to great photography and interesting topics to cover with each show,” Moore says. “We also have wonderful access to the actors, so we’re able to run about 20 or so in-depth interviews and features on the website. We incorporate the best of those in our magazine. I couldn’t be happier with the issues. The paper quality, the photo reproduction — MagCloud offers the same high-quality that we experienced in traditional publishing.”

Moore publicizes the magazine on Broadway.tv, with links to MagCloud where readers can preview and purchase the issues online. MagCloud handles all the order processing and shipping.

He also promotes the magazine via Twitter. And he’s currently experimenting with newsstand sales.

“We’ve always wanted to sell our magazines in select newsstands for greater visibility — we just didn’t have a way to do that before because, initially, newsstand sales conflicted with our former free distribution model,” Moore says. “But with MagCloud, we can offer a quality product directly to the local market on the newsstands at a low price without having to commit to overwhelming print runs.

“I love that MagCloud has made us less reliant on ad sales and large circulation numbers. We’re taking this time to collect our online and newsstand sales numbers so that we can better prove to advertisers the true value of our magazine.”

In fact, says Moore, MagCloud has eliminated barriers for anyone interested in launching a magazine. “This is an amazing opportunity for anyone interested in publishing,” he notes. “All you need is the passion for a subject. For us, it’s the celebration of live theatre. I’m so impressed with what we can do with MagCloud. It’s such a great innovation.”

Check out the latest issue!