Why'd they stop having auditions in Bway theatres?

[Leadingplayer]

Posted: 3/19/13 at 10:36pm

I was watching The Goodbye Girl and Marsha Mason has a dance audition on a Bway stage. (seems like that happens a lot in old movies...All That Jazz, Hannah and Her Sisters, A Chorus Line obviously.)

A woman I know tells a story of auditioning on the stage of the Barrymore with Katharine Hepburn lurking in the back of the theatre (circa late seventies or so---Hepburn was the lead in the play.)

Why'd they stop that? I'd probably get out to more open calls just for the fun of standing on the different stages....or is that why they quit the practice?

Updated On: 3/19/13 at 10:36 PM

[CapnHook]

Posted: 3/19/13 at 11:40pm

1) You would only be able to use VACANT theaters. Insurance risk to conduct auditions on a stage with a running show is too high.

2) Even if the theater were dark, it's very costly. You have to pay all of the house crew their minimums, gotta pay to rent the space, you need to pay to turn on the air conditioning and any other FOH expenses, you have to pay for security, etc. You need to make sure that the stage is completely clean after the previous tenant's loadout. You also need to provide a warm-up area, as per Equity guidelines. Not all Broadway theaters can provide that space.

It's much less expensive to just rent a rehearsal studio where many amenities are already included in the rental cost.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/19/13 at 11:41pm

I think LeadingPlayer should have a dedicated "Why did _________?" thread.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/19/13 at 11:58pm

I also wondered that. How long have the big audition studios been around? LIke Ripley and Pearl, etc?

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 3/20/13 at 9:37am

^ The way you phrased that caused me to imagine an audition studio named after Alice Ripley and Pearl Sun.

Updated On: 3/20/13 at 09:37 AM

[elphaba.scares.me]

Posted: 3/20/13 at 10:23am

Tell you what: if you hit the lottery, invest in a parking garage or a rehearsal studio. From what I know, those places make a mint.

[madbrian]

Posted: 3/20/13 at 10:27am

The documentary Every Little Step showed the final auditions for the recent revival of A Chorus Line being held in a Broadway theater. Is it still common for final auditions to be held in theaters?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/20/13 at 10:58am

Not really, madbrian. It does occasionally still happen, but it is more the anomaly now than the norm. I'm guessing they specifically did it for A Chorus Line/Every Little Step to make the documentary that much more theatrical.

As CapnHook stated it mostly comes down to cost these days. For example, to rent the two largest studios at Chelsea Studios for an entire day would run you $1000. Depending on how long of a day you are looking at that would not even cover the crew costs for that day, not to mention the rental fee and everything else you would need to pay.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 3/20/13 at 10:38pm

There was a time when a major producer renting a theatre on a long lease, say, Rodgers and Hammerstein with the Majestic or the St. James, had the theatre at their disposal most of the time. They were paying the bills for tech people, etc. There also was a time when union members were less expensive. Why run up a second bill for an additional rehearsal space, especially when the idea is to hear how someone sounds and looks on stage?

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/20/13 at 11:34pm

I could see them doing final callbacks on the stage of a long running show. I mean, why not have the Sophie's sing on the Mamma Mia stage. Like you said, they're already paying for the theater. And they have understudy rehearsals and stuff anyway, so people are paid to be there during the day.