Broadway producers Rocco Landesman and Rick Steiner explained the challenges of producing Broadway musicals Wednesday as part of a series of talks through the Communication Arts Department connecting students with successful UW-Madison alumni in the entertainment industry.
Landesman graduated with an English degree in 1969 and taught for five years at the Yale School of Drama before moving to New York City. The first show he produced, \Big River,"" was based on Mark Twain's book ""The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"" and won the Tony Award for best musical.
Steiner, a 1968 graduate with a degree in economics joked that he came to the UW-Madison because he ""got in."" After graduating, Steiner received his MBA from the University of Chicago and was recruited by Landesman.
For the past 20 years, the former college roommates have produced numerous Broadway musicals, including ""Smokey Joe's Cafe,"" ""Grease,"" ""Hairspray"" and the 2001 Tony Award-winner for best musical, ""The Producers.""
The panel discussion focused on the economic challenges of producing a Broadway musical. Steiner asked the crowd what they thought the definition of a Broadway hit was.
""A hit is a show that recoups its investment and makes one dollar,"" Steiner said. ""Even with this low standard, 80 percent of musicals fail.
""You can make a killing, but you can't make a living,"" he said.
According to Landesman, the average musical costs $10 million to produce-five times the cost of a play. Musicals are more expensive, Landesman said, because they require large casts, dancers, choreographers, musicians, composers and elaborates sets.
Because of the cost and the potential to lose large amounts of money, musicals today are often based on a successful play, book or movie or are revivals of former Broadway hits. Both Landesman and Steiner said hiring well-known stars is becoming a necessity. They hired Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane to headline ""The Producers"" and the stars' popularity is credited with making the show successful.
Jodi Beznoska, a UW-Madison graduate student in the Business School's Arts Administration Program attended the talk because she is involved in producing small shows. Beznoska said she was surprised by the financial burden of producing a musical and found the talk ""fascinating.""
