Ignorant question?

"Stars" such as Bernadette Peters can make anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000 a week. Sounds good, but actors on hit TV sitcoms often make ten times that.

$1400 a week is more than enough for a decent living in Manhattan, I think. Do they pay you while you rehearse the show or just when the performance is running?

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That's right, TGIF. Those expenses get written off on their taxes at the end of the year, however. They're not throwing that money into the wind. People who take dance classes, voice lessons, etc., who don't make their primary living as actors don't have that option.

This argument comes up every few months. Trust me, $1381 is quite enough to live on nicely. And yes, a job may not last forever, but that's the case in most professions, no matter how high/low the salary.

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:)

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and now that I think about it, Broadway chorus members make nearly twice as much per year than teachers do. Kinda scary...

Updated On: 5/24/05 at 11:46 PM

I daresay, Margo, it is quite a bit more taxing to teach in a NYC public school than to be on a Broadway stage...

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Rath - my point is that not all of these people work 50 weeks a year. What about the ensemble members of LITTLE WOMEN? Are they all stepping right into another gig? And while you may have bounced around in the workforce, there are MANY who do the work they do simply because it is dependable STEADY employment.

I agree that a consistant earning potential of that much per week is more than adequate. But factor in the amount of downtime that many deal with, and it doesn't look quite as rosy.

You might be right, trpguyy, IF those chorus members are in a show that runs 52 weeks (what is that? What TINY FRACTION of 1% of Actor's Equity does that represent? What are we talking? Maybe 200 people out of THOUSANDS of Equity actors? And how many ever get to be in more than one or two Broadway shows -- long-running or not?). And how many of them have jobs year after year, decade after decade with an annual cost of living increase and summers off plus Xmas and Spring Break and no agents and managers taking a percentage?

Anybody thinking that the life of a Broadway chorus member is, in the main, financially lucrative is quite misguided. Trust me, over a ten year period the average NYC teacher is MUCH MUCH better off financially than the average Broadway chorus member (if you only count income from Broadway and Equity touring shows for the chorus people).

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Updated On: 5/25/05 at 12:28 AM

Well, Rath, I wasn't factoring in the violence factor -- though some of those disappointed audiences after Jackie Mason etc.... can be particularly vicious.

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Updated On: 5/25/05 at 12:33 AM