Dance Magazine: To the audience of a Broadway show, what’s being presented onstage is crisp, harmonious, and expertly crafted. But in most cases, the production has had a yearslong journey to that polished final product—a journey that often winds through one or more other theaters.
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Integrating a pre-Broadway tour into the life cycle of a theater production is akin to conducting a comprehensive market research phase in the world of business. This step acts as a safeguard against the high stakes and substantial investments required to bring a production to the glitzy stages of Broadway. It's a period where the creative team, much like a group of innovators launching a new product, can test the waters, gauge audience reactions, and refine their masterpiece accordingly. By embarking on a tour before hitting Broadway, producers and creators are given the luxury of time and space to identify and iron out any wrinkles, whether they're in the storyline, character development, set design, or technical aspects. This process of iteration is not just about cutting costs. It's about striving for perfection, ensuring that when the curtain finally rises on Broadway, it reveals a show that's as close to flawless as possible.
Creating a show on Broadway can be incredibly risky with large expenses, tight schedules, and a wide audience to cater to. If it goes well, it’s a huge payout with the show becoming widely successful and well known. However, with great potential for rewards also come great risks. If a show does not do well, it will fall a lot harder than if it was opening at a smaller theater or outside of New York. Because of all of this, it is no surprise that many shows prefer to have a tryout before they transfer to Broadway. It’s very cool to get an insight into the way this area of the industry works. I didn’t realize that a huge part of this is literally placing shows in the theater that would work for them. While some shows may never have an end goal of Broadway, it does make me think about how for shows that do have that as a goal, they have to be thinking about making the show marketable to Broadway theaters throughout the entire process.
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