Hey all. So I'm in my first long run of a show, and I have questions for any Broadway performers who might read these boards. First, how on earth do you do eight shows a week? My show has been going for two months with six performances a week, and I find myself exhausted. A few weeks ago, I got sick, and I still don't feel like I've had enough down time to recover. Second, how do you deal with the fact that so many of the shows you perform in are projects that you care so little about? I know it's a paycheck and not every show can be Into the Woods, but most of the performers I know go many months or even years between jobs that they actually care about. This show I am currently in is not that great, and it makes me pretty despondent. How do people do long runs of less than stellar material? Thanks for reading!
I don't know if this is a serious thread and I've only done one longish (3 months) run in my life. But a lot of my best friends are--well, you know...
And they say they are inspired by remembering that it is the first time at the show for most of the audience, no matter how many times the performer has done it.
I would only add that very few people (including artists) have the joy of being totally inspired and enthusiastic every day they go to work. Almost all professionals have to learn how to fake it at times.
I think most Broadway gypsies would respond by saying that it is a discipline. You have to really know your body and take care of it accordingly. Most performers have a routine daily regiment to turn their bodies into machines.
As for performing in a show you don't care about...you need to find your happiness in whatever you do. If you're the fourth chorus girl on the left in MAMMA MIA!, you turn it ON and perform the best show you've ever done. And you do this EVERY night.
And yes, this can become a mindgame. I, too, have friends who go with the rule that in tonight's audience may be a little girl seeing her first Broadway show. Make it a good one.
Going along with what theatrical100 said, you do it because you LOVE it and it's the only thing you can see yourself doing with your life- if not, why do it? For every performer on Broadway, there are thousands dying to take their place.
I don't think the people at the Ambassador Theater need to read this advice--but if you asked them, as the song says, they could write a book.
The collective experience, talent and professionalism shown nightly by the cast of the Broadway company of Chicago deserves respect, qolbinau, and not your facile little snark. You would be lucky to come to know a fraction of what they have learned.
One might say it's like anyone who goes to the same job every day.
You do it because it's your chosen profession. You find the inspiration where you can. You tap into your professionalism, training and discipline to deliver your best at all times - even when you're exhausted.
Of course, it's an oversimplification/generalisation, and it's going to vary nightly, and it's a tired argument on this forum. But I do find this thread interesting and maintain that it can be seen as an audience member (e.g. at a half-empty Chicago Thursday matinee last summer) that performers do get tired or bored performing their roles.
Since no one has touched the illness thing, I'll bite: you have to live like a nun, pace yourself in performance, and--the hardest part for people who love to sing--reserve your vocal strength for what's needed in your show, and sometimes that means not singing in the shower, in the car, while you're on hold, etc.
Also, you have to sleep more than your body tells you, which is hard for theatre people since we're usually night owls. Anytime I've gotten sick or fatigued in long runs has been when I haven't been devoting enough time to sleep.
The folks in the business that I have gotten to know over the years echo much of what has been said already. Many of them really are mindful of the fact that there are literally millions of people in this world who would give anything to be up there. Its not like getting the big promotion at work so you can have a corner office... this is a profession that people dream about. The song from the failed musicals "Kicks" has a line in "and that is my dream, to know how it feels, to kick up your heels, and be someones dream"- that's how to keep yourself in the game- your living millions of other peoples dream- and if you truly understood that I think you would get how its possible.
I've only done two long(ish) runs - a 6 week run of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC and a four month tour of LITTLE SHOP..., full of five-show weekends.
ALNM was pure joy from beginning to end and I couldn't wait to get onstage every night.
But I remember once, about mid-way through the run of LITTLE SHOP, I was feeling petulant about having to do the show that night; I wished I could be going out drinking with my friends or going to the movies or doing anything other than having to sing "Suddenly Seymour" one more time.
And then I realized that I had been given what was probably the best role I was ever going to have ( certainly the only lead I ever had ), it wasn't going to last forever, I was being paid to do something I said I loved and I should just shut up, stop complaining and do the show.
I held on to that for the rest of the run and it truly made a difference for me. I don't know if I was good, bad or indifferent, but I do know that I had a blast doing that show and I like to think that some of that joy ( which had to be rediscovered ) helped the audiences enjoy the show.
I have never been a performer but I would think just professional pride in your work should get you thru most performances. I assume that it has been your dream to perform on Broadway so I can't imagine that you did not understand the demands of doing 6 shows a week. Also, great scripts and material you love are not going to be plentiful in a career on Broadway even if you are a star. I think you get through bad material by understanding that at least you are working. There are many people out there that would love the opportunity you have and are busting it by being a waiter or some other type of job to make a living.
This show I am currently in is not that great, and it makes me pretty despondent. How do people do long runs of less than stellar material?
You signed a contract. That's how you get through it. You made the choice to do this work, and I'm guessing you went into it know its merits. The show you're in now isn't the show you'll be in forever, but for right now, it's your job. You have to show up and give 100% as long as it's your job. PJ and Addy's comments about professionalism are pretty salient here.
The first five years of my teaching career I taught nothing but freshman college composition. I absolutely hate teaching that course, but it was my job, something I committed to, and I gave it my all. Now I have a much better teaching position where I am able to teach and write about material I'm very much invested in. You won't always love your job--in your case, the particular show you're in--but you have to do it, and do it well.
Is the OP working another job? I can't imagine otherwise how anyone could be "exhausted" working 18 hours a week for two months, no matter how strenuous the show might be.
Try waiting tables at a busy restaurant, on your feet for 8-10 hours a night, five nights a week. Try teaching overcrowded groups of inner-city teenagers, 7 hours a day (then grading and preparing for another 2-4 hours at home). Try being a resident doctor in a hospital, working 17 hour shifts without a day off in 14 days.
Welcome to the neighborhood...that's how almost everyone feels when they dream their whole lives about getting to Broadway, and then figure out that oh, right, it's a job. A month into my first Broadway show, I was like, "ah...so this is IT?" It's such a strange feeling.
So:
Pace yourself. Avoid gossip and extracurricular drama; sometimes the dressing rooms can be the most draining place of all! Don't tell anyone anything about yourself that you wouldn't want everyone in the cast to know. It's a workplace. Keep your personal life personal. Be choosy about other auditions/readings/benefits/preserving down time. Don't go out every night. Don't be afraid to skip the stage door once in a while and go home.
And finally: yes, there are a zillion people "in line behind you" who would happily take your job...but they'd get tired too.
I don't like operating from that place of fear and paranoia.
Instead, think about this--every time you step onto a Broadway stage, there are people who are seeing their first Broadway show. Remember how magical that experience was for you, and do it for them.
PalJoey - qolbinau is entitled to his/her opinion. Do you honestly think that there never is times when some performers in "Chicago" or any other show "go thru the motions". I am sure it is farly rare but I don't think anybody needs you to tell them about showing respect.
It's a facile, robotic, cheap dig at the ensemble of a long-running show. It was not an "honest" evaluation of "some performers"--it was a blanket statement, made just to be nasty.
I've seen the show twice in the past 2 years and each time I've been stunned by how exciting the dance numbers are.
And if everyone's entitled to his/her opinion, then I'm entitled to my opinion that performers who work hard to do exactly what the OP asked about not be dismissed by someone trying be clever. If qolbinau is entitled to be gratuitously nasty, I'm entitled to say "Respect must be paid."
Here's the current cast at a charity benefit doing All That Jazz: It's not even on their own set, so they have to squeeze the choreography into a narrow stage with a long runway, but each and every one of them is doing it FULL OUT:
Whatever. I think paying for my ticket and sitting quietly is sufficient respect to the performers. A lot more than you can often expect these days in New York.
To troll, I would argue that the CHICAGO cast members should give me the same respect by giving a stellar performance, but I agree it was quite a 'blanket statement'. The performer was one particular ensemble member who, as soon as he would turn away from the audience look like he was about to fall asleep.
(Clearly the conditions change from a half-empty Thursday matinee to a Charity performance, of course).
Is the OP working another job? I can't imagine otherwise how anyone could be "exhausted" working 18 hours a week for two months, no matter how strenuous the show might be.
I've always wondered this. But I consider that with rehearsal, late nights, matinees, more exercise to keep in shape etc..it must be physically demanding.
I smell a ......sockpuppet. from RC in Austin, Texas
: )
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Posted: 10/3/12 at 07:31pm