Who makes the best money on Broadway?

I would imagine it's actually Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.

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At the moment, I imagine Mr. Schwartz is fairly happy with his income.

Hmm, I wonder what Lithgow and Applegate earns then, i'd guess they are the biggest names there.

I wouldn't say Garrett is taking a cut, as his series is over. He would be making $0 if he was counting on that money. Plus, hourly-rate-wise, it probably works out to about the same.

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Richard Frankel? Really?

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Originally Nathan made more than Matthew on the Producers. Are they know making the same amounts each?

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Shos makes $7,000 a week, but you didn't hear it from me.

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She makes NOTHING compared to people like Nathan and Matthew. Shoshana isn't a household name and not a ticket seller like those two. Huge pay increases don't come until your name is a big ticket seller.

somebody posted this here once, and I will never forget it. Laurie Metcalf from Roseanne has said that theatre is what you do when you want to prove to yourself that you can still act.

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The stories about Lane and Broderick's salaries have been widely circulated and discounted by both men as being way over what they made in the 2nd run of the Producers AND in the Odd Couple. But whatever they are making, it is nothing compared to people who do movies and sports stars.

I always chuckle when people bring up salaries of stars on Broadway. Stunt casting of TV or movie stars does usually resquire a higher salary to get closer to what they are used to making. But with that exception, most of our well-known stage actors make NOTHING per year compared to basketball players and movie stars who make millions every year.

That's the sad part. For what actors spend on voice lessons, dance lessons, acting lessons, agents, head shots etc...most actors in this business make very little and when you compare it to the cost of living in NYC, it is pretty sad.

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very true, very true

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Yes, Rath, there are a lot of people that make money than me...that isn't what we are talking about here. And if you are suggesting that you can't compare industries, you may also be correct about that. BUT...are you saying that because it's a different industry a basketball player that is paid $10 a year is worth that much money? Is ANYONE worth that much money? Regardless of what they do, there are limits to reasonable salaries. My point is that when you compare the work that goes into the craft, and to keeping your skills sharp, any stage actor is probably paid less than any other highly paid professional. Even those that command the highest salaries. I doubt Azenberg is crying about the money he has in the bank right now from selling based on Lane and Broderick's name...so if you want to say that they are earning their keep, they are certainly doing so to a greater extent than the CEO who LOSES millions or even billions for a company in a year and STILL gets his 5 million a year. It's all relative.

And while we are on the subject. The Times had an article on the Odd Couple today and here is part of it:

'"You get the impression sometime that because it's sold out and it's sold so many tickets," Mr. Lane was saying, "it was as if we planned a sort of get-rich-quick scheme. When it was really about just wanting to do the play.

"I hope people realize," he continued. "We wanted to do the best version of the play we could do. That was our intention. Not, you know, riding the gravy train."

He smiled.

"And we don't make as much money as they say anyway."

Let that be a lesson, Greed-Blinded Reader. The show's the thing.'

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Updated On: 11/1/05 at 03:12 PM