Switching theatres on Broadway vs. West End

[anmiller07]

Posted: 11/14/12 at 8:35am

It seems like shows switch theatres on the West End far more commonly than on Broadway. I have read on here that it is a very costly to move from one theatre to the next on Broadway and was wondering if the costs were comparable on the West End? If so, why do you think a show would switch theatres in London as opposed to switching on Broadway?

Updated On: 11/14/12 at 08:35 AM

[WOSQ]

Posted: 11/14/12 at 10:25am

Crew costs are huge in New York and since moving houses is labor intensive and it is often triple time, the cost is prohibitive.

I am not sure if this is true of the West End, but many Broadway shows are so over-designed that a move cannot be made all that quickly.

Long gone are the days when a multi-house switch can be achieved in 48 hours. 40 years ago My Fair Lady closed and loaded out of the Broadway, I Can Get It For You Wholesale moved from the Shubert to the Broadway and Stop The World, I Want To Get Off came from out of town and loaded into the Shubert. All of this happened between curtain down Saturday night to curtain up Monday night.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/14/12 at 10:30am

Union costs are factored completely differently in London, and are across the board more expensive in New York. The West End union rules take into account different things like the size of the theatre when determining pay scale, which isn't considered for Broadway. To give you just a rough idea, the West End pay scale for actors in a theatre over 1100 seats is £607.61 a week (and goes down from there with minimum in theaters under 800 seats being £497.13 per week).

Minimum for a Broadway ensemble contract regardless of seats is $1,754 a week.

Tech positions are paid out at even higher minimums so you can quickly see how the cost in man hours to resize and reinstall a broadway production in a new theatre can be exorbitantly expensive- in most instances over $1,000,000.

It probably costs half that to relocate a show Iin the West End, hence why more shows there transfer theaters.