When a tour city cancels?

Yes. They are still paid regardless. Not sure how Equity handles the unexpected vacation/break/time-off but the production still gets paid for the dates that were scheduled.

From the sounds of it from what the cast members have said it sounds like it's like a week's paid vacation. 

Musicals that have large sets that require days to load-in and build in each city gives the production basically paid vacation breaks between cities.  

The 1996 1st US National Tour of SUNSET BLVD took 10 days to load-in and have the sets built at each stop so after every city the entire production had a solid 10 day paid break to enjoy their next city.  Many in the cast either continued staying at the city they were in (using their break per diem money as the show didn’t pay for their continued stay only their next city stay) or went home.  The show had a 2-3 month run in each city which validated the 10 day load-in time.   

While I'm certain that's almost always the case, I recall that Hamilton saying that they were building touring sets in both SF and LA and would "leapfrog" each other to alternate cities. That may have been just for the first go-around, and the set may have been designed for a 2 day turnaround with the second used for the second tour this year.

However, your point remains. The economics now are such that they can't afford those extra days for load out/in and the productions are designed for it. ...but "all" is always a dicey adjective.

Updated On: 6/21/18 at 04:53 PM

^It's called a jump set.  Phantom (original) and Lion King used to use them in their heyday.

Thanks Tag! Learn something new every day (hopefully)

Updated On: 6/21/18 at 05:32 PM

Tag said: "^It's called a jump set. Phantom (original) and Lion King used to use them in their heyday."

Exactly, Tag, none of this is new. A CHORUS LINE (surprisingly more complicated than it looked from the house because Michael Bennett demanded the original Broadway set--built for a long, long run--be duplicated at each stop) did so in the 1970s, as did EVITA, IIRC.

Bottom line: if you are the Show of the Decade (ACL, PHANTOM, HAMILTON, etc.), you can afford to build two sets (or partial sets) and jump them during the early national tours.

Less successful Broadway shows, and later bus-and-trucks of even the biggest hits, are scaled down to be struck, trucked, and set up again in a day or two. Hence, ROBBER BRIDEGROOM (1977-8) toured the upper Midwest in winter, with a single set, which I'm told didn't always get put up in time for an opening. SWEENEY TODD left the "foundry" behind when it went on the road.

When the tour cancels a location, does the cast and crew go ahead and go to the next city after the cancelled one? Or do they get a vacation in that cancelled city?

musicaltheatrechick said: "When the tour cancels a location, does the cast and crew go ahead and go to the next city after the cancelled one? Or do they get a vacation in that cancelled city?"

There isn't one answer to this question, as this kind of stuff changes on a case-by-case basis. In the case of Waitress, the company was offered transportation to and from their Point of Origin, as if it were a scheduled layoff. I imagine that if someone didn't actually have a place to go "home" to, they'd have the option of staying in the current city or going to the next city and receiving appropriate per diem. 

Lawyer answer here:  The producers and/or the event site could purchase "event cancellation" insurance.  Major concert tours generally purchase this (it cost one insurer quite a bit of money when a Michael Jackson tour got cancelled).  If the cancellation was caused by a third party - such as a contractor whose negligence caused a fire, for example - then the insurer providing the cancellation insurance might make a claim against that third party for reimbursement.  The event site's property insurer likely provides "business interruption" insurance which may pay the event site for the lost rent from the cancellation.  Keep in mind that the loss to the producers/event site is not just the extra expense for paying the cast/crew, nor just the lost income from tickets already purchased, but all the expected other ticket sales as well as ancillary income from concessions and merchandise, which could get a bit contentious in the negotiations.

David10086 said: "On a similar note, what happens when a tour closes down while touring (for whatever reason)? Do the cities who were planning on it coming through their venue have a back-up plan ? Or is that week or two (or more) lost for the venue?

If I'm not mistaken, didn't the first US tour of SUNSET BLVD close up shop mid-tour, due to expenses?

So what happened to the venues who were left with no show?"

Lawyer answer: It depends.  (1) is there cancellation insurance for the venue and what does it actually cover (2) what does the contract between the venue and the producer say? There likely is some provision - it may be a "liquidated damages" provision which sets forth the amount the producers must pay the venue, no less and no more.  I'm guessing that the contracts do have a provision or someone is not doing their job correctly!   (3) the venue can try to minimize its damages/loss - and may be obligated to try in the absence of a liquidated damages provision - with such revenue decreasing the amount owed by the producer. 

In short, the lawyers for the venue and the lawyers for the producers will bill lots of hours trying to resolve the dispute, with some accountants also earning fees.