<p>I know that was not your point. I just see the terms “rising star” and “future star” a lot and I do think that the language is infectious and our kids can get messages we do not intend to send. On your actual topic I can add that I have not been surprised by any of the mega-stars who have emerged from my own past school environs but there are others I would have expected to have greater success who haven’t…yet. I think that the schools selected students well and some of the seedlings found their light more than others. </p>
<p>@vocal1046 - Here’s the red secret… remove the space before " color" from the following… [ color=red] at the beginning and [/ color] at the end. Viola!! :)</p>
<p>Our D also feels that every person she knows who has achieved performing success has deserved it, but like you says it could as easily have happened for any of dozens of similarly talented people she knows. So much talent, so few paying gigs.</p>
<p>I agree with so many points here. Great discussion. Also, I’m a little more cynical–I think of those 70, there are some who don’t deserve it, whatever that means. Some people also make it through elite connections, extreme beauty, or other factors that have nothing to do with effort or artistry. And there are many people who are immensely talented and who work their butts off and do all the right things, but for whatever reason, never reach the success they aspired to. It’s not an easy business, that’s for sure. None of the arts is. I’m a writer and the vast majority of writers I know, even when they’re successful by any metric - published 10 books, say - have made a pittance and face rejection constantly. As the saying goes, you’re only as good as your last book (or booking!). Ah well, onwards and upwards!</p>
As was mentioned, the 70 $200k+ Equity actors may point toward the elephant in the MT room, which is that in this era most highly paid MT actors primarily earn fame and fortune in film and TV. Let’s face it… $1.5k per week is only $78k.</p>
<p>I know even less about breaking in to film and TV than about MT, but I suspect extreme beauty and connections may play an even larger role in that world.</p>
<p>I do remember reading in the Nice Work Playbill that Matthew Broderick said he still has a hard time getting cast on Broadway, so apparently even fame doesn’t guarantee steady MT work. </p>
<p>Broderick is a very specific “type”, and he doesn’t exactly try to break that character these days (nor does he need to) must limit the roles available</p>
<p>On the TV note… I was watching ‘Madam Secretary’ and a few stage actors are working on that show. Patina Miller (Pippin) and Erich Bergen (Jersey Boys)… plus Bebe Neuwirth (not new to TV, but still a stage actress). </p>
<p>^^Another theatre actor, Sebastian Arcelus, who actually has far more stage experience than either Erich or Patina, is also on Madam Secretary. He is married to Stephanie Block. Zeljko Ivanek has also worked extensively on stage as well as in film/tv. My guess is that this show, like The Good Wife, will employ a lot of stage actors, most of whom will be familiar faces and not recent grads. </p>
<p>Two things: First, “deserving it” is a designation that has no place in the entertainment industry. This is a business within which it is completely legitimate to prefer to hire one person over another based on appearance, personality, connectedness to others in the industry and so on. Those are actual qualifications. There is no required training, no licensing system with exams to pass, none of the objective measures that might determine which strivers succeed. Fairness could not be less of a factor in determining preference of employment.</p>
<p>Second, few working actors stick to one type of platform any longer. Most anyone who is making a living is doing so through a combination of media: theater, TV, film, commercials, industrials, voice over, etc and an even wider variety of genres within those platforms. There is no longer a distinction between “stage actors” and others. “Remember, $1500 a week is only $78K a year”. That’s if you work 52 weeks a year. Of the AEA members who were employed at all last season, the average number of weeks worked was 16. 1500 x 16 = $24K. That’s not a living wage. Cobbling together a career from sporadic work in all areas is the pathway to survival and it’s a struggle that never ends. </p>
<p>All of which is just to say that parents might want to have extremely frank discussions with their teens about the wisdom of funding an education as narrowly focused as a BFA in musical theater. Even the most gifted, hard-working, and fortunate one among them is incredibly unlikely to build a working life around musical theater alone. Better to be clear about that reality going in than to have it slowly dawn five or ten years out of school. These numbers are real. </p>
<p>And still, my kid’s pre-screens are out and essays are underway… </p>