Budgets for musicals…
WICKED, on Broadway , cost an estimated $14 million dollars to mount. THE LION KING cost $20 million. Broadway musicals have budgets with pages and pages of line items. Rent, costumes, sets, makeup, design fees, actors’ salaries are only a few of the those line items. Then add, permit costs, payroll taxes, union fees, and of course, legal and accountant fees (fees to the CPA firm are always special to me because I am a CPA!).
The costs to mount a musical, and not only on Broadway, just keep adding up. Here in Chicago, rental of a theatre can run anywhere from $1000 a week to double that – for a storefront theatre – that usually has only about 100 seats.
As I have been working on developing NUMBERS NERDS, our funding has come from a very small group of angels. A few months ago, another supporter came to me and said “How can I help?” As I thought about it, I thought…..hmmmmm. “How about running a fundraiser?”
Our budget will require funds for orchestrations, music tracks, actors, directors and of course to help us get to the New York Musical Festival in July 2017. So…..we had a fundraiser. It was glorious. Two cast members performed songs from NUMBERS NERDS, the librettist spoke about the show and the audience members who saw the show gave testimonials. We talked about the importance of supporting young women – encouraging them to pursue their love of math – in spite of external challenges.
We talked about the need for good roles for young women in musicals and why our show fits that bill. Then we answered questions from the attendees and then we asked for their help with us on our journey.
Just as we were leaving a woman came up to me and said, “I love what you are doing. Keeping girls in math class is so important, may I offer some advice?” I said SURE! She said, “Start a GO FUND ME account and give the same speech you gave here – NOTHING Fancy…just speak”…So…we did…..
Even if you can give nothing, please take a quick look at our GOFUNDME video…..it only took 87 takes, but I think it captures the spirit of our journey.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Larry Little
Producer
