So...they get paid to just...SIT there?- Page 2

[MaronaDavies]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 10:46am

From what I remember about Les Mis, the Young Cosette/Eponines were required to stay for curtain call on Friday and Saturday nights, and they were usually there for the matinee curtain calls too, but otherwise they did leave. Whichever boy was not going on as Gavroche that night was allowed to leave early too--right after the character's final scene.

In the recent The King and I, the littlest kids in the cast, who were about 4 IIRC, were also allowed to leave before the curtain call.

In terms of just sitting there, remember that most of the time, the kids are understudying each other (like in Miss Saigon, there were only the two Tams, and if one was sick, the other had to cover his/her shows; and even in Les Mis, some of the girls u/s Gavroche and the boys did end up covering Eponine once in a while). They're required to be at the theatre for every show, just as the other swings and understudies, and so they are getting paid for their time spent at the theatre. Which makes sense. They're still at work even if they're not onstage.
Updated On: 4/22/07 at 10:46 AM

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 11:27am

PERform! The word is perform, not preform!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 12:28pm

The labor laws in the U.S. don't prohibit child performers from doing 8 shows a week: that is usually up to the discretion of the Producer. LES MIZ and all the Disney shows divide children's roles between at least two sets of child actors.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC, ANNIE, OLIVER didn't double cast on Broadway, nor do most straight plays that have child roles in them.

BILLY ELLIOT really requires multiple casting because of the physical strains of the role. It would be very unwise to make 1 Billy do 8 shows a week.

[theminutepast]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 2:44pm

To point out, Gavroche's final scene is the Finale, so wouldn't the actor have to stay until the very end? When I stage doored at the Broadhurst, I remember both the boys coming out.

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 2:55pm

"Eagan was there for most of "Secret Garden,"

Didn't she have an alternate or something:

Kimberly Mahon
Wed mats. and Thurs. eves Mary Lennox Alternate
[According to IBDB.com]

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 2:59pm

Yes. I saw Kimberly go on, she was wonderful.

Her older sister Kristen was Baby Louise in the 1989 GYPSY revival.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 3:03pm

There was an alternate and an understudy (Melody Kay).

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 3:15pm

BILLY ELLIOT:

There is a sign in the foyer which indicates, before the show starts, which boy is playing Billy, which is playing Michael, and which girl is playing Debbie. There isn't a long-term schedule ahead of time for them anyway. Some have special regimes. For example, Liam Mower, late in his run, stopped doing Saturday Nights and Thurdsay nights altogether. There were, originally, three boys, but currently there are four. They live together, and often sort it out during the day that one, who might have, as of the short term schedule, have been due to perform, can't, and so another steps in. They do, of course, have a stand-by on all through every show.

There was once a problem, because two of the three Michaels were ill, and the third was in Scotland. They tried to get him down (alledgedly in a chopper), but the weather went against them. Liam Mower, normally Billy, actually played the role of Michael for that night.

There is a rule, with exceptions, in the UK that children shouldn't do more than 3 performances a week. In London, there are three gavroches, etc. in Les Mis.

[MaronaDavies]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 4:09pm

To point out, Gavroche's final scene is the Finale, so wouldn't the actor have to stay until the very end? When I stage doored at the Broadhurst, I remember both the boys coming out.

Maybe they've changed it for the current production and the kids do have to stay now? I'm not familiar with what they've kept and changed with the new show. When Les Mis was in its first Broadway run, though, the second boy was always allowed to leave as soon as Gavroche's death scene wrapped up (what I meant by final scene), which was usually around 1030 (before the show was cut down).
Updated On: 4/22/07 at 04:09 PM

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 7:39pm

its smart to have them there though-even if they are sitting-when i saw TLK the 3rd time-at the start we had 1 nala and thne u could tell something happened because the other one went out and that was after they had a long pause

[BroadwayBound86]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 11:46pm

If you want a good example of two adult preformers who get paid the same but don't do the 8 shows a week, take a look at the actresses playing Christine in Phantom. Neither one of them does all 8 shows. Yet, there is no difference in pay.

Correct....one is an alternate. The main Christine performs in 6 of the 8 shows a week and the alternate performs in 8...two as Christine and the rest as one of the ballet dancers. And from what I know...I could be wrong...the main Christine performs as the ballet dancer in the other two performances. But I could be wrong. So technically they are still performing in 8 shows a week. Just in different roles.

[dancinfan]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 7:47am

Beauty and the Beast: I know of at least a half-dozen occasions when one Chip came down with a fever or started throwing up after arriving at the theatre or starting the show, and the other kid jumped in. Then there are those times when the scheduled kid is stuck in the tunnel, and the other goes on. It is a great insurance policy to have double casting because of the understudy element. Also, in a long run, it is rare to have to change over two kids at the same time, so you always have one who knows the role well and one who is growing into it.

[jbdc]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 10:39am

This is the dumbest thread...

Of course they have the same equity minimums and pay rates as adult performers. They don't need to be double cast, but making a ten year old perform on a Broadway schedule is a stupid thing for a producer to do--because they have to go to school on top of it. If you want the kid awake for the show, you double cast or use the alternate/standby a couple shows a week--unless it's a small, barely even featured role like in Grey Gardens.

And swings/standby performers make more than general ensemble, because they have to be able to do more. AND--they usually sing offstage to support the ensemble vocals if it's a dance heavy musical. Like the sopranos covering Frankie Valli's vocals in Jersey Boys. Or all the swings in A Chorus Line. And then, they have to know everybody's part as well.
Updated On: 4/23/07 at 10:39 AM

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 10:56am

I've always wondered if Little Colehouse in Ragtime was making Equity minimum. Or how much he did make. At least Young Eponine gets to alternate with Young Cosette, but the actor playing Little Colehouse literally just ran out onstage for the last 30 seconds, and they still had an alternate.

[jbdc]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 11:01am

I do know that Tam (the kid) in Miss Saigon made Equity Minimum and basically stood there, ran out, got picked up, and bowed. AND it was double cast.

I guess it is kind of absurd--but that's the rules.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 2:23pm

Tam is double-cast because you never can tell what a 4-year-old is gonna do.

[MaronaDavies]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 2:45pm

Correct....one is an alternate. The main Christine performs in 6 of the 8 shows a week and the alternate performs in 8...two as Christine and the rest as one of the ballet dancers. And from what I know...I could be wrong...the main Christine performs as the ballet dancer in the other two performances. But I could be wrong. So technically they are still performing in 8 shows a week. Just in different roles.

The Christine who is not performing is not a ballet dancer on her off-nights. When she's not Christine, she's not performing at all. There's always a full company of dancers.

For Tam...I agree with Lizzie Curry, it's good sense to double cast and alternate performances with kids that young. Plus, if one kid went on all the time and the other was just the understudy and sat backstage every night, s/he would probably forget the role after a while. Technically, Tam did have more stage time than Thuy or Ellen, even though he really didn't have a lot to do.
Updated On: 4/23/07 at 02:45 PM

[kelzama]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:43pm

RE: Christine.
There's the main Christine. She does 6 shows a week for a certain salary. There's the Alternate Christine. She does 2 shows a week and picks up whatever shows the main Christine can't do. Her salary is less, but prorated for shows above and beyond 2. She's also the one who plays the "mirror bride" in the lair. Main Christine may be docked similarly for shows not done. There's yet another understudy to fill in when those two can't.
RE: Standbys
Audiences of The Pirate Queen got first-hand experience of why standbys are paid to stand by, when Ms. Block had to bail 1/4 through the show and Ms. Voytko stepped in, seamlessly by all accounts.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:47pm

The mirror bride/Hannibal princess is the understudy, not the alternate.

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:50pm

Would someone like to explain the GREY GARDENS issue? Why isn't Lee double cast?

[kelzama]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:50pm

I stand corrected. Thank you Lizzie.

[kelzama]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:50pm

Twice. Updated On: 4/23/07 at 03:50 PM