Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

The 500-Person Team Behind Every Broadway Show

26 Mar 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:21

In a brief interview, Speaker A explains to Speaker B that while a Broadway production may have about 30 performers visible onstage, the total workforce supporting the show can be three to four times larger, often reaching 300‑400 individuals. Using the musical The Outsiders as a case study, A lists the various roles that keep a production running: principal actors, understudies and swings, backstage crew, wardrobe, stage management, company management, front‑of‑house staff, ushers, advertising and digital marketing agencies, legal counsel, the general manager, and tour‑booking personnel for upcoming North American tours. The conversation highlights how the Broadway industry, though small in absolute terms, offers a wide array of career paths beyond performing, making it a “mighty” ecosystem of many specialized contributors.

When I lead seminars and I speak to a lot of students, I say, for the 30 people that you see on stage, you've got another 300, sometimes 400, sometimes—
Whoa. I didn't know the ratio is like that. Wait, so what is, what does that look like behind the scenes?
So, uh, for The Outsiders, for example, we have our 20-some-odd actors that are in the company on stage. Then of course we have understudies and swings who save the show on a varied basis. Then we have backstage crew, wardrobe, stage management, company management, front of house, usher, advertising agency, digital marketing agency, our attorneys, our general manager. Wow. I think we have the people now that are booking our tour because we're gonna launch a North American tour of The Outsider in September. So we have people booking that all over the country, people who work in the regional theaters and will Broadway in the region. You have a million different ways that you can, like me, be alone to talk about Broadway all day. Just be a part of Broadway. And maybe if you don't have the talent or the interest to do 8 shows a week as a performer, you can still be a part of this world where there are hundreds and hundreds of us. I mean, we're a very, very small industry, but considering how small we are, we're quite mighty.