Author Topic: Is Broadway/West End/etc your ultimate goal?  (Read 4127 times)

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missliz

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Is Broadway/West End/etc your ultimate goal?
« on: Feb 03, 2010, 08:06 pm »
I've always said that getting to Broadway isn't my end goal. If I can make a life out of stage managing, I don't care where I'm doing it. I happen to be in NYC, and obviously if the opportunity came along I would jump at it, but it's not my end-all-be-all. I mentioned this to an actress friend who was shocked, "because isn't Broadway the biggest you can go [in the US], so why not go for it?"

I notice a lot of posts here about how to get to Broadway (or West End, or..well, I'm not sure of other equivalents in other countries)...is this your goal? Why or why not?
I personally would like to bring a tortoise onto the stage, turn it into a racehorse, then into a hat, a song, a dragon and a fountain of water. One can dare anything in the theatre and it is the place where one dares the least. -Ionesco

theatreannie

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Re: Is Broadway/West End/etc your ultimate goal?
« Reply #1 on: Feb 03, 2010, 10:16 pm »
Just as you I would not turn down an opportunity at Broadway but that is not the goal I have in mind.

I like the atmosphere of working in a regional theatre and working with a company.  I don't feel that everyone should or needs to aim for Broadway.

Bwoodbury

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Re: Is Broadway/West End/etc your ultimate goal?
« Reply #2 on: Feb 04, 2010, 12:31 am »
It's not mine. I want to stay in DC permanently. I would do a show on Broadway if it came around at a good time in my life, but not at the expense of the career I hope to have in Washington. Broadway doesn't offer the kind of atmosphere I'm looking for and while there's some really great new, smaller theatre Off-Broadway and Off-Off, I don't think the high competition and cost of living are worth it. I have a good support system here and the theatre is predominantly stuff I want to be doing.

nmno

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Re: Is Broadway/West End/etc your ultimate goal?
« Reply #3 on: Feb 05, 2010, 05:27 pm »
Broadway is not my goal. 
I've worked on a few out of town sit-downs of Broadway shows, so I've done shows of that scope and size. And I've done some work in NY, rehearsing shows that later play out of town, and it has made clear that I'm not a New Yorker. 
If I were offered the job, I'd probably take it, to get the credit (more for the future employers reading my resume than for myself).  But better to leave those jobs to the people who really want them :) 

centaura

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Re: Is Broadway/West End/etc your ultimate goal?
« Reply #4 on: Feb 08, 2010, 03:35 pm »
I've never had the goal of wanting to work on Broadway.  I don't like the atmosphere in NYC and could never live there on a permanent basis.  I'm a midwest girl, and after spending 10 years touring the US, pretty much figured out that the area that fit my personality was the midwest.  I could possibly live in the pacific northwest, but have nothing drawing me there at this time.

As well, most of the really successful shows on Broadway run for years, and I don't think that I could work on one show that long.  I would do one show for 9 months at a time on tour, but there was always challenges with each day's venue or town that made life interesting and varied.  I'm at a roadhouse now, and I have that variety still.  My goal out of college was to tour, which I've done, and that goal morphed into becoming a venue person once I got tired of the road.  Fairly happy with where I'm at now.  I make my full time living with theatre, have good benefits.  All that I was really looking for.

-Centaura

 

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