Question about stage lights and costumes

[GIZMO2]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 3:25pm

Last night a friend asked me a couple questions about the technical side of Broadway that I couldn't answer. I'm sure many of you out there would know:

Do Broadway shows purchase the lighting equipment for each show -- lights, cables, etc. -- or is it all rented and/or stored in house?

If so, how much is spend on an average show?

What about the sound systems? (Equus, btw, has absolutely incredible sound!)

What happens to costumes and props once a show has ended? Is there an archive somewhere? Are they donated to regional or educational theater? Or are they, like the set, just ripped up and thrown out? (I'm sure they throw the worn ones away.)

Thanks for your replies!

[James885]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 3:34pm

I think that all the lighting equipment is rented for the show by the producers. I believe that a show moves into a theater, all they're getting is a bare stage. I'm not 100% sure, so don't quote me on it, but I think that's how it works. As for your other questions, I'll let someone else answer those...

[GIZMO2]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 3:46pm

I think you're right, James. The thing is, that's got to be costly. Some of these newer shows have over 500+ lights. And most look computerized and brand new. I wonder how much shows pay for these each week/month/year, etc.

When we used to rent them, each light would cost $25-$50/week. If a show rented 500 of the most expensive, that would be $25,000/week . . . just on the fixtures alone. (Now throw in the boards, cable, color, bulbs, electricity, and you double the initial cost in the blink of an eye.)

Hence the reason why it costs over $500,000/week to keep something like ATOTC on stage? (With that design, they've got to be working with well over 500 lights.)

. . . I'm beginning to feel guilty for buying my tix through TDF . . .

[fanadu1996]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 3:51pm

when a show opens on Broadway, they get an empty theatre, the producers rent all equipment from a lighting company (a big one in the city is Juniper Street Productions)
a Broadway show is general its own company (ie: In the Heights LLC, Legally Blonde LLC) so that company rents out the "4 walls of the theatre," meaning they rent the 4 walls of the theatre (the building) and everything else is rented from other companies.
So, all lighting, sound, etc etc are all rented, as for the budget, im not sure, but its very expensive....several hundred thousand dollars (depending on the show size)
after the show closes on Broadway, alot of times the producers will sell props, set pieces etc to the tour if they have one going out, or an international production, if non of those are planned then most of the stuff is just trashed.

does that made sense? lol

[Jon]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 4:41pm

Costumes are usually purchased by costume rental companies. Often, community theatres and even high schools may find themselves wearing the actual Broadway or tour costumes.

[GIZMO2]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 8:42pm

^^ Fanadu -- that does make sense. Perfect sense. Thanks for chiming in.

As for the cost(S) involved, I'm somewhat overwhelmed. The amount of $$$ involved to produce a Broadway show is incredible, and yet, so many of us just sit in our seats, admiring the performance, not thinking anything about it at all.

It's kinda like our economy these days: Until everything falls to pieces, we forget that there's actually a whole lot of people behind the scenes, holding everything together.

Thanks!!!

[[tos]fan999]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 9:58pm

Just a note about costumes, I know that the company that my school rented costumes for our production of Steel Pier rented us the original Fralingers taffy costume that Kristin Chenoweth wore during "Two Little Words".

But i know that my school has to rent everything, because we don't have a theatre of our own. And we barely broke even last year.

[winston89]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 10:09pm

It is true that when a show rents a theatre they just get the empty building and have to add the sound and lights themselves. I don't know how often they have to pay to rent the lights. I don't know if it is a one time fee or every month etc etc.

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 10:43pm

Yeah you can usually rent the costumes after they are used. My high school rented all the King and I revival costumes from Dodger, and those ballet costumes were the heaviest things ever, but beautiful at the same time.

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 11:00pm

As far as lighting is concerned, most of the equiptment comes directly from the manufacturers, and are often not paid for. All the lighting companies (Vari Light, ETC, Martin etc.) want their equiptment to be used by the big broadway blockbusters, so they often will allow shows to program on their boards free of cost, therefore allowing them to tell the world that YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN programmed the show on their easy to use equiptment, and uses X number of their lights. Yes, there is a purchase cost, but often when the show closes, it can be sold back to the companies. Kind of like a long term rental.

When a show RECOUPS its investment, that means that they have made enough money to completely pay off all their initial fees, and have O left to pay off. Therefore, they are only running on week to week costs, and the rest of the ticket prices go into producers pockets. To have to pay 25,000 weekly in rental costs are absurd. Their running costs include theatre rental(which comes directly from ticket sales), salarys for ALL actors, musicians, production, and all running costs like hydro for laundry, any lamps or gels that may have burned through, CO2 tanks and such for low lying fog, and many more... but generally do not include LX rentals.

ALSO FYI, wherever i spoke of lighting, sound is the same dealio.

hope that helps!

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 11:04pm

ANNND Gizmo- im not sure where you were renting lights from, BUT $25-$50/week is EXTREMELY low. That is the cost for normal theatrical fixtures. With a show like Young Frankenstein, which has over 150 moving fixtures, those can cost between 150-500/week to rent.

Therefore, I imagine they are purchased from the manufacturers, not rented.

[clarkstallings]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 2:36am

The vast majority of shows don't get their equipment directly from manufacturers. I'm not saying they don't from time to time, but I can't think of any instances where this has happened. Lighting, Sound, Special FX, and Video equipment is usually rented (95% of shows rent, I can think of one show currently running that has bought its equipment.) Equipment is rented from companies like Hudson Sound and Light, Masque Sound, Scharff-Weissberg, and PRG. There used to be more smaller outfits, but PRG has slowly but surely been gobbling up the Mom and Pop outfits.

[tourboi]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 2:40am

Additionally, what most people don't realize is that all the sound equipment (including the speakers) and lights travel with tours.

Often times I'll read local reviews commenting on a particular theatre's lighting or sound equipment, and it makes me chuckle because tours never use the house systems.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 11:41am

"Therefore, I imagine they are purchased from the manufacturers, not rented."

Nope, sorry. Most shows rent their equipment.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 1:57pm

Rule of thumb:

"What a producer cannot rent, s/he buys."

If the light instrument blows up or the sound console has a 'nervous breakdown' and they are rented, presto, the rental house sends out a new one. If you own it, either you have to fix it pronto, or you have to buy a new one, also pronto.

Costumes especially custom ones or period ones, are owned because they have been built specifically for the production. Contemporary clothes are sometimes given by the manufacturer for program credit. While these garments are off-the-rack, they are almost always customized by a shop under the direction of the designer.

Sometimes an actor taking over a role will fit into the existing costume, but sometimes a new costume will have to be built. Sometimes an actor gets the role because they fit the costume. I played Captain Orton in The King and I because I was the only one in the company who fit into what they had pulled from stock.

Gotta love show biz.

[proptart101]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 2:35pm

To answer a few questions posed above:

In general, lighting and sound equipment is rented for the show, and the rental agreement includes a service contract. The show's crew, in conjunction with the house crew, is responsible for the day to day maintenance, but the service contract guarantees emergency replacement and/or technicians to handle problems that the show crew is unable to.

In some cases (custom paint jobs for example) the show is required to purchase the equipment and then it is sold back to the rental shop when the show closes, usually at a pre-determined percentage of the purchase price.

The rental costs are not fixed per unit, but rather the entire shop order is submitted to various rental companies and a bidding process begins.

The largest variable in lighting rentals are the moving lights and control systems (light boards, data distribution requirements, etc.). Similar sized packages can have very different costs if the designer requires rare or unusual front end systems.

The rental costs are billed weekly, and are often somewhat negotiable after the show has run for a few years.

At one point, the industry standard was 1- 2% of the cost of the unit, meaning it would take 1 - 2 years of continual rental to recoup the initial cost of the equipment. In other words, for shows that run over 2 years, they've paid for every light in the rig and are just sending profit to the rental company (and are paying for the service contract, of course).

I haven't been in the negotiating end of things since PRG "took over" BASH, Prod. Arts and Four Star, so I don't know what the going rate is lately.

Hope this helps -