Broadway Rehearsals?

[Fat Actor]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 6:28am

Just out of curiousity, does anybody know how many hours a day, how many days a week and how many weeks a broadway show is rehearsed?

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 7:03am

I believe it's 1-5 o'clock Updated On: 6/8/08 at 07:03 AM

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 7:32am

It's more like 10 AM to 5 PM. When I interviewed Boyd Gaines he mentioned rehearsals started at 10 AM. I've met other actors for dinner when rehearsals broke at 5 PM.

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 8:25am

When do Broadway shows reherase after the show has opened?

[tinkerscanne]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 8:29am

Back in April 08 I took a workshop in NYC with one of the actresses in Wicked. She mentioned that there are brush up rehearsals every Thursday.

One of my friends is the wig designer and costumer at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. I asked him how rehearsing for a professional production differs from a community theatre production (we were rehearsing for Bat Boy at a local comm. theatre) and he said that the equity contract for the actors at the Walnut require 12 hours off between rehearsals. So if a rehearsal ends at midnight, then contractually, the actors are not permitted to report until noon the next day. But the rehearsal day can be long and grueling.

I hope this helps answer your question somewhat.

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 8:32am

Thank you! Do they have the "brush-up rehearsals" before their show on Thursday, or afterwards?

[broadwayboy522]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 8:55am

I don't have this confirmed or not but I'm thinking they'll have brush up rehearsals during the day and not after the show. If they had it after the show they'd be rehearsing at like midnight and I don't think that happens.

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 9:59am

That's what I thought. Thank you both!

[lola_actor22]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 10:28am

Equity rules say:
Rehearsal days are 6 days a week
And each day is a 7/8.5 which means 10:00-1:00 rehearsal then 1 hour lunch break and then 2:00-6:00. And within the last 10 days they can have a rehearsal day to be 9/11. Prior to opening they can have (on stage) only four 10/12 days.
And as a general rule they can't rehearse longer than 5 hours without a break and on the performance day they can't rehearse prior to the performance longer than 5 hours.
People can correct me if I'm wrong but this is what I learned in school... it can be slightly adjusted to the production but this information is straight from the equity handbook.

[Jon]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 10:46am

There is also the 12 Hour Break rule - if you are in previews and still rehearsing during the day, there must be 12 hours betqween the end of the evening show and the start of the next day's rehearsal. For example, if the performance ends at 11 PM, the ndext day's rehearsal can't start before 11 AM.

[elphiesmagic]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 10:48am

Those Thursday "brush up rehearsals" mentioned are actually understudy rehearsals.

[broadwayfan7]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 12:02pm

Great information to know!

[Neverandy]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 1:33pm

Also it should be noted that you can only rehearse for a maximum of 5 hours on a 1 show day.

[puppetman2]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 1:52pm

Does anone know if the brush up rehearsal time aloso apply to Eguity tours?

[Neverandy]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 1:59pm

These rules are pretty much the same for all equity contracts. Certain theaters have some specific concessions in their contracts or Letters of Agreement with the Union, but for the most part these rules pretty much apply for most equity jobs. Equity Tours are on the same contract (Production) that their Broadway counterparts are on. The obvious difference between a tour and a Sit down production in New york, in terms of rehearsals, is that the tour has some different rules to follow because of the travel involved in the production. Again though, the rules stated in this thread are generally universal.

[Fat Actor]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 4:44pm

Dang, I didn't realize their days were that long. I guess its alot more fun when you get a check at the end of the week, lol.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 4:45pm

Updated On: 5/4/09 at 04:45 PM

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 4:48pm

This is a very good article about rehearsals: http://www.playbill.com/features/article/113852.html

[elphiesmagic]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 4:51pm

"You think those days are long? Try working on a 1 hour prime time TV show. Though it almost balances out since those only shoot 5 days a week."

Yes. Or being a principal character on a soap - 5 hours of airtime a week, with no repeats and no hiatus.

[Weez]

Posted: 6/8/08 at 6:17pm

Or be John Simm in 'Life On Mars'. His character had to be in every single scene of the entire show, so there was very little they could do without him. They had to start getting REALLY creative just to get him an afternoon off here and there, and even that didn't really work.

Good job it was only sixteen episodes all told; no time for the series to jump the shark, and they managed to finish before Simm burnt out, so he turned in a stunning performance from beginning to end. ^_^

[lola_actor22]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 10:38pm

Does anyone know where I can get Equity Handbooks?

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 11:09pm

Updated On: 5/4/09 at 11:09 PM

[BrianS]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 11:35pm

Soaps are the worst. Even when you aren't on the clock, there are so many lines at such a fast pace that unless you are amazing at memorizing lines, your off time is consumed looking at your upcoming scenes. Once you're on set, the pressure is definitely on because they move so fast that if you are a day player and you slow them down, you probably won't be back.