Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Today’s theme: Humpty Dumpty

The one on the left is definitely a Humpty Dumpty, made by Mansell in England. The one on the right isn’t technically Humpty Dumpty but I think of him that way. So I’ve grouped them together. They’re two of my favorite egg cups.

Oh, yesterday! Yesterday was a day in which nothing seemed to go right. Mostly petty little things but they piled up and I ended up feeling tense. I was so thrown that I forgot to put my newly washed sheets on the bed until I walked upstairs to go to bed and realized I hadn’t. Yikes. Nothing relaxing about trying to get a California King bed quickly made up right before attempting to go to sleep!

We did find out some rather disturbing news yesterday. The tour of Escape to Margaritaville  is going to be non-Equity. Non-union. The ramifications of this choice by the producers are many. All actors who work on Broadway and in regional theaters throughout the country are members of Actors Equity, guaranteeing them a certain level of pay, health insurance – in fact, I’m going to use a quote from Playbill:

“A note about Equity versus non-Equity tours: Many touring productions are marketed as “direct from Broadway”—but performers and stage managers on Broadway work under Actors’ Equity contracts, which provide fair pay, benefits, and job protections. An Equity tour means actors and stage managers are fairly compensated with rights and protections that allow them to give you their all, every performance.”

In hiring actors who are non-union, the producers are paying them much less money (trust me on this one) to do the same 8 shows a week the Broadway cast did, with days off being used for travel from venue to venue.

They’re also deciding to tour a show that just finished its run on Broadway using actors who haven’t been able to join the union – either because they’re very young and just starting out, or because they never got enough professional credits to get in the union.

The vast majority of First National Tours – the first one after the run of a Broadway show – are union. When it comes to the second or third or fourth tour, the tour might become non-union. But the first? Very rare. Anastasia’s  national tour is Equity.

This tells me that the producers (and Jimmy Buffett) want to make money on the tour. Period.

I’ve coached non-union tours. I’ve seen some good performances. But they never reach the level that comes with using seasoned professional actors. There’s a big difference in quality. (I’m not in the union, by the way, so I had no conflict of interest working on those productions.)

When the cast of Margaritaville  went to Washington DC right after closing to do A Capital Fourth, they were told they were doing it as a promotion for the upcoming national tour. They used the Broadway cast of Equity members to, in essence, put in a plug for a non-union tour – a tour that they could not be a part of.  The cast didn’t know that at the time, of course.

If you’re a member of the union, you can’t do a non-union show. Professional actors work hard to become union members. Every actor who has serious professional aspirations wants to be in the union.

Look, Margaritaville  is a fun, light, feel-good show. Buffett fans will love it, I suspect, whether it’s union or not. But we know the difference on this end.

Don was shocked when he heard the news. We never thought it would be non-Equity. Don had always kept the idea of the tour in the back of his mind. It would have been a big, year-long commitment, but he probably would have done it. On a purely personal level, it would have been an opportunity to add some more money to our savings account. But we had mixed feelings about being apart that long and it would have entailed sacrifice for both of us. This means that Don is really saying a permanent goodbye to a character he created and that’s a little sad. And any option to be a part of the tour was taken out of his hands.

They just don’t want to pay union wages. They want actors who will take the job for much less money. The production will probably look the same, but it won’t be the same. Not by a long shot.

Ah well. Further evidence that this is a business, first and foremost. A bit disillusioning in terms of the way we now see the producers, one of whom assured Don that she wanted him with the show ‘forever!’ In the end, they want to make money, earn back what they lost on the production – no one can blame them for that – and they’re willing to sacrifice a certain level of professional experience and expertise to get that.

We’re fine. And we will be fine. But one of you asked about the tour recently, so I thought I should share this with you.

We’ve been very fortunate in terms of our work and our careers and we know that. We are blessed.

Okay. I have to go buy glue for the dollhouse project since none of my glues worked properly yesterday. Grrrr!

It’s cooler here today, but sunny, so I’ll take it!

Happy Wednesday.