Joined: 12/31/69
Just curious, since I'm "outside the business". How long do rehearsals normally last for a musical? Weeks? Months? Thanks!
i, too, am from outside the business, but i believe it would depend on the complexity of the show..
I've never rehearsed a Broadway show before - but for instance, in summerstock you can sometimes get as little as 6 days - or as much as a month depending on the show...
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
Four weeks is quick even for a play.
Six is about right.
It depends on the complexity of the piece, true, and also how much money they have in the budget.
It is not uncommon for the chorus to start a week before the principals.
Jerome Robbins demanded 8 weeks for Fiddler and about 15 to reconstruct his work for Jerome Robbins Broadway. That's 4 months before previews which is also a lot of money going out and none coming in.
based on a couple of recent musicals that will remain nameless, a decent average is 5 weeks in the rehearsal studio, 2-3 weeks onstage, and then 4 weeks of previews. the 4 weeks of previews is for broadway, out of town might be a shorter preview period since it's basically one big long preview. a safe bet would be 8 weeks before an audience sees it.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
I've done my share of summer stock and there were times when we has less than two weeks to put up a major musical--while performing another one at night. There were absolute nightmares when we were performing MY FAIR LADY and rehearsing CAMELOT with virtually the same cast. There was one night when the actor playing Prof. Higgins launched into a whole speech about the Round Table, much to the confusion of the cast and the audience who were expecting him to sing "Why Can't A Woman Be More Like A Man?"
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