Broadway. The ultimate goal. The big time. The main sign that your show has “made it.” The pinnacle of success.
Or is it?
Plenty of shows that you think could go to Broadway don’t go to Broadway. Or, at least not right away. For one reason or another, producers decide that Broadway is not the right fit, and rather than take their shows directly to Broadway, choose to take them on the road instead.
Taking a show on tour rather than going directly to Broadway, or avoiding Broadway altogether has a lot of potential upsides. It allows the creative teams to regularly observe their shows and make tweaks all along the way. It keeps the shows away from the scrutiny of New York City’s critics and bloggers. It gives the shows a chance to build up their name and brand. It is likely going to be cheaper to build a touring show and sustain weekly operating expenses on the road compared to Broadway, which mitigates some of the financial risk. And, while Broadway is an amazing brand, a show that is not ready for Broadway, or not the right fit for Broadway, but makes the decision to go for a Broadway run, runs the risk of being “branded” by the critics and bad word of mouth, which could ultimately lead, as it often has, to an early closing, and significant losses.
Several shows are out on the road now that could, but may or may not ultimately come to Broadway, or to Off-Broadway for that matter, such as FLASHDANCE, THE WIZARD OF OZ and I LOVE LUCY – LIVE ON STAGE to name a few, and below is a link to a recent article about another show that is keeping a safe distance from the Great White Way for the time-being. It seems “any way the wind blows” them other than to Broadway is perfectly fine for them…
Reblogged this on The View From Duffy Square and commented:
Robin Rothstein shares really interesting information about Broadway vs. tours, and the road to Broadway in this post and a similar one. Although my blog is primarily about the Broadway community in New York (but things do change; also: no, that’s not an allusion to change at this time), tours are important to talk about and understand, because a lot of people have their first experience with professional theatre, on and off-stage, because of Broadway tours.