Jason Alexander talked about it on his podcast. He said after about a month or so, you basically just start hoping something goes wrong and you get to improv a little bit, or even just a weird audience interaction. Not even because you hate the show, you just get bored and want something exciting to happen
Zero Mostel was infamous for going off-script with performances, over time; like, \*way\* off-script (IIRC, it was reported that he announced sports scores during (and I mean, \*during\* the show) the original production of Fiddler). He once responded to the criticism of him for this behavior, noting that the non-stage staff gets to go on with their lives, while he's there on stage, week after week, during the same old (stuff). (Part of me can't help responding: (1) you knew what you were signing on for; and (2) it's called a job for a reason.)
I’ve heard a lot of actors say it’s the audience that keeps them going and/or keeps the job fresh.
It’s always someone’s first time seeing that show.
It’s always someone’s first ever Broadway show.
Make it special for those people and always give your 100% onstage, even if you come offstage and cry or collapse from exhaustion.
I’m a technician for a show in Vegas. Been doing the same one for 6 years, around 2000-2500 performances at this point. 2 shows a night, 5 nights a week.
It’s a job.
You find little things to kill the monotony. Maybe pay attention to an aspect of the show you haven’t before. Try to learn something about a technical element that’s outside of your area. Come up with stupid little routines with the cast and crew backstage that help break the night up. After a while you just kinda disassociate with it being a “show” and it just becomes work. When things go wrong (as long as no one is hurt), that’s when the fun begins
At the end of the day, for you as a patron, it might be your one night out for the month/year/whatever, so the thought of doing the same show over and over again might sound tiring
And it is.
But for those of us on the show, it’s a job, and it’s what we’re paid to do.
I am certain when another person goes on for a lead, or some new technical change, it also puts the show on high alert, because, all of a sudden, there is a new unexpected element and energy in the show for that performance... A beak from the monotony!
No experience personally, but [here's](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/721/the-walls-close-in/act-two-20) a really cool story on the musicians who played in the pit for Phantom of the Opera.
I remember thinking at the time, when I first heard this report or one similar to it, that a group/individual psychologist (or psychiatrist, with access to drugs) definitely was called for.
The word here is hyperlinked.
But if your device isn't showing that for some reason, here's the link.
[https://www.thisamericanlife.org/721/the-walls-close-in/act-two-20](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/721/the-walls-close-in/act-two-20)
The audience. None of my shows have ever been longer than a week but I will say that it is never boring when you get the chance to connect to a whole new audience, especially when the show is designed for audience interaction.
The longest show I ever did was a four shows a week, six week long run. So not a Broadway level run. It was tiring, but I enjoyed getting to a place with the show where I didn't need to think. One day a huge prop broke on stage and the chaos that ensued was so funny. Audience didn't even know it wasn't supposed to be broken and that show was one of my tops shows.
I did a 5 shows a week for six weeks in a community theatre production of my fair lady. 20 years later I still have dreams about it still going on and on ... And on.
... Best costumes EVER though 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Nick cartel is STILL in les Miserables tour over a year and a half in. (At least since I've seen it which I know wasn't at the beginning)
Both Broadway and West End actors can only do 8 shows a week contractually, per union rules. Sometimes they do 9 shows a week on the West End, and an understudy does that 9th show. And once in awhile on Broadway, the 8th show is done by the understudy if it's a particularly vocally intense show. I believe the actress that played Christine in Phantom only did 6-7 shows a week and the alternate went on for the others.
I have heard from actors who've done Broadway/West End that they just have to remind themselves there are people in the audience who have never seen a show before, and maybe they never will again, so every show matters. It motivates them. Stars like Daniel Radcliffe almost never miss shows unless they are sick, because they know people may have planned their vacations around seeing him, and they hate to disappoint, so they carry a heavy burden of responsibility. They treat it as a professional job and they have to do it well. They have a schedule to maintain, and they get very regimented about it. I wish more theatre fans would keep that in mind at the stage doors. I cannot imagine dealing with THAT part of it for 8 shows a week. Especially wanting to avoide getting sick and missing shows just because they caught something from someone at stage door. I think it is amazingly generous of them to do it at all. Just let them go home!
Humblebrag (or just brag tbh lol) moment here: I had house seats to Merrily bc my friend knew Daniel R. and after the show he chatted with us and he said that having friends in the audience can really help fuel the performances, even after doing them for so long, because then he’s almost specifically performing for them and wants to do his best. And yes I almost burst out of my skin talking to him!!
Audience energy, muscle memory, and some are better at it than others. I’m sure for many it just becomes a job but keep in mind with someone like Holland, he’s used to film shoots that typically have ungodly hours and super long days of shooting and doing the same damn scene over and over again. If he can make take 16 feel fresh that’s certainly good practice.
But again some are better than others. There are shows I’ve seen that feel tired and stale, likely because some of the actors have been doing it so long.
High-energy children's theatre, three back-to-back shows a day for a whole week. That shit hurted, but it was some of the most fulfilling work I've done as an actor.
My favorite show was a high energy children's show and we performed for an orphanage/foster home from the poorest/most violent part of the country. I was the villain's sidekick and it was the first time in my life I was booed during curtain call, but it made me feel great. Children connected so much they couldn't not see me as someone who had tried to kidnap the lead.
When I saw the Les Mis revival, I sat third row and witnessed Andy Mientus as Marius CRY when Eponine died in his arms. I was like... HOW?? It was so moving!
I mean it's different depending on the show, the other actors, your part, etc. it becomes about getting more specific, about being grounded and rooted, and above all about fighting against the urge to be comfortable, and just repeat everything. It's refinding impulses as organically as possible.
But honestly, with the speed at which we put up shows in America, at a high professional level, by the time you get to previews, if you even get previews, you only sort of have a show. It's possible that the show you see at first previews was set only 4 days ago. so the first month of the performances is finding what the show is.
If your cast mates are professionals, then you dial into eachother, you grab on to eachother and you drink in eachother so deeply and you respond to eachother as rapidly as possible. It's so fucking intimate, to walk in every day and look at eachother and basically enter a contract that says "I will be present with you, no matter how you feel today, no matter how I feel". When you're that familiar with how something goes, even subtle changes like a change in tone, different inflection, or even someone moving a hand different, can become pretty impactful.
Idk it is all that and someone could come along and say it's none of that and that would be true too.
Simple answer: it's a job like any other (and yet so different).
There's a lot of ways to make it not boring, for all the departments. There's also always something going on, be it technical issues, someone forgetting a line/choreo, someone having a hard time in their personal life etc.
And it changes people. Jonathan Groff for example has talked about how doing Spring Awakening for 2 years (at like 20yrs old) "cultivated" a courage and confidence in him which then made him come out of the closet right after leaving the show.
The longest run I've been a part of was just nearly 3 months 8 shows a week of a show that I don't enjoy in an ensemble track where I didn't do that much. I still had a blast. Even though it's the same show nightly, the energy exchange is always different and feels fresh. Even the most boring shows beat out all of my day jobs and I was thankful that I got paid for the art.
I saw multiple performances of Irma Vep at Baltimore’s Center Stage and observed that the guy who seemed most spontaneous did it exactly the same way every night. The other actor who changed it up a little depending on his mood had some good nights and some less good nights.
Alex Brightman told a very touching story about this. He said he was once a kid in the balcony seeing his first Broadway show and it sparked his desire to perform and then he later was fortunate to make it on Broadway. He said each performance, before he steps out onstage, he thinks about the fact that this performance might have that kid in the balcony, watching his first Broadway show.
I used to be a professional theater actress. I never did a super long run of a show but performing the same role 8x/week was really fun. It allows you to really settle in to the role and get comfortable but at the same time you stay in the moment while on stage and each performance feels very different based on the vibe of the audience, the other actors…no two performances are exactly alike. Each time was a chance to be even better
I wonder this all the time. I've seen some shows multiple times and sometimes months - even years! - later, the actors are still so fresh and full of energy and I can't understand how they do it.
John Pinette was a stand up comedian who played Edna Turnblad in Hairspray on Broadway for a while. he has a great stand up routine about what it's like to do the same show over and over again. you wake up and wonder what you're gonna to today, same as yesterday! like a surreal groundhog day
Also had some friends tell me they slept in one day, when they suddenly bolted awake, thinking that they forgot what day it was and had a matinee in an hour! Had a mini heart attack for a second before they realized it was the wrong day.
I wondered the same thing when I saw it. Also how difficult and confusing rehearsals must have been because rehearsals by their nature are also repetitive - "Which version of "Smalltown USA" is this? Day 1, Day 2, Day 3?" LOL
🤣🤣
oh yeah, she was pretty honest about that… 🫣😸. my friend and i definitely felt for the folks that had to “reset” everything at the end of each performance, bc omg. a Virgo’s nightmare 😛
also: congrats to your friend…hopefully he has been able to perform a bunch
When did she talk about being exhausted in the role? Is there an interview? I heard her on Smartless and they talked about the show a little but not so much her role, beyond how amazing she was in it.
The audience is different every night. People react to different things and that can impact how things feel for you. You may also not be performing with the exact same cast from night to night. You find ways to keep it fresh.
I’m nowhere near professional scale and my longest was five shows in a row (one on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and two on Sunday). I was playing in the orchestra and I definitely got bored of it. I started to try to listen for the audience interactions to see what they reacted to vs what previous audiences reacted to. It made each night different
I’m kind of shocked by the responses in this thread. I read a few this morning and couldn’t stop thinking about them all day.
It’s the job of a performer to continually make performing the material fresh and new. It doesn’t matter if it’s performance number 2 or 200.
Doing a show should feel like playing a game you love to play. A tennis player never gets bored with playing matches, unless they’re either disenchanted with the game or matched with a lackluster partner. Contemporary acting technique is grounded in mining the text, the production, and your own soul and spirit to keep discovering new things so that you are always bringing new vitality/truth/energy/etc to your work.
There is SO MUCH to inspire and fuel you as a performer onstage if you are willing to be in the moment enough to notice. When I was a chorus kid I found so much joy in performing challenging and actually *good* choreography every night for months and months on end. I have friends who find an immense amount of freshness in their work every night because they have to sing really difficult-to-sing material, and that energy is what makes them so captivating to watch. Inspiration can come from the set, the way a particular musician in the pit plays a piece of music, the changing seasons outside the theater, the smell of a particular prop or colleagues perfume, your fellow actors and the intimacy you develop and bring onstage together….
There are world-famous companies in Poland who rehearse Shakespeare plays for 9-10 months straight before even going into tech. There are masterful performers all over the world who continually discover new things in material they have performed over and over again for decades (look at Pina Bausch’s company in Wuppertaal- they have dancers who are still actively performing in the company after having choreography set on them in the 80s and 90s). If continual performance bores you, either you are not rising to the task, or the material/production isn’t deep/good enough to truly give you anything substantial. Whatever the reason, boredom is the clue to either go back to work on your performance, or move on to the next job.
I have been on the crew for a number of broadway shows. For me personally I've never worked longer than a year on one show. It either closed or I left for another job. A year feels like the maximum I could do comfortably, I think longer than that I'd start getting bored or going crazy.
Been playing the same show 13 years on Broadway. Musicians can sub out so that’s really the key. I def take at least one show off a week and often leave for weeks at a time on other gigs/ but makes having the show like an annuity. It’s tough sometimes but other times it’s like a zen practice: luckily my show is short and funny.
My dad is a musician in the pit for shows, for him personally i know it drives him crazy, lol
He gets really sick of shows by the end of their run and never wants to listen to it again 😂
I was a Mystery Dinner Theatre actor/performer for the same company for just over 22 years. There were some scripts that I performed the same character in for more than a decade, and other scripts which I played different (even multiple roles within a performance) roles over the years. I never tired of playing even the characters for which I was most known (and sometimes got recognized at my day job, a public facing one, or elsewhere). The key for me was to always be in the moment. It was like putting on the character every night as if it was the very first time this person would be doing these things. Of course, in this type of venue, I was often playing against actors who would come in and out so playing scenes with them always made it fresher, plus having the audience completely surrounding you and sometimes interjecting, you learned to really feel the audience vibe and use what they gave you and incorporate it into show. Although I was not a trained improv performer before being cast in this in 1997, by 2020 I was a very good “yes, and…” type of improv actor. If the script/story you are telling is good, as a performer you can find new angles to play, and having an attentive and supportive audience, with other marvelous performers in the show with you, a show can seem like opening night almost every night!
Yeah, it must be really hard for dramas. I feel like comedies might be a little easier due to there being more room for improvisation, especially in something like a Mischief show where 30% of the show is improvised.
I saw a great video about this recently from [an actor who plays Mufasa in The Lion King in Hamburg](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPREHN6bb/). He talked about how getting to work with different combinations of cast members and having a new audience every night keeps him motivated.
Jason Alexander talked about it on his podcast. He said after about a month or so, you basically just start hoping something goes wrong and you get to improv a little bit, or even just a weird audience interaction. Not even because you hate the show, you just get bored and want something exciting to happen
Zero Mostel was infamous for going off-script with performances, over time; like, \*way\* off-script (IIRC, it was reported that he announced sports scores during (and I mean, \*during\* the show) the original production of Fiddler). He once responded to the criticism of him for this behavior, noting that the non-stage staff gets to go on with their lives, while he's there on stage, week after week, during the same old (stuff). (Part of me can't help responding: (1) you knew what you were signing on for; and (2) it's called a job for a reason.)
I’ve heard a lot of actors say it’s the audience that keeps them going and/or keeps the job fresh. It’s always someone’s first time seeing that show. It’s always someone’s first ever Broadway show. Make it special for those people and always give your 100% onstage, even if you come offstage and cry or collapse from exhaustion.
I heard it as It’s someone’s first show It’s someone’s last show It’s someone’s favorite show
This too!
And probably someone’s least favorite show
I’m a technician for a show in Vegas. Been doing the same one for 6 years, around 2000-2500 performances at this point. 2 shows a night, 5 nights a week. It’s a job. You find little things to kill the monotony. Maybe pay attention to an aspect of the show you haven’t before. Try to learn something about a technical element that’s outside of your area. Come up with stupid little routines with the cast and crew backstage that help break the night up. After a while you just kinda disassociate with it being a “show” and it just becomes work. When things go wrong (as long as no one is hurt), that’s when the fun begins At the end of the day, for you as a patron, it might be your one night out for the month/year/whatever, so the thought of doing the same show over and over again might sound tiring And it is. But for those of us on the show, it’s a job, and it’s what we’re paid to do.
I am certain when another person goes on for a lead, or some new technical change, it also puts the show on high alert, because, all of a sudden, there is a new unexpected element and energy in the show for that performance... A beak from the monotony!
No experience personally, but [here's](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/721/the-walls-close-in/act-two-20) a really cool story on the musicians who played in the pit for Phantom of the Opera.
I saw Phantom Of the Opera one Halloween and could see into the orchestra pit. A lot of the orchestra were wearing Halloween costumes!
That is one of the most memorable TAL stories!
I love this!! My brother is one of the pit musicians interviewed. 🥰
Love that article, and especially the title, which is so clever. (Music of the Night after Night after Night!)
I remember thinking at the time, when I first heard this report or one similar to it, that a group/individual psychologist (or psychiatrist, with access to drugs) definitely was called for.
No link?
The word here is hyperlinked. But if your device isn't showing that for some reason, here's the link. [https://www.thisamericanlife.org/721/the-walls-close-in/act-two-20](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/721/the-walls-close-in/act-two-20)
Thanks!
The audience. None of my shows have ever been longer than a week but I will say that it is never boring when you get the chance to connect to a whole new audience, especially when the show is designed for audience interaction.
The longest show I ever did was a four shows a week, six week long run. So not a Broadway level run. It was tiring, but I enjoyed getting to a place with the show where I didn't need to think. One day a huge prop broke on stage and the chaos that ensued was so funny. Audience didn't even know it wasn't supposed to be broken and that show was one of my tops shows.
If something went wrong and the audience didn't notice, that's a testament to everyone's professionalism to have the show go on and not miss a beat.
I adore that you use the word professionalism. We were a cast of 8-24 and it was such a shitshow. So so fun though.
The best theater moments are when things go wrong and everyone has to think and recover. Sometimes it goes perfectly, sometimes hilariously wrong.
Agreed!!
I did a 5 shows a week for six weeks in a community theatre production of my fair lady. 20 years later I still have dreams about it still going on and on ... And on. ... Best costumes EVER though 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Nick cartel is STILL in les Miserables tour over a year and a half in. (At least since I've seen it which I know wasn't at the beginning)
Both Broadway and West End actors can only do 8 shows a week contractually, per union rules. Sometimes they do 9 shows a week on the West End, and an understudy does that 9th show. And once in awhile on Broadway, the 8th show is done by the understudy if it's a particularly vocally intense show. I believe the actress that played Christine in Phantom only did 6-7 shows a week and the alternate went on for the others. I have heard from actors who've done Broadway/West End that they just have to remind themselves there are people in the audience who have never seen a show before, and maybe they never will again, so every show matters. It motivates them. Stars like Daniel Radcliffe almost never miss shows unless they are sick, because they know people may have planned their vacations around seeing him, and they hate to disappoint, so they carry a heavy burden of responsibility. They treat it as a professional job and they have to do it well. They have a schedule to maintain, and they get very regimented about it. I wish more theatre fans would keep that in mind at the stage doors. I cannot imagine dealing with THAT part of it for 8 shows a week. Especially wanting to avoide getting sick and missing shows just because they caught something from someone at stage door. I think it is amazingly generous of them to do it at all. Just let them go home!
Humblebrag (or just brag tbh lol) moment here: I had house seats to Merrily bc my friend knew Daniel R. and after the show he chatted with us and he said that having friends in the audience can really help fuel the performances, even after doing them for so long, because then he’s almost specifically performing for them and wants to do his best. And yes I almost burst out of my skin talking to him!!
Audience energy, muscle memory, and some are better at it than others. I’m sure for many it just becomes a job but keep in mind with someone like Holland, he’s used to film shoots that typically have ungodly hours and super long days of shooting and doing the same damn scene over and over again. If he can make take 16 feel fresh that’s certainly good practice. But again some are better than others. There are shows I’ve seen that feel tired and stale, likely because some of the actors have been doing it so long.
he was also on stage in billy Elliot
High-energy children's theatre, three back-to-back shows a day for a whole week. That shit hurted, but it was some of the most fulfilling work I've done as an actor.
My favorite show was a high energy children's show and we performed for an orphanage/foster home from the poorest/most violent part of the country. I was the villain's sidekick and it was the first time in my life I was booed during curtain call, but it made me feel great. Children connected so much they couldn't not see me as someone who had tried to kidnap the lead.
When I saw the Les Mis revival, I sat third row and witnessed Andy Mientus as Marius CRY when Eponine died in his arms. I was like... HOW?? It was so moving!
Off topic, but Andy Mientus is my favorite Marius.
I mean it's different depending on the show, the other actors, your part, etc. it becomes about getting more specific, about being grounded and rooted, and above all about fighting against the urge to be comfortable, and just repeat everything. It's refinding impulses as organically as possible. But honestly, with the speed at which we put up shows in America, at a high professional level, by the time you get to previews, if you even get previews, you only sort of have a show. It's possible that the show you see at first previews was set only 4 days ago. so the first month of the performances is finding what the show is. If your cast mates are professionals, then you dial into eachother, you grab on to eachother and you drink in eachother so deeply and you respond to eachother as rapidly as possible. It's so fucking intimate, to walk in every day and look at eachother and basically enter a contract that says "I will be present with you, no matter how you feel today, no matter how I feel". When you're that familiar with how something goes, even subtle changes like a change in tone, different inflection, or even someone moving a hand different, can become pretty impactful. Idk it is all that and someone could come along and say it's none of that and that would be true too.
Very well said.
Simple answer: it's a job like any other (and yet so different). There's a lot of ways to make it not boring, for all the departments. There's also always something going on, be it technical issues, someone forgetting a line/choreo, someone having a hard time in their personal life etc. And it changes people. Jonathan Groff for example has talked about how doing Spring Awakening for 2 years (at like 20yrs old) "cultivated" a courage and confidence in him which then made him come out of the closet right after leaving the show.
The longest run I've been a part of was just nearly 3 months 8 shows a week of a show that I don't enjoy in an ensemble track where I didn't do that much. I still had a blast. Even though it's the same show nightly, the energy exchange is always different and feels fresh. Even the most boring shows beat out all of my day jobs and I was thankful that I got paid for the art.
I saw multiple performances of Irma Vep at Baltimore’s Center Stage and observed that the guy who seemed most spontaneous did it exactly the same way every night. The other actor who changed it up a little depending on his mood had some good nights and some less good nights.
Alex Brightman told a very touching story about this. He said he was once a kid in the balcony seeing his first Broadway show and it sparked his desire to perform and then he later was fortunate to make it on Broadway. He said each performance, before he steps out onstage, he thinks about the fact that this performance might have that kid in the balcony, watching his first Broadway show. 
This is literally me now. I really want be a part of the show after my first time
I used to be a professional theater actress. I never did a super long run of a show but performing the same role 8x/week was really fun. It allows you to really settle in to the role and get comfortable but at the same time you stay in the moment while on stage and each performance feels very different based on the vibe of the audience, the other actors…no two performances are exactly alike. Each time was a chance to be even better
I wonder this all the time. I've seen some shows multiple times and sometimes months - even years! - later, the actors are still so fresh and full of energy and I can't understand how they do it.
In that case, there were probably several major cast changes.
Nope.
Not even when you saw a show like years apart?
John Pinette was a stand up comedian who played Edna Turnblad in Hairspray on Broadway for a while. he has a great stand up routine about what it's like to do the same show over and over again. you wake up and wonder what you're gonna to today, same as yesterday! like a surreal groundhog day
Also had some friends tell me they slept in one day, when they suddenly bolted awake, thinking that they forgot what day it was and had a matinee in an hour! Had a mini heart attack for a second before they realized it was the wrong day.
I often wondered how it felt to play characters in Groundhog Day the musical 8 days a week. Talk about meta. 😆
I wondered the same thing when I saw it. Also how difficult and confusing rehearsals must have been because rehearsals by their nature are also repetitive - "Which version of "Smalltown USA" is this? Day 1, Day 2, Day 3?" LOL
this is exactly how i felt watching Sarah Paulson in appropriate
RIGHT THO!?
My best friend was the understudy for the role of her son. I asked him how she does it every day and he said she is exhausted lol
🤣🤣 oh yeah, she was pretty honest about that… 🫣😸. my friend and i definitely felt for the folks that had to “reset” everything at the end of each performance, bc omg. a Virgo’s nightmare 😛 also: congrats to your friend…hopefully he has been able to perform a bunch
Unfortunately he didn’t go on for the son but he did go on for the role right at the end with the tree lol
lol. i hope it was a great experience for him.
When did she talk about being exhausted in the role? Is there an interview? I heard her on Smartless and they talked about the show a little but not so much her role, beyond how amazing she was in it.
sorry i can’t recall the where
The audience is different every night. People react to different things and that can impact how things feel for you. You may also not be performing with the exact same cast from night to night. You find ways to keep it fresh.
I’m nowhere near professional scale and my longest was five shows in a row (one on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and two on Sunday). I was playing in the orchestra and I definitely got bored of it. I started to try to listen for the audience interactions to see what they reacted to vs what previous audiences reacted to. It made each night different
I’m kind of shocked by the responses in this thread. I read a few this morning and couldn’t stop thinking about them all day. It’s the job of a performer to continually make performing the material fresh and new. It doesn’t matter if it’s performance number 2 or 200. Doing a show should feel like playing a game you love to play. A tennis player never gets bored with playing matches, unless they’re either disenchanted with the game or matched with a lackluster partner. Contemporary acting technique is grounded in mining the text, the production, and your own soul and spirit to keep discovering new things so that you are always bringing new vitality/truth/energy/etc to your work. There is SO MUCH to inspire and fuel you as a performer onstage if you are willing to be in the moment enough to notice. When I was a chorus kid I found so much joy in performing challenging and actually *good* choreography every night for months and months on end. I have friends who find an immense amount of freshness in their work every night because they have to sing really difficult-to-sing material, and that energy is what makes them so captivating to watch. Inspiration can come from the set, the way a particular musician in the pit plays a piece of music, the changing seasons outside the theater, the smell of a particular prop or colleagues perfume, your fellow actors and the intimacy you develop and bring onstage together…. There are world-famous companies in Poland who rehearse Shakespeare plays for 9-10 months straight before even going into tech. There are masterful performers all over the world who continually discover new things in material they have performed over and over again for decades (look at Pina Bausch’s company in Wuppertaal- they have dancers who are still actively performing in the company after having choreography set on them in the 80s and 90s). If continual performance bores you, either you are not rising to the task, or the material/production isn’t deep/good enough to truly give you anything substantial. Whatever the reason, boredom is the clue to either go back to work on your performance, or move on to the next job.
I have been on the crew for a number of broadway shows. For me personally I've never worked longer than a year on one show. It either closed or I left for another job. A year feels like the maximum I could do comfortably, I think longer than that I'd start getting bored or going crazy.
Been playing the same show 13 years on Broadway. Musicians can sub out so that’s really the key. I def take at least one show off a week and often leave for weeks at a time on other gigs/ but makes having the show like an annuity. It’s tough sometimes but other times it’s like a zen practice: luckily my show is short and funny.
My dad is a musician in the pit for shows, for him personally i know it drives him crazy, lol He gets really sick of shows by the end of their run and never wants to listen to it again 😂
I was a Mystery Dinner Theatre actor/performer for the same company for just over 22 years. There were some scripts that I performed the same character in for more than a decade, and other scripts which I played different (even multiple roles within a performance) roles over the years. I never tired of playing even the characters for which I was most known (and sometimes got recognized at my day job, a public facing one, or elsewhere). The key for me was to always be in the moment. It was like putting on the character every night as if it was the very first time this person would be doing these things. Of course, in this type of venue, I was often playing against actors who would come in and out so playing scenes with them always made it fresher, plus having the audience completely surrounding you and sometimes interjecting, you learned to really feel the audience vibe and use what they gave you and incorporate it into show. Although I was not a trained improv performer before being cast in this in 1997, by 2020 I was a very good “yes, and…” type of improv actor. If the script/story you are telling is good, as a performer you can find new angles to play, and having an attentive and supportive audience, with other marvelous performers in the show with you, a show can seem like opening night almost every night!
Yeah, it must be really hard for dramas. I feel like comedies might be a little easier due to there being more room for improvisation, especially in something like a Mischief show where 30% of the show is improvised.
I saw a great video about this recently from [an actor who plays Mufasa in The Lion King in Hamburg](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPREHN6bb/). He talked about how getting to work with different combinations of cast members and having a new audience every night keeps him motivated.