How much do the main leads of the top 2 shows in Broadway get? — Page 3

And this is why their agents HATE when they do stage- the only way they justify it is as a career move that can give their client greater legitimacy as a muti facteted performer and that could bump their fee. Eventually.

Well, my money is on Margo's accuracies. Regarding perfomer concerts, it depends on which performer, of course, and the veunes budgets.

A space like Carnegie Hall would be a better paying gig than a smaller or less popular venue.

I would venture to price it out as follows:

1. A well known very popular non-Broadway celebrity $75,000- $100,000+ (1 night solo show).
2. A well known Broadway star recently or currently in a show $50,000 to $75,000 ( 1 night solo show)
3. A lesser known but popular Broadway star or non-Broadway celebrity $30,000- $50,000 ( 1 night solo show)

* this is not based on a "musical" in concert, but on a performer's individual concert show w/without his/her band.


OK...I'd better stop there. Yeah, I know this is vague and a bit crazy and not meant to start matching actors with numbers. (and I would never do so!) But this gives you an idea of what a venue sits down with when they put out a bid based on their budget. Presenters ask each other all the time what they paid for different performers.

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Updated On: 3/11/06 at 11:09 PM

"Menzel and Chenoweth are far from household names and are only famous to their obsessive teen fan base and to folks who read message boards. Mention either name to a random person on the street (somewhere other than in the Broadway district) and you'll get a lot of blank stares."

Not trying to get anything started here, but Margo, I am not a rabid teen fan of Wicked and I knew of Chenoweth and Menzel before reading the boards. As you know I live in Denver and a number of people my age (40...something!) and people around my age here know who they are and don't read the boards, live in New York and are far from being in their teens. They may not be household names but many people who just like theatre in general know who they are. JMO

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Updated On: 3/28/06 at 01:20 PM

uncageg, you and your friends are part of a tiny fraction of people in this country who follow theatre (obsessively in your case given your frequent posting on BWW) and you don't in any way represent mainstream tastes and knowledge (I don't mean that in any way as a criticism). I'd wager that Chenoweth and Menzel are unknown to 98% of the general public. If you've never starred in a film that was a box office hit or on a tv show or had a song in the top 40, then you are NOT part of mainstream pop culture and not famous enough to demand a high salary.

Look at the Tony ratings year after year. Barely 6 million people in a country of 300 million ever watch or care about them. And for all the hoopla over Wicked in the little worlds of BWW, ATC and teenage girls out there, fewer than a million people ever got to see either Chenoweth or Menzel in the year+ they were in the show -- there's only so many people who can fit in the Gershwin. More people saw the Larry The Cable Guy movie last weekend (which wasn't even a hit, finishing 7th at the box office) than saw Wicked in its entire first year.

My point is that with such incredibly limited mainstream popularity (which is the case with every stage actor who doesn't have at least some exposure in tv & film), they are not big box office and thus cannot command $25,000 salaries. The people who are are at least "mini" stars that even the folks from Nebraska (tourists make up 70+% of broadway ticket buyers) recognize immediately and are willing to shell out $110 a piece for their family of 4 to see, so they can go back and tell their neighbors that they saw _______ (Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Nathan Lane, etc...). Very few people (who don't regularly follow theatre) are willing to pay $110 JUST to see Menzel or Chenoweth and the producers of WICKED knew that and that their show was the star, not the two of them and so they paid them accordingly -- a handsome sum for stagework, but not one on a par with those actors who are true box office draws.

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Updated On: 3/28/06 at 01:53 PM

Margo, I would not call myself obsessive. I just really enjoy the theatre and like to keep abreast of what's going on. I am also involved in the theatre here in Denver. Frequent posting does not make me obsessive. Maybe it makes you obsessive.

I would say my friends are all across the board and some represent mainstream tastes and knowledge along with the same tastes I do (I actually took your comment as a compliment!) I was just saying that not only the people you described are people who know Chenoweth and Menzel. numbers aside. And I agree they are not household names.

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Updated On: 3/31/06 at 02:08 PM

I find all this salary chat very interesting. It makes me very curious about shows like the new Doyle revivals of "Sweeney..." and "Company", or the Mendes revival of "Cabaret" and how much an actor makes when they have to double all those instruments, i'll bet they don't get paid a musician's salary on top of what they're making.

a certain norma desmond - not glenn -- made 40k a week plus perks. (car, massages,etc) and that was 10 years ago.

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And who was that?

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I think my earlier post was on page 2. presently, both witches get paid 7k a week.

at the start of Wicked, Idina got 7k and cheno got 10k.
after the tonys, cheno stayed at ten, and idina more than doubled up to 15k.

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Does anyone else find it a little disturbing that people on here know such personal information as someone's salary?

yes I would.

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I've also wondered how understudies salaries compare.

I was under the impression that the performers from Sweeney are payed both the musician and the actor salary. And they get all of the added bonus stuff for extra instruments.

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