A New Publisher for Playbill It seems as if Bruce Hallett will work only for magazines with instantly identifiable covers. During a career at Time Inc. that lasted almost 25 years, Mr. Hallett served as president of two such magazines, Time and Sports Illustrated. Now, he has joined Playbill Inc. in New York, owner of Playbill magazine, as publisher. Mr. Hallett, 64, assumes those duties from Philip S. Birsh. Mr. Birsh remains president and chief executive of Playbill, which was acquired by his father, Arthur T. Birsh, in 1974. Mr. Birsh will continue to oversee areas like Playbill Travel and its cruises, along with the numerous Playbill websites, which include Playbill.com, PlaybillVIP.com and PlaybillEDU.com. "The C.E.O. and the president got together and fired the publisher," Mr. Birsh, 55, joked last week in an interview by phone. But I don't want you to worry about me; I saw it coming. About six months ago, Mr. Birsh said, he realized that because "the company was growing so quickly and so nicely and in so many areas," someone like Mr. Hallett - "an All-Star in the majors," as well as a close friend for 30 years - ought to be brought in as publisher. "Sometimes you have to look at yourself and say, "Are you doing the best job you can?" " Mr. Birsh said. The job signals a return to magazine publishing for Mr. Hallett, who left Time Inc. in 2004. His pursuits have included writing a novel; serving as president of MyPublisher, where consumers can create photo books; and taking over as chief executive of Murdoch Books in Australia when it was owned by Matt Handbury, nephew of Rupert Murdoch. "Playbill's got a fabulous brand story," Mr. Hallett said in an interview by phone, because "there are people sitting in seats, and standing on stages, who care about it." "It's hard to see into the future how much growth is left in the print piece" of Playbill, he added, "and yet we do have a unique distribution model, handing out programs to people who are excited" about seeing live theater. Mr. Hallett likened the "souvenir, memento" aspect of the print edition to "Time's printing its Person of the Year issue every week - and it's your father on the cover." "It's a strong story that fits into advertising conversations about engagement, about passion points," he said.