Question about Broadway rehearsal periods

Just out of curiosity, for those who work in the business: What is the schedule like during the typical Broadway rehearsal period? How many days per week and hours per day is common? And do actors get paid their full salary during rehearsal, or does that only start with performances?

I've read that during previews a cast will typically rehearse changes all day and perform at night, but is the schedule that demanding during rehearsals?

Thanks!

Ledaero said: "...Tech is longer with 10 out of 12's, but I believe each employee on the production (actors, designers, crew, etc) aren't called for more than 8 hrs/day otherwise overtime begins to accumulate and producers get concerned...

Ten out of twelves are exactly what the name implies, the actors are there for 10 hours with a two hour meal break. Designers are potentially there much longer on those days.

For a typical Broadway show, the actors will rehearse in a rehearsal room for around 3 weeks, six days per week (Monday used to be the standard day off, but Sundays off is now becoming more common). Shows that are opening cold might have a longer rehearsal period and shows that are coming in from a tryout more or less intact might have less. The hours are either an 8 hour day with a one hour meal break (10-6 or 9-5) or the company can elect to do what's called a "straight-six" where you rehearse for 6 hours with a 20 minute break in the middle.

Once technical rehearsals begin ("tech", a typical 10/12 day has the following schedule:

• 8am-11am: Work notes with the crew (set changes, rigging, lighting changes, physical construction, etc).
• 11am-12pm: Crew lunch
• 12pm: Actors called to get into costume/wigs/microphones
• 12:30-5pm: Technical rehearsal onstage
• 5pm-7pm: Actor dinner break
• 5pm-6pm: Crew dinner break
• 6pm-7pm: Crew work notes on stage with no actors
• 7pm-7:30pm: Actors get back into costumes/mics
• 7:30pm-12am: Resume rehearsal onstage
• 12am: director, designers, and technical staff heads gather for a meeting about the day's work and the upcoming schedule

The show will have a certain number allocated 10 out of 12s and a greater number of "8 out of 10s" which follow the same idea with two less hours of rehearsal. 8 out of 10s might mean a work call from 8am-12pm with a 1pm start onstage, for instance. (And as I can tell you from personal experience, these days are brutally long, especially for a crew member or designer working from 8am to past midnight six days a week).

A Broadway show will typically tech anywhere from 4 days for a very simple play to up to five weeks for an incredibly complicated musical. But the more time you're in tech rehearsals, the less opportunity you have to sell tickets and make money, so producers push to have only as many tech rehearsals that the show needs to get up and running.

During the preview process, a typical Broadway show starting immediately with 8 performance weeks will generally rehearse Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays for four hours each day (12-4 or 1-5, depending on curtain time) followed by a performance. Occasionally a show will do a 7 show week during previews to allow for an extra day of rehearsal on Wednesday or Saturday. This schedule will generally continue for a few weeks until the show is considered "frozen" (no more changes will be made), critics are invited, and then the show officially opens. The length of the preview process is highly dependent on the type of show, how complicated/new it is, etc, but the overall schedule will have been worked out months in advance between the creative team, producers, and technical staff.

Again, this is a sort of average/typical scenario. There's a lot of variability show to show but this is a basic baseline.

Updated On: 3/5/20 at 09:39 AM

This is an intense schedule, and then somehow they add in time for press interviews with cast and creatives...is that time in their contracts or compensated?

And in Bette's case in Dolly, wasn't the amount she was willing to do none? :)



Thanks for the information, folks!

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "brendcat said: "This is an intense schedule, and then somehow they add in time for press interviews with cast and creatives...is that time in their contracts or compensated?"

Actors are notcompensated for press appearances, though principals oftenhave grooming (clothes/hair/makeup), transportation, and/or food contractually provided to them for press appearances. Higher-level individuals may also have specifications about when they will and won't do press (i.e. not on rehearsal days in previews) or how much press they're willing to do."

They may not receive additional compensation, but the time does come out of the allowed hours for the week.