What Do They Do In Between Gigs?

[RippedMan]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 4:55pm

Someone said on here awhile back that Gavin Creel didn't work for a year after being nominated for a Tony in "Millie." What did he do for a year? Live off unemployment? What do these Broadway stars do between gigs? I can't imagine they go back to waiting tables, etc. After "Glory Days" shut down so quick, what did Stephen Booth do? As an actor, I'm just curious. Have you ever been to a restaurant and seen some Broadway person serving you?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 4:57pm

A lot of them continue to live pretty frugally even with a steady job. They also pick up coaching, teaching classes, gigs, etc.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 5:19pm

Hm. Okay. Makes sense.

[Larcen26]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 5:25pm

Well...One of the things is that they get paid pretty well assuming they are getting equity minimum...which works out to just shy of $100,000 a year before taxes and not factoring in any additional negotiations or increments. (Link below)
Now, of course there are taxes, agents, managers, and just the cost of living in NY, but the wage allows for a certain ability to "float" between gigs.
Clearly not a TON, but between Broadway gigs are commercials, readings, concerts, workshops, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, regional productions, tours, etc.

But is it possible for you to see a show and then see someone from the show waiting tables? Definitely...but you would be more likely to see a chorus or bit player than someone featured.
Equity Pay Rates

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 5:28pm

Coach, teach, go back to school/pursue education, voice over work, commercial work...you name it. Very few performers who want to be performing for a living aren't doing at least something in the field. Many are auditioning constantly and just have a hard time getting cast.

If they can't find anything, they're waiting tables, temping, nannying, and anything you can imagine. Some actors are also very skilled at living on very little.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 5:44pm

When I lived in NYC I used to work at a law firm. We had one actress in particular who temped, left to be a understudy, then a lead in a Broadway musical. When her contract was up, she returned to the law firm until she landed her next show.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 5:46pm

I can't imagine they go back to waiting tables, etc.

Imagine.
"I have 2 younger sisters who are gifted singers...Originally the thought"oh I have a sister on Broadway. Life is ging to be easy for her." Then they saw I had trunks of time where I wasn't working. I was borrowing money from my folks. I was working as a waitress"

Donna Murphy

Making It On Broadway

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 7:59pm

Most leads you would recognize make enough money that they don't work waiting tables. Perhaps some new actors starting out will do this. More commonly, actors who work with some regularity on Broadway do readings, workshops, commercials, auditions, pilots, if they're lucky, a TV show or movie, teaching, off Broadway, perhaps cabaret/concerts, etc.

[skylight2]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 8:49pm

I don't think Gavin Creel was out of work after Millie. Didn't he do two Eloise TV-movies in 2003?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 9:08pm

When The Anarchist folded, I went to a strip club in NYC and there was Patti LuPone offering lap dances.

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 9:12pm

Gavin did two main stream television movies for Disney television.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 9:30pm

When The Anarchist folded, I went to a strip club in NYC and there was Patti LuPone offering lap dances.

Yah and u took one and called for and encore.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 9:43pm

"Yah and u took one and called for and encore."

No I didn't because she kept screaming "Stop taking pictures!"

[haterobics]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 9:49pm

^^ No pictures is pretty standard for a strip club.

As I like to remind an actor friend, "So, when you were in the show, we couldn't see anything because of your schedule... and now that your show is over, we can't see anything because you're on a budget?! When can we go to shows?!"

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 10:29pm

^That's sort of life, isn't it? Sad but true.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 10:40pm

I don't know the Gavin Creel thing to be true. I just remember reading it on here.

And I don't mean commercials, etc. I mean, what do they do between gigs. A gig being anything paid. I'm friends with plenty of Broadway type people, and I just wonder what they do to pay the bills between incoming gigs. Sure auditioning, but that's not paying anyones bills. Just curious. And no chorus person on Broadway is making 100,000 a year. Trust me. With agent fees, Equity dues, taxes. That's not happening. Even with nothing taken out, and the minimum they're making 88000. But even that's not happening considering most Broadway shows don't run for a full 52 weeks.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 10:56pm

"I'm friends with plenty of Broadway type people, and I just wonder what they do to pay the bills between incoming gigs."

If you are friends with a lot of them, why not just ask some of them directly? Make it clear you're not asking about specific salary numbers but just in general what they have to do to keep food on the table. If they are friends, I can't see why they wouldn't want to share that information with you in general terms.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 11:38pm

Did you just meet these people? Have they never not been in Broadway-type shows since you've known them?

[RippedMan]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 11:43pm

Exactly. Most of them are making their debuts, so they aren't "seasoned." And I was just curious to strike up a convo about it. Nothing major. I mean, I understand if you were in the ensemble of "Leap of Faith" you can probably go back to doing what you were doing. But if you were Steven Booth in "Glory Days" - that's kind of a big deal. Playing a lead on Broadway no matter how short of a run. And now he's just got his first major part - the Kinky Boots tour - since then. I just wonder what they do in the mean time.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 11:47pm

Edie Falco, yo.

Updated On: 7/16/14 at 11:47 PM

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 7/17/14 at 12:08am

Actors do everything - teaching, photography, roofing, copy editing, waiting tables/bartending/catering, working in an office - any job you can imagine.

I recently heard an interview with Stephen R. Buntrock, who has been in like nine Broadway shows. When asked what he does for months at a time between shows, he was like, "Well last time I built a deck for my neighbor!"

Reading the stories in the book "Making It On Broadway" is pretty eye-opening as well.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 7/17/14 at 9:31am

I know several people who have been on Broadway (in principal and replacement roles) who have gone back to bartending et cetera since their shows closed. Helene Yorke used to work at Physique 57 before Bullets, and I know some other Broadway types with yoga teaching gigs like that. It's common. I wouldn't say that the "big stars" pick up jobs like that, but the smaller ones do.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/17/14 at 10:07am

There was a Broadway actress who used to tend bar at a piano bar. Often, she would get up and sing the song she was famous for. More than once after finishing the song, she would hear a tourist say "She sounds just like the woman on the cd."

Updated On: 7/17/14 at 10:07 AM

[Replacement Cast]

Posted: 7/17/14 at 10:23am

Learn to type.

[newintown]

Posted: 7/17/14 at 10:24am

I know a few guys who have done major roles on Broadway who do massage between gigs (and sometimes during). Another who took over the lead of a Broadway hit (that closed a few months later) was hosting at a restaurant back in his home town within a year.

Some of these people find long-term jobs in either the Broadway or road companies of the mega-machines (Wicked, Phantom, etc.) and stay for several years, either as a cover or actually in the role. There are more of those jobs than you might think.