What recent Off-Broadway show could you see transfer to Broadway?

[aces25]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 10:28am

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 10:30am

The Little Dog Laughed
The Trip to Bountiful

Although it's unlikely in both cases...

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 10:32am

Confessions of a Mormon Boy.

[renthead2]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 10:45am

hey this could seem like a really stupid question...but whats the difference between broadway plays and off-broadway plays (apart from the obvious. DO they get paid more??

[boxers7]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 11:02am

It all depends on the size of the theatre. I'm not really sure of the requirements but a certain number of seats constitiutes an Off-Broadway house and a certain number, on Broadway. It also has to do with the location of the theatre.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 11:03am

For a theatre to be considered "Broadway", it has to have 500 seats or more.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 11:04am

And yes, the pay scale is completely different.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/27/06 at 11:14am

Just dug up my post from a little while back answering this question (it seems to come up every few weeks):


"The designation of "Broadway" is actually just a determination of the League of American Theatres -- a tiny little exclusive club of the people who own the current Broadway houses and co-produce the Tonys every year. While, yes, all Broadway houses have at least 500 seats, it's not as if every theatrical venue in New York City with over 500 seats is a Broadway house.

For example, look at the Delacorte (where Shakespeare in the Park occurs every summer) -- it has 1900 seats and is dedicated solely to the production of professional legitimate theatre, has top tier designers and directors create their productions and Tony and Oscar winning actors star in their shows...... but it's not a Broadway house. Why? Only because the League says it's not (the main reason is because it's purely not-for-profit and subsidized by the state, city and corporate donors -- the only people who get to be in the League's exclusive club are those who take the same sorts of finanicial risks that they do) .

THEY decide who gets to join their club and who doesn't, based on their own whims. 20 years ago, Porgy and Bess played at Radio City. Because it was an expensive for-profit venture (and some of their producer buddies were co-producing it), guess what? Radio City Music Hall became a Broadway, Tony-eligible house for that production (and that production only). But it's not as if the Radio City Xmas Spectacular gets any Tony consideration year after year. The League does whatever they want and makes all the rules and decisions which are in their best interest -- basically they can designate any theatre in NYC a Broadway house if they want to ...... as long as the owner (and the producers of the shows playing there) are willing to pay the price.

Also significant to the designation is the fact that certain specific contracts are negotiated with each Broadway theatre by each union (Equity, Local One -- The Stagehands Union, Local 802 -- The Musicians Union etc.....).

Off-Broadway is sort of the default category for all those theatres that aren't deemed Broadway theatres. They don't have a "League" or any organization that designates them "Off-Broadway" so there aren't any hard and fast rules. MOST have 100 to 499 seats, but there are exceptions. BAM has two theatres (each with 1000+ seats), which are also considered off-Broadway. Same with the Schimmell Center at Pace which has over 500 seats and has hosted several Off-Broadway shows. These theatres all also have contracts with the major theatrical unions, with minimums (usually lower than they are for Broadway) determined by the number of seats.

Off-Off-Broadway generally denotes theatres with fewer than 100 seats (there are hundreds of them in town, often called "black box" theatres). They generally have no specific contracts with the major unions (though Equity showcase rules do apply).

And as far as quality is concerned, frankly, far more good and great new work comes out of the not-for-profit off-Broadway theatres (as well as the non-for-profit regional members of LORT around the country) than opens directly on Broadway. Half the Pulitizer prize winners in the past two decades have been off-Broadway plays (for what that's worth) and a very large percentage of the best new plays and musicals that end up on Broadway come out of the not-for-profit world. Broadway is mostly for undemanding tourists and vacationers, not for people who truly care about the future of the American theatre -- the challenging, groundbreaking and interesting new stuff is Off-Broadway."