Wedding Singer tour & AEA Flyer

So, I was just looking at the AEA website and saw the "If you know someone on the Wedding Singer tour" flyer and found it interesting. Anyone know what it's about? The flyer addresses the folks involved and says, "Take your professionalism to the next level"....

What's the backstory on this one?

ps - has the tour opened, yet?

Updated On: 8/16/07 at 10:23 PM

The tour is being producted by NETworks and is Non-Equity. Perhaps AEA is trying to recruit those involved to join the union?

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Yeah, they are probably either trying to recruit, or trying to get people to only see shows that have union actors in them.

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So the logic is "If you're cast in a non eq tour of TWS join the union! Everyone else who wants in...sorry, we're too busy making a point."

Wow.

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"It also means that audiences around the country will not see the full production of the show with the most experienced performers."

I can understand everyone's concerns with the quality of a non-Equity show (although a couple of non-Equity shows I saw turned out great), but there are many extremely talented people out there that aren't in Equity. Just because you have more experiences performing in shows doesn't automatically make you the better actor. A lot of performers may get their start this way and it might even lead up to an Equity card. These performers truly must love what they are doing to work under such difficult conditions. I don't see anything completely wrong with non-Equity...it is a choice of the performers for them to work under those conditions.

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I kinda know Nikka Wahl, who is playing Linda on this tour.

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Here is the route for TWS as per a couple of weeks ago




August 28-September 2, 2007 Gainesville, FL Phillips Center

September 4-9, 2007 Birmingham, AL BJCC

September 10-23, 2007 Baltimore, MD Hippodrome

September 25-30, 2007 Minneapolis, MN Orpheum

October 2-14, 2007 Fort Lauderdale, FL Broward Center

October 16-21, 2007 Atlanta, GA The Fox

October 23-28, 2007 Orlando, FL Bob Carr PAC

October 30-November 4, 2007 Saint Petersburg, FL Mahaffey Theater

November 6-11, 2007 Jacksonville, FL Times-Union

November 13-18, 2007 Louisville, KY Kentucky Center

November 20-25, 2007 PENDING

November 27-December 2, 2007 Spokane, WA INB PAC

HOLIDAY LAYOFF

January 8-13, 2008 Columbus, OH Palace Theatre

January 15-20, 2008 Appleton, WI Fox Cities PAC

January 22-27, 2008 Indianapolis, IN Clowes Hall

January 29-February 3, 2008 Norfolk, VA Chrysler Hall

February 5-10, 2008 Newark, NJ NJPAC

February 12-17, 2008 Memphis, TN Orpheum

February 19-24, 2008 Providence, RI PPAC

February 26-March 2, 2008 Kansas City, MO Music Hall

March 4-9, 2008 Charlotte, NC Belk

March 11-23, 2008 Saint Louis, MO The Fox

March 25-30, 2008 Raleigh, NC Progress Energy Center

April 1-6, 2008 Fort Myers, FL Barbara Mann PAH

April 8-13, 2008 Pittsburgh, PA Benedum

April 15-27, 2008 Dallas, TX Music Hall

April 29-May 4, 2008 San Antonio, TX Majestic

May 6-18, 2008 Houston, TX Hobby Center

May 20-25, 2008 Tempe, AZ Gammage

May 27-May 28, 2008 San Luis Obispo, CA Cal Poly Arts

May 31-June 1 Escondido, CA California Center

June 3-8, 2008 PENDING

June 10-12, 2008 PENDING

June 13-15, 2008 Vienna, VA Wolftrap

June 17-22, 2008 Hartford, CT Bushnell

June 24-29, 2008 Boston, MA Colonial




With some exceptions these are pretty big cities. This route is comparable with what AEA Production contract Tours would have. AT Venues like Atlanta, Orlando, Boston, and Houston (among many others), the Ticket price for the Non-eq Tours(especially TWS which is the First National Tour) is the same as the AEA production contract tours. The actors in the non-eq tour make much less money, (in the neighborhood of 500 a week vs 1500). Where does all that money go?
Non-eq has its place, but Equity has a valid point in terms of this tour. We aren't talking about a Tour Like the non-eq Urban Cowboy that is playing the college circuit. These are major cities that this tour is playing, and for the most part this show will probably bookended by equity tours like MAMMA MIA, PHANTOM, and JERSEY BOYS, with the same ticket price charged.

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Updated On: 8/17/07 at 03:50 PM

I think you need to realize that you can blame the presenters, not the producers, for the ticket prices. The producers get a weekly "guarentee' from the presenters, and if the show makes money (which TWS might not in those markets, even if they are big ones) they only make a percentage of those profits.

Also, part of the reason of being non eq is so if the tour adds more dates they have the option of doing split weeks and one nighters down the road to fill gaps.

Presenters are the ones in charge of promoting, BOOKING the show for their own market, and marketting, and pricing a show. If you have issues with those things, blame them.

By the way in Baltimore,

The equity Disney's High School Musical is priced the same as the non-equity The Wedding Singer at $70(!) top price ticket.

$70 for a non-equity tour.

So, why isn't TWS at like $50 or even $60 ?

Why am I the consumer not seeing a price break????

All shows get guarantees. That is the nature of the business. The simple fact is that the producers are avoiding using Union Talent because it costs more than non-union.
If the show was on a full production touring contract with equity the minimum salary would be $1509 a week, with about a $700 weekly per diem. Add about $150 a week for the equity Health insurance and you come to about $2300 per performer per week minimum.
For Non-eq, salaries are much lower. (in the neighborhood of 300-1000 depending on role with a small per diem.
Guarantees are pretty standardized in cities like Atlanta, Boston, Houston, etc. If shows like High school Musical and Phantom can make money on the equity price structure, while charging the same ticket price in those cities-How is it impossible for Wedding Singer?
Equity has made huge concessions in terms of salary and per-diem in regards to touring,to encourage Producers to use Union talent when they are touring into these markets. Shows like 42nd st (in '02), and Evita (in '04) Annie (produced by NETworks in '05) all went out on Equity contracts. TWS is a First National Tour and is playing a First National Tour schedule. What reason besides greed can they give as to why they aren't using Union Actors and giving them Health Insurance?

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Well, I can tell you from experience that it can be pretty sobering to look at the playbill of your non-eq tour and see an advertisement for an upcoming Union Tour and see that they are charging the same ticket price for it.
Also, you must realize that Equity does actually care about these performers. They aren't asking the producers to fire these actors and hire Union ones-They are trying to organize the cast and welcome them as new members.

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All I can say is I've toured (extensively) on equity, and non equity tours, and both were great experiencs. These "cast is put in 3rd class hotels" stories and what not are a myth so far. Maybe Big Leage tours are awful (I refuse to do those) but my experiences with NETworks have all been positive, and the casts I've worked with would agree. We were all quite happy.

And btw, did you ever consider the cost of MOVING the show? Non-Eq tours move around (usually) consistantly more than Equity tours, sometimes 4-5 times a week. Any money saved by paying the cast/crew less is usually used up in the moving costs. Equity tours only have to move once a week, minimum.

A lot of the advertising says "Direct from Broadway" which of course a non-union tour is not.
No offenese to non-Union actors, but the other Unions like Iatse are much stonger and will not concede as Equity does on certain matters.