Posted: 8/9/15 at 10:57am
Just curious as to what happens to a show's set, props and costumes when a show closes. Do they get donated? Sold? Broken down and thrown out? Any insight would be awesome!
Posted: 8/9/15 at 11:12am
Some like Ave Q original set were broken down and put in storage. To be used in the off Broadway run.
Posted: 8/9/15 at 11:16am
As with most questions, there is no single answer. It is all of the above.
Posted: 8/9/15 at 11:23am
TDF COSTUMES gets a lot of stuff, which can all get rented.
Posted: 8/9/15 at 12:46pm
In many cases these things will be sent into storage, in case the production decides to tour or is produced somewhere else (or decides to return to Broadway intact). There are times, however, where elements will not be preserved for one reason or another.
The Giant Squid from The Addams Family, for example, was written out of the show's tour and then was donated to the Village Halloween Parade.
Posted: 8/9/15 at 12:57pm
And sometimes they end up in the trash and you can dig through them.
Or at least that's how I've got toys from the toy shop and cans of hairspray of "Hairspray."
Posted: 8/9/15 at 3:02pm
Posted: 8/9/15 at 5:29pm
The challenge is a lot of sets and props are so specific to the venue and the production, that to carefully load them out, store them and wait for another production are just not fiscally responsible. (Also, some show's stuff just is not built to be moved or transfered).
Posted: 8/9/15 at 5:34pm
The Broadway set of "A Tale of Two Cities" was available for rental for a few years (not sure if it still is - a premier high school theatre company used the full set).
"DRACULA, the musical" donated their costumes to a museum in Florida. I think a lot of costumes get donated and put on display there.
Posted: 8/9/15 at 5:57pm
The Broadway set for "Once" went to Toronto for that production but I'm not sure about the current status.
Posted: 8/9/15 at 9:00pm
I wonder, like with Bullets Over Broadway, was that set stored and kept for the Non-Union tour? I'd imagine the tour will be waaaaay scaled back, so are they just going to build all new elements?
Posted: 8/9/15 at 9:42pm
TDF Takes costumes.
Build it Green takes recycled materials. Many shows donate stuff there.
Materials for The Arts takes recycled materials and puts them back into not-for-profit organizations. I remember seeing stuff from THE LITTLE MERMAID years ago after that show closed.
Sometimes the production management will send it BACK to the carpentry shop that built it initially, and they keep what they want, and reuse pieces on future shows.
sometimes backdrops will go into service at rental companies
Posted: 8/9/15 at 10:37pm
I'll say this much, if they decide to auction off Chita Rivera's Visit cane at the BFA, I may bet my firstborn child.
