Wedding Singer Tour - it's official

[WilliamT]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 7:24am

I just read the casting notice for the NON-Equity tour of The Wedding Singer. It's a shame it's not going out Equity to begin with. But, I guess everyone has to save a buck...

[crzyray]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 7:28am

wait so does that mean the set will be changed... a lot? i saw the non-equity aida and it was completely different than broadway (but i loved both versions). Where is the cast list? this makes me sad because i really wanted to see it on broadway but i never got the chance, i really hope the cast is good and that the set stays the same.

[WilliamT]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 7:35am

no cast list yet. the auditions are next week.
chances are the set will be cut back. I'm sure they will use some scenic aspects of the bway production and probably the same costumes (to save even more money...ugh!)... aside from the question of talent level, it's a shame that the producers are sending a company out that is less protected than one might be if it were equity.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 8:20am

I'm sure the scenary won't be that much different.

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 9:26am

The set from the Hirschfeld was disassembled and sent to storage, and the cast wasn't able to keep much of anything in terms of costumes- everything will be going directly to the touring production

[thespian geek]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 11:20am

That's a damn shame it's going to be non-equity. I was really hoping some of the cast from the Broadway production would be able to tour if they wanted.

[winston89]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 11:41am

The national tour is of hairspary and rent are non equity. That doesn't mean that the talent is any difernet fron an equity tour and they both use the same set that would be on broadway. I would imagen that they would do the same thing for TWS.

[tourboi]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 11:42am

The set will likely be the same. Look at RENT. They travel with basically the same set as New York and the previous Equity tours (just slightly scaled down to make for easier load ins/outs).

As for the show going Non Eq...I'm not surprised. The show lost quite a bit of money on the road. Going Non Eq is, sadly, a safe way to keep costs down and have a chance of profits. It's unfortunate, but its also business.

[Nycboi23]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 2:10pm

Put "Right On Time" back in the show!

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 2:19pm

Non-Equity? This really reveals the questionable morals of the parties involved in this crap-ass show. I bet they'll still try to book equity houses.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 3:37pm

This is not official, since you didn't post anything that says so (no links)

Updated On: 3/6/07 at 03:37 PM

[withoutlove78]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 3:52pm

actually it is official. i was at the hairspray non eq tour audition today and the casting director told us to come back next weekend for wedding singer auditions

[ErikInTheCity]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 5:06pm

Seems like there will be some changes. The Jon Lovitz/Jimmie Moore character is listed in the character breakdown in the listing on Backstage.

[catstagestud]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 5:09pm

when's the audition if I may ask; I get into the city Sunday morning and want to go on an audition or two for the experience of auditioning in NYC. Thanks if you have details!

Cheers,

Christopher

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 5:30pm

Ditto, I would like to hear the details.

[wicked4life51]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 7:07pm

whos producing the tour NETworks, TROIKA ? and i didnt see a audition for wedding singer in backstage it would have been posted where did you find out about these auditions?

[wicked4life51]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 7:09pm

i want everyone to read this
article below because it says everything about the national tour and it wont be non equity if these guys are producing it

wedding singer tour article

[wicked4life51]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 7:10pm

im looking at my backstage i dont see anything ?

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 7:20pm

wicked4life51, The Road Company sold the rights to the tour off to netWORKS, which is when the decision was made to make it Non-Equity.

[.LittleWing. 0224]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 7:21pm

that article is from june 2006.

[WilliamT]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 7:59pm

I bet they'll still try to book equity houses.

Bobby, that's what WILL happen. Just like Hairspray & Rent (which use majorly scaled back sets, btw) They continue to play equity houses all over the country.

I understand that these tours provide non-equity actors with great experience, but as I said before, aside from the talent issue, the people involved in these productions are not very well protected against casualties or problems, should they arrise. They work for less, do more shows than one should when touring, not to mention the the fact that they are selling tickets and marketing themselves as "straight from Broadway" or "the Broadway Musical...", when in reality, that's not what they are.

There are some amazing non-equity folks out there, (we ALL start there! I get it.) who for whatever reason can't break into equity, where they may deserve to be. Hooray for them! I'm sure this show will have a few, if not many of these. But the real issue is that if Actor's work under such conditions and allow these shows to continue to operate, the respect an actor deserves will continue to fall short. It's an unending cycle! People need to work and people will work under these contracts, so the fact that I'm writing this is sort of a waste of time, but I think a lot of people don't understand what these non-equity tours are all about.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 8:01pm

My problem is they charge equity ticket prices for something that isn't equity. Audiences believe they are seeing a pro-production.

[WilliamT]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 8:05pm

Exactly. False advertising. The public doesn't get it.

btw, my whole reply wasn't directed at you. I directed to the world... :)

[perfectliar]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 8:22pm

Okay, so... where is the audition notice?

[WilliamT]

Posted: 3/6/07 at 8:40pm

it's in backstage online.