I’ve seen a number of musicals staged by national touring companies, but only one show on Broadway.
How do the two differ? Do the big national touring productions compare in overall quality, depth of cast, set design, etc. as the Broadway shows?
I’ve seen a number of musicals staged by national touring companies, but only one show on Broadway.
How do the two differ? Do the big national touring productions compare in overall quality, depth of cast, set design, etc. as the Broadway shows?
The national touring companies are quite good, but they are generally made up of actors who weren’t quite good enough for Broadway (other than the star).
There’s also a drop off in the amount of spectacle: on Broadway, Miss Saigon had a helicopter landing on the stage (this was the show’s big trademark). When they went on the road, they used lights and sound to create the effect. The issues with moving props and using unfamiliar stages (where you don’t have more than a day to set up), requires compromises.
Still, if you can’t get to Broadway, a good touring company can be fine.
Obviously I can’t speak for every touring company, but the two I’ve seen in the last several years (Cabaret and Mamma Mia!) included actors who had appeared in featured-or-better Broadway shows previously. I saw MM both on Broadway and on tour and I thought a number of the people in the touring company were better than their Broadway counterparts.
I agree with this part, sometimes the road theaters just don’t have the infrastructure to handle giant swinging chandeliers (Phantom) or helicoptors (the cited Saigon), but it has been my experience that the talent is there.
Saw BTL’s 42nd Street last year, was spectacular.
This varies from show to show, and depends upon such things as whether the “star” wants to tour or not. Sometimes the stars of the original cast go on the road, and their replacements carry on the show in NY. That’s not the usual case, but it happens frequently enough that you really can’t quot any hard-and-fast rule.
It’s been a few years since I was consumed by the Broadway bug, but I saw Angela Lansbury take Sweeney Todd on the road while her replacement, Dorothy Louden, took over on Broadway. I saw Katherine Hepburn in Chicago (the city, not the show) too, though right now I can’t remember what she was in. I saw Philip Anglim in The Elephant Man, and Judd Hirsch in Talley’s Folly. All members of the respective original casts, all on tour.
Man that WAS a long time ago.