Broadway is a job and like all jobs, it has to come to an end. However, there is a little bit more to the story in this case. Most jobs require you to apply via a form and normally an interview – whereas Broadway requires auditions, a measure of your talent where you have little room for error. A lot also weighs on if you have any history with the casting team on whether or not you’ll book the job (assuming your audition was flawless)! You can see that this is ten times more difficult than other occupations. The amount of work put in to possibly get one job is outrageous, and because it is so difficult, it has to be done constantly to insure that you have work to actually do. This business is a lot of work!
Consider a secretary. He or she has room to advance in the company to another position by evaluations, etc. Now consider an understudy in a Broadway show (like Andy Kelso in Kinky Boots). He was “promoted” to Charlie Price after first being in the Ensemble. While this is common, the process that got Andy to being in the show in the first place could be compared to someone applying for a job. But if you consider filling out twenty forms for twenty jobs and auditioning twenty times for twenty jobs, they might seem like polar opposites. That’s because they are — they’re completely different! Auditioning in-person and filling out forms are completely different.
For this reason, Broadway is known to be a cutthroat industry. It also is known to weed out people who ultimately aren’t right for the business. It’s not unheard of someone to book their first big gig on Broadway and then audition more, get a little more work and then leave the business. It is a lot of work and it is ultimately up to the performer if they want to keep going out and auditioning. Sometimes life will pull a performer in another direction (their passion shifts) or it shifts because theatre is so unstable and not always a viable life choice to continue to do professionally. It’s a tough job with work involved. No one books a Broadway show and lounges around all day and shows up to the theatre to perform — it’s WORK, and like every career field not everyone that begins in remains in it.
However, some people have somehow incorporated Broadway into their life regardless of their personal life. Ellyn Marsh, beltress and Broadway veteran, is just that – a Broadway veteran. Her Resume is overflowing, with Priscilla: Queen of the Desert and Broadway’s Kinky Boots in her credits. Ellyn is also a full-time mom to her daughter, performing her eight shows a week and coming home to a full family. Her 54 show, “Ellyn Marie Marsh: Inappropriate” enjoyed a sold-out performance last week with a revival scheduled at the end of the month. She goes at full-steam ahead at life, which is why she’s on Broadway and has a beautiful family.
But why does it matter that some people have stayed in the business longer than others? Well, from an audience’s perspective, it doesn’t. You’ll enjoy your show regardless because the people onstage with still be held to the high regard that each and every Broadway performer has been for the past twenty years and still will be. However, having recurring cast members and ones with experiences provides a sense of wisdom and magic in the theatre each night. It’s magical and special to watch someone make their Broadway debut but it’s equally as special to celebrate someone’s 6th Broadway show and their 6th opening night. Although I’m not one for New Years Resolutions, one of mine is to begin to celebrate people that, 20 years later, are still making audiences leap to their feet on Broadway just as well as the day that they started. Here’s to Broadway gypsies – and I’ll drink to that!