Of people who appeared on Broadway over the past couple of years, the richest is probably Kelsey Grammer. He earned a million dolalrs a week during the last few seasons of Frasier.
During Murder, She Wrote run was Angela Lansbury was the highest paid actress in the world. She also served as the show executive producer from 1992 to 1996. I imagine she is also doing quite well when she's in a Broadway show.
In terms of non-Hollywood actors/actresses, I think Patti or Bernadette are doing well. Mandy Patinkin and Kristin Chenoweth have crossed over a lot. Lea Salonga and Idina probably do well considering all of the concerts they do internationally.
Unless she has made some good investments, I'm not sure that Kristin Chenoweth is worth $30 million (although I'm sure she's not hurting). Has she been in a project that would have given her a huge payday?
A slightly different question -- which Broadway actor got the most money from a single production? Most of the huge weekly pays you hear about are for relatively short runs.
Bernadette Peters is very wealthy, mostly from concert appearances plus the money she inherited from her late husband (who was a wealthy hedge fund manager).
I'm sure Harvey Fierstein must be pretty wealthy due to his book writing projects. Especially for La Cage, Torch Song and Newsies. Nathan Lane must be pretty well fixed and he was at one time both an equal star of Broadway and Hollywood. He's the only true Broadway star who also had many hit films as well to his credit.
Lupone, I'm not sure what hit films of Nathan Lane's you're referring to. I count one, "The Birdcage". I don't think you can count "Lion King" since Disney is notoriously cheap and I doubt the voice actors got substanial royalties from that movie. They probably got a 3 picture deal instead. Harvey Fierstein is probably well off due to "LaCage" and "Hairspray", not so much Torch Song.
Nathan Lane was probably paid very well when it was called to do The Producers return engagement in 2003 and then he stepped in to replace Richard Dreyfuss in London.
Does book writing get significant royalties in comparison to writing the libretto? I saw a documentary and Stephen Fry who rewrote the book for Me and My Girl said the checks he got per week from it were eyewatering.
Charles Strouse taught a workshop at NYU's Music Theatre program and one of the students asked him if it was true he made $25 million from ANNIE. Strouse rolled his eyes, laughed and replied "You are not even close."
"Charles Strouse taught a workshop at NYU's Music Theatre program and one of the students asked him if it was true he made $25 million from ANNIE. Strouse rolled his eyes, laughed and replied "You are not even close.""
Does that mean less or more? I have to assume more, right?
Mackintosh, though not a "Broadway star," owns 40% of Les Mis. I don't know how much of his other projects he owns. Similar situation for people like Lloyd Webber who not only compose but also produce.
Cameron Mackintosh has made a fortune from his shows, I do wonder what he gets royalty wise from Mary Poppins, it must be a hefty sum especially as it continue to run on Broadway and on tour. I imagine with Les Mis, he'll make a significant amount of money from the film and that's alongside the money still earned from the stage production.
I'm sure Mackintosh is making a killing from Les Mis. With the new movie, and seeing as though Les Mis is in its 27th year in the West End, he is making a ton. Poppins is probably bringing in some decent sized checks as well.
Mackintosh was supposedly worth $1.1 Billion as of April 2012 so after the film pays him all of his money he will be hard to beat even for any of the A-Listers that people have mentioned.
joined:3/11/07
Posted: 12/31/12 at 10:32am