How long are rehearsals

To ask a question, email AskPlaybill Playbill. Please specify how you would like your name displayed and please include the city in which you live. Question: I stage manage a regional theatre's youth conservatory in Teaneck, NJ, and I try to encourage actors by making them feel as much like a Broadway cast as possible. On average, how long is the rehearsal process for musicals before their opening night, and how often does a cast rehearse after a show opens, if at all?

A Broadway show, like Rome, isn't built in a day. The writing and developing of a play or musical can take years. Once it gets the green light to open in a Broadway house, things speed up considerably. Between the first day of rehearsal and the first preview, usually no more than a month or two pass.

Much of this schedule is dictated by the contract that exists between Actors' Equity Association, the stage performers' union, and the Broadway League, the producers' trade orgnanization. A typical rehearsal period for a Broadway show, said Equity spokesperson Maria Somma, is weeks. It's a bit like saying how long is a piece of string - the danger is losing sight of the fact that your cast do not need to 'just' sing and dance, they also need to act, so time for all those facets needs to be added in.

Considerations for timing of rehearsals: Trying to rehearse intensively in the evening for more than about two and a half hours is often not productive. However, at weekends or with a cast member not coming from a full day's work, this can be flexible.

Production meeting scheduling : This should be kept outside of the rehearsal time. Total hours: One rough guide for straight plays is 1 hour's rehearsal for 1 minute of playing time. Special considerations which lengthen the rehearsal schedule: The calculation above includes run-throughs but not technical or dress rehearsals — these need to be added on. In addition, the genre of the play may increase the required hours. This can be estimated by reading a few representative pages and adding in a percentage for non-text playing, i.

A play that is strongly text-driven e. It is very difficult to give a guide as to what the percentage range should be as it really depends on the director and what s he intends to do with the play.

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We do three high school theatre productions a Colleen, Most people put up a musical in about weeks, rehearsing days a week. The w Musicals with a cast of o We rehearse If the stage is empty I can claim it but I'm not allow Hello, I've got a fairly good situation, but it's taken 11 years to reach it I really establ Colleen Lentz. Posted Reply Reply Privately Options Dropdown. RE: rehearsal time.