[Not Dead Yet]

I was talking to a friend about theatre as a career.. and he somehow ended up saying this:

"I don't care if I'm not on Broadway now. I know I eventually WILL get onto Broadway. I mean, it's not that hard. I have an awesome voice. I'm pretty sure I'll be cast in SOMEthing..."


..


I had to walk away in order to restrain myself from dropkicking him in the face.
What do you say to someone whose attitude resembles his?
Are there any statistics on out of work actors at all or maybe interviews with currently working actors who had rough patches that I can shove down his throat?

Oh, and yeah, his voice is amazing. He just has a naturally great voice with a few bad habits he's getting rid of with training.
His acting, however... he always complains about and refuses to work on/take any advice on.

I understand that it's leagues more important to be a great actor than to be a great singer. Obviously, he disagrees. What do you think?

[Annie]

It's just so complicated and depends on so many things that are beyond your control.......there's no way of knowing anything pertaining to stuff like this. You just gotta try, and not put all your eggs in one basket, I guess.


...and this guy sounds like a bit of a smug jerk....

[Robinflamingo]

Here's a link to a practical article I found online with excerpt to follow:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Acting-Plays-Singing-695/takes-Broadway-2.htm

--------------------------------
An actor studies acting, works at learning her skills and craft, practices, rehearses, gains experience and hopes to make a living working at her craft.

A great actor is one who does the above but has great talent within them and great perseverence in pursuing her training and her art. Most great actors don't really care that much about earning a living - they are artists and need to act like they need to breathe. And it is that talent, that need, and that dedication to their art that makes them great.

A Broadway actor is one who works on Broadway. There are very, very few of these. Broadway is a very small community with very few jobs that thousands of actors want. The way to become a Broadway actor - especially in musical theatre - is to:
1) work your tail off studying acting, voice and dance - only the very best get the chance to play Broadway;
2) work in lots of small professional and regional theatres outside NYC to earn your Equity card (Broadway does not hire non-Equity actors);
3) climb over everyone you know - Broadway is about business and status and prestige - it is a cutthroat business;
4) audition constantly - waiting all day for cattle calls where you get seen for 1 minute;
5) act in lots of unpaid NYC showcases in the hopes that you will be able to come to the attention of an agent who will want to represent you - most Broadway leads and supporting roles are cast by audition subnission by agents and are seldom available to unrepresented actors;
6) be prepared for years of rejection and disappointment - with thousands of actors auditioning for each role, many of which are precast anyway, the odds of getting cast are minimal and the more you are seen the better your chances;
7) network constantly all over NYC - getting cast in NYC is about who you know;
and be sure to find a good day job - living in NYC is very, very expensive and unless you are doing Broadway or Off-Broadway, most NYC theatre is unpaid or, at best, very minimally paid.

...

Acting, like any other profession - and more than most, requires in-depth training. And if you want a career in musical theatre then you must study acting, singing and dance. There was a time when a singer could take a lead in a Broadway musical, but more and more musicals require even the leads to be triple threats. And even more so for those not the leads.

And don't fool yourself. No matter how good a singer you are, there are others better. And these days big film and tv stars with big names that sell tickets are the ones who are getting the Broadway leads. The shows are so expensive to produce, even ther road companies and regional theatre productions, that only a star with box-office draw in the lead roles will allow the producers to have even a chance to recoup their money, much less make a profit. So most musical theatre actors (and there are far more of them than there are roles available) are playing supporting roles - and these almost always require acting, singing and dance.

...

Less than 2% of all professional union actors are making a living as an actor. Most are working at day jobs while they pursue their acting career, and the unemployment rate in the acting community is over 95%! So if you are going to limit yourself to just a tiny portion of the acting field - musical theatre - then you better be sure that you are exceptionally talented, exceptionally well-trained, and able to do every part of your craft.

-----------------------------
There's more, but this pretty much shoots a hole in the balloon....

[happyguava]

Ouch.

That was really good.

But quite depressing!

[wicked_boy]

At least he's optimistic.

[Not Dead Yet]

Robin,
Thank you, that was perfect
But ahh well, no matter what I say or show him, he'll believe what he wants to believe.

Are there any statistics for film acting?

[JIJane]

I would think statistics for film acting are even worse. For the UK side, less than 10% of all registered professional Equity actors make a living from performing. This means they don't make a lot of money - they just get by, so around £20,000 per annum or so maybe. All other 90% need to take on other work to supplement their income.

Having a good voice means nothing, loads of people have incredible voices and never get a job. There is so much more to it than talent. Sounds like he needs to read my book. (So you want to tread the boards, it's on Amazon)....

[wicked_boy]

The best theatre advice ever is:

1) If you have any other interest, do that, the theatre will just crush you instead.

AND....

2) Get to know people in the business.

[Matthew]

[wicked_boy]

[jetblack_diva]

[Matthew]

[wicked_boy]

Maybe you could be a polaroid photographer for Broadway. Kidding.

[Set_Buildin_Dad]

[Not Dead Yet]

[Catherine]

I'm gonna do a Matthew here.

My interests are
1) Theatre
2) Psychology

End.

[lakmé]

Haaaaahahahaha, your friend is funny. I would have laughed. And laughed hard.

And what Robin said.

[Catherine]

Oh yeah, your friend. Well, I'd just tell him to get a reality check. If he won't be persuaded, and theres nothing else you could do, don't bother, because he's the one who's gonna fall on his butt in the end.

[musictheatre00]

I'd take a good actor anyday, it's musical theatre ,a good singer is always nice, but this is storytelling here, how can you truly convey a story if you cannot act it, no one wants to see an actor who thinks that they're just acting and singing with nothing behind it, people want to see a story that they can connect with, acting is what bonds the audience and the show.

And as for the reality check, try to find a copy of the book, Making It On Broadway Actors' Tales of Climbing to the Top by David Wienir and Jodie Langel. It's a huge eye opener with testimonies from actors like Jason Alexander, Idina Menzel, Roger Bart, Anthony Rapp, and over 150 more actors. I just started it this weekend, it's great!

[JIJane]

Not yet dead - haha I am sorry! That's terrible. I will write to my publisher again to try and get it in stock....maybe you could order it off the UK amazon?? Definitely in stock there, also cheaper "used".

The other book mentioned "Making it on Broadway" is such a great book, I highly recommend it. So funny but yet sadly so true haha.

[Not Dead Yet]

[musictheatre00]

[Not Dead Yet]

[JIJane]

Ok I spoke to my publisher - the book needs to be orderded through www.amazon.co.uk apparently, sorry!

[kozafluitmusique]

I have a friend who's an amazing actor at his school. He's probably the second strongest who wants to be a professional actor in the school. The thing that makes him different from the first? He has backstage experience, when the best (apparently) doesn't really have much. The best is amazing - always gets the leads, etc. But I'm not sure how much level of behind-the-scenes he has...

The thing my acting teacher from sophomore year told us was, "Behind-the-scenes is important because it can help you get discovered" or something like that.

I love theatre....and i barely get cast...but do you know what? As much as sometimes I want to give up, I'll just try to act optomistic and realize that music ed can be fun, too (which is what i want to study). I want to study theatre, too ... and besides. Who knows. My mom i think told me something like, "who knows...maybe one day a student you will teach will become famous or something and you can be proud to say he/she was your student."