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

The Hidden Workforce Behind Every Broadway Show

23 Mar 2025 · 1 min

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1:21

In this segment, the speakers reveal how a Broadway production relies on a vast, often invisible team far larger than the on‑stage cast. Using the musical The Outsiders as a case study, they enumerate the 20‑plus actors, understudies, swings, backstage crew, wardrobe, stage management, company management, front‑of‑house staff, ushers, advertising and digital marketing agencies, attorneys, general managers, and tour‑booking personnel who together enable a show to run and expand to a North American tour. The discussion emphasizes that even those without performing talent can build careers within this extensive ecosystem, highlighting the industry's small size yet significant collective impact.

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.