How does a show get a theater?

[Pootie2]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 10:36am

If there's an informative thread/post somewhere, please link...

I've been poking around information for Allegiance, but only found vague "coming to Broadway!" statements and comments that they're looking for a theater or something.

Just how does a show get a theater, anyway? Does it go both ways, where theaters may approach a show's producers, and/or show producers must sell a pitch to a specific theater? What does a pitch look like? How does timing work, while theaters are always booked--do theaters/producers start looking and queuing only when a show has announced a closing date, or are plans always ruminating in the background?

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 10:51am

"Just how does a show get a theater, anyway? Does it go both ways"

I think it can go both ways. Producers pitch to the president of the organization though, not a specific theater. For example: Jordan Roth (Jujamcyn) or Bob Wankel (Shubert).

[temms]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 11:21am

You should also remember that at that level of the business, everybody knows everybody. The General Manager of "Allegiance" goes to events and parties and is on the phone regularly with the Shuberts and the Nederlanders. When the money's in place, the GM lets his/her friends the theater owners know that they're looking for a house, and the bookers at the Shuberts know what they've got and what's going on and they go from there. There's wheeling and dealing and wining and dining of course, but it's all done among friends and associates.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 11:42am

"The Season" also goes into this. A lot depends on what kind of show is suited for what house. Not all houses could physically support a musical and not all houses could keep a play from getting lost in a cavern.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 12:03pm

"do theaters/producers start looking and queuing only when a show has announced a closing date, or are plans always ruminating in the background?"

Forgot to mention this in my other post. Plans are often ruminating in the background. Often when a show is announced that has a house, they will say in the press release "A Shubert House" and not name it. There is a reason they aren't naming it. For example, Heidi Chronicles' press release said a "Shubert house" and Pippin had not yet announced their closing date.

[Jonwo]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 12:03pm

I would say producers have a shortlist of theatres that they want which are available in the time period they want to open the show then they would go around to these theatres to take measurements and get a feel of the theatre then it downs to negotiations. Sometimes a show can book a theatre then change theatre later on like Next to Normal which intially booked the Longacre then switched to the Booth.

[The Josh]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 12:15pm

They have a race and whoever gets there first wins.

[Pootie2]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:25pm

Thanks for the replies so far. Interesting.

@temms: Does the theater-shopping thus fall more on the "general manager" (whatever that is) as opposed to producers?

@sabrelady: I figured out you meant this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Season:_A_Candid_Look_at_Broadway

I suppose the social networking aspects are still intact since that 1960s book, but as an aside, I wonder if the economics has changed such that the shopping/pitching has been altered in any way. That is, record rising ticket prices, mounting costs, risk assessment, etc. maybe affecting what the pitches look like, or something.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 4:08pm

"Does the theater-shopping thus fall more on the "general manager" (whatever that is) as opposed to producers?"

It all depends on the dynamics of the team, but most often you'll find the lead producer working with the general manager to secure the theatre.

The producers primary responsibilities are to raise the money and then decide what course of action to take with regards to how that money is used/allocated. The general managers are the ones who then implement those financial decisions and oversee the business of running the production day to day (overseeing payroll, contracts, union issues, etc).

Edited to add: those are very, very basic descriptions. You can fill pages with descriptions of all the jobs of the various members of a production/management team. And of course every production will differ slightly based on the structure of the production/management team. Updated On: 12/11/14 at 04:08 PM