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The Business of Broadway: An Insider's Guide to Working, Producing, and Investing in the World's Greatest Theatre Community
New York’s Broadway theatre scene has long been viewed as the “top of the heap” in the world theatre community. Taking lessons from the very best, this innovative guide delves into the business side of the renowned industry to explain just how its system functions. For anyone interested in pursuing a career on Broadway, or who wants to grow a theatre in any other part of the world, The Business of Broadway offers an in-depth analysis of the infrastructure at the core of successful theatre. Manager/producer Mitch Weiss and actor/writer Perri Gaffney take readers behind the scenes to reveal what the audience—and even the players and many producers—don’t know about how Broadway works, describing more than 200 jobs that become available for every show. A variety of performers, producers, managers, and others involved with the Broadway network share valuable personal experience in interviews discussing what made a show a hit or a miss, and how some of the rules, regulations, and practices that are in place today were pioneered.
- GenresNonfictionTheatre
292 pages, Hardcover
First published July 7, 2015
26 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Mitch Weiss
44 books8 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 10, 2021
I found out about this book from an excellent podcast interview with the author.
Written from the perspective of what a first-time Broadway producer needs to know so that they are less likely to lose their shirts, the style and format reminded me of another gem, 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman. I always appreciate books where someone in the trenches of a successful career, after acquiring deep insight through years of hands-on experience, summarizes a lifetime of knowledge in a readable way. I will never look at a theatre production the same way, now that I'm aware of all the work that goes into each performance.
The Business of Broadway is defined by a reality that almost every production, each one a passion project employing hundreds of people, will flop or fail to break even. Unlike in movies or TV, theatre employees put their careers and physical safety on the line at every show, eight times a week. To ensure that the employees get paid and have a safety net, the industry is characterized by a byzantine web of labor union regulations and financial rules to protect employees from producer abuses. These regulations and disclosure requirements are the majority of this book, but are presented in an entertaining way for the casual reader.
I ended the book skeptical about whether most of these labor regulations are truly necessary to protect the employees. The author mentions that most theatre productions in America are non-union, but does not demonstrate that non-union theatre companies are a hellish work environment for the cast and crew. In contrast to the possibly overstated benefits of union membership, the book details the many increases to ticket prices that are passed on to consumers to pay for these employee benefits, which has the effect of gentrifying access to theatre seats over time. Higher costs for doing business also increase the failure rate of new productions. Perhaps there would be less turnover for employees and more pro-consumer innovations in the industry if the union work rules were pared back? The Covid pandemic shutdown may be an opportunity for the industry to re-evaluate the production and staging of shows going forward. - 3/10/21
Written from the perspective of what a first-time Broadway producer needs to know so that they are less likely to lose their shirts, the style and format reminded me of another gem, 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman. I always appreciate books where someone in the trenches of a successful career, after acquiring deep insight through years of hands-on experience, summarizes a lifetime of knowledge in a readable way. I will never look at a theatre production the same way, now that I'm aware of all the work that goes into each performance.
The Business of Broadway is defined by a reality that almost every production, each one a passion project employing hundreds of people, will flop or fail to break even. Unlike in movies or TV, theatre employees put their careers and physical safety on the line at every show, eight times a week. To ensure that the employees get paid and have a safety net, the industry is characterized by a byzantine web of labor union regulations and financial rules to protect employees from producer abuses. These regulations and disclosure requirements are the majority of this book, but are presented in an entertaining way for the casual reader.
I ended the book skeptical about whether most of these labor regulations are truly necessary to protect the employees. The author mentions that most theatre productions in America are non-union, but does not demonstrate that non-union theatre companies are a hellish work environment for the cast and crew. In contrast to the possibly overstated benefits of union membership, the book details the many increases to ticket prices that are passed on to consumers to pay for these employee benefits, which has the effect of gentrifying access to theatre seats over time. Higher costs for doing business also increase the failure rate of new productions. Perhaps there would be less turnover for employees and more pro-consumer innovations in the industry if the union work rules were pared back? The Covid pandemic shutdown may be an opportunity for the industry to re-evaluate the production and staging of shows going forward. - 3/10/21
March 1, 2022
Kudos to the author for his relentless pursuit of detail. This is an excellent term paper on all that is Broadway and I learned some things as a result.
I would have enjoyed personal anecdotes, some salacious details of actors and shows. That's not what this is, nor did it promise to be.
Read this if you're looking to work in the theater business or would like to know how the gears turn; not your thing if you're looking for story's or a narration of interesting Broadway history.
I would have enjoyed personal anecdotes, some salacious details of actors and shows. That's not what this is, nor did it promise to be.
Read this if you're looking to work in the theater business or would like to know how the gears turn; not your thing if you're looking for story's or a narration of interesting Broadway history.
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August 12, 2024A great beginner's guide to behind the scenes and what it takes to get a show onto the stage. Read this in college and it was one of the few books I hung on to because I enjoy having it as a frame of reference and something to look back on. Maybe a tad oversimplified but thats why its more a beginner guide and written for the layman.
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April 23, 2016I found this book fascinating, probably because I read it on my way to NY for an opening night at the Broadway theater where our son just started a fellowship. To be truthful, I bought it to give me him -- but I loved getting a glimpse at his new world, and a better understanding of the theater world that means so much to me. Some sections were not relevant to someone on the outside, but enough of it was meaningful to keep my interest.
Please not that I do not use the star rating system, so this review should not be regarded as a zero.
Please not that I do not use the star rating system, so this review should not be regarded as a zero.
October 20, 2015
Very detailed, nuts & bolts description of all the various jobs on Broadway; what they are, who gets them and how much they pay. Bottom line: it's a very tough, closed competitive world with low pay and much risk.
December 23, 2015
An excellent book if you're interested in the nuts and bolts of how Broadway shows are produced (specifically on Broadway) and who does what. The writing is dry and very fact-based, but also extremely informative and enlightening.
September 7, 2016
More content can be found on the website supporting this thorough collection of chapters breaking down the business behind getting a production on Broadway. www.justlearnsomething.us
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews