George Clooney, Hugh Jackman and Julia Roberts rank amongst Broadway’s highest-paid stars of all time.
The trio – and stage icons corresponding to Patti Lupone, Bernadette Peters, Audra McDonald and Mandy Patinkin – can fund lavish existence primarily based on their Broadway earnings, however many different jobs in stage productions earn modest salaries.
The Nice White Method is notoriously risky; actors, technicians and musicians can immediately discover themselves out of a job with little or no discover if their present isn’t pulling in sufficient money on the field workplace. Phantom of the Opera memorably had a record-breaking 35-year yr run on Broadway, however loads of infamous exhibits – corresponding to 1982’s X-rated Cleavage – have closed after a disastrous opening night time efficiency.
On account of the business’s instability, unions institute wage minimums for virtually each staffer — from the actors to the stagehands — to allow them to at the very least earn a livable wage all through the lifetime of the manufacturing.
The lights are brilliant on Broadway with the 2025 Tony Awards underway, handing out trophies to stage standouts. The 78th annual ceremony was held at New York Metropolis’s Radio Metropolis Music Corridor on Sunday, June 8, and emceed by Depraved star Cynthia Erivo, who beforehand received a Tony Award in 2016 for her main position […]
Maintain scrolling for a take a look at what actors and crew members make on Broadway:
Actors
Essentially the most seen members of the Broadway ensemble are, in fact, the solid. Their labor union, the Actors’ Fairness Affiliation (AEA), mandates that the minimal wage a Broadway actor can earn is $2,439 per week, based on Playbill. The average Broadway performer makes between $45,000 and $220,000 per yr.
Numerous elements impression extra earnings for actors – together with whether or not they’re a member of the refrain, an understudy or have a star standing. Clooney is 2025’s highest-paid Broadway performer with $6 million complete for his Chilly Struggle play Good Evening, and Good Luck.
Jackman reportedly earned $100,000 per week for his headlining position in The Music Man in 2022. The Deadpool & Wolverine star and Daniel Craig beforehand made a reported $40,000 per week as a base wage for A Regular Rain in 2009, however their earnings had been boosted to round $100,000 every week as a result of their contracts assured them a proportion of ticket gross sales.
Many A-Listing actors and actresses have been candid about varied motion pictures the place the wage didn’t match the position. Hilary Swank starred within the 1999 movie Boys Don’t Cry, receiving her first Academy Award for the efficiency . Whereas Swank was applauded for her friends, she solely obtained a wage of $3,000. In the meantime, when Jamie Lee […]
Bette Midler obtained $150,000 weekly for Broadway’s revival of Howdy Dolly! in 2017 whereas Julia Roberts made $150,000 per week for starring reverse Paul Rudd and Bradley Cooper in Three Days of Rain.
Rank-and-file Broadway actors can add $25 to their weekly $2,439 minimal if they’re a refrain member. Understudies make an additional $17.50 per week as a part of the refrain or $60 extra if they’re shadowing one of many principal roles. Swings – who understudy a number of characters – make an additional $116.15 per week.
In response to Playbill, one other means actors can earn additional money is to signal on for a one-year refrain contract. If a performer opts to go this route, they may obtain an extra $80 on their minimal weekly wage for the primary six months, earlier than it drops to $40 for the second-half of the contract. These refrain contracts stipulate that the performer makes an additional $2,600 bonus in the event that they stick with the manufacturing for a full yr.
Dancers
Bernadette Peters in “Stephen Sondheim’s Previous Mates” in April 2025. Bruce Glikas/WireImage
Dancers qualify for the Fairness minimal of $2,439 per week. Nonetheless, dance captains obtain an additional $464.60 per week for figuring out the entire manufacturing’s choreography, plus $100 extra per week if their present consists of battle choreography.
Assistant dance captains add $232.30 to their weekly wages, Playbill reviews.
The present’s choreography earns at the very least $61,088, based on the Stage Directors and Choreographers union.
Musicians
A Broadway musician’s wage varies primarily based on whether or not their contract permits them to time without work to carry out different gigs. The bottom weekly wage for a Broadway orchestra member is $2,143.10, based on Playbill. This weekly price will increase by $267.89 if the musician performs two devices within the present, with $133.95 tacked on for every extra instrument.
There are a number of different methods orchestra members can earn a better weekly wage. For instance, musicians make $104.18 extra per week in the event that they play on stage throughout the musical, fairly than from the orchestra pit. Any musician who performs in costume will get $69.47 additional every week, whereas sporting physique paint provides $100.71 to their price.
The conductor earns significantly greater than the common musician – $3,750.43 per week as a base wage. Assistant conductors make $2,786.04 per week, although each roles can earn much more cash in the event that they double as members of the orchestra.
Director
A director’s job is to supervise the artistic imaginative and prescient of a manufacturing from rehearsals all the best way to opening night time. Director are paid by way of the rehearsal interval, which may final from six to eight weeks, along with getting an advance on royalties. (Royalties are a proportion of the present’s weekly working earnings.)
The Stage Directors and Choreographers union price ensures a Broadway musical director at the very least $73,501 for his or her companies in full — which breaks all the way down to a $29,928 commonplace price plus a $43,573 advance towards royalties.
For non-musical Broadway dramas, the director makes $63,587 (or the $36,164 commonplace price plus a $27,423 advance towards royalties.) If somebody is serving in a twin position as director-choreographer, they may make $134,589 (or a $54,706 commonplace price plus a $79,883 advance).
Producer
Audra McDonald in ‘Gypsy’ in December 2024. Bruce Glikas/WireImage
The producer’s job on a Broadway present entails securing funds, managing budgets and expertise contracts in addition to discovering a venue.
Ziprecruiter estimates that the common wage for a Broadway producer is $2,376 per week or $123,552 per yr. This base wage will enhance exponentially if a musical or play is profitable, since Broadway producers usually have a stake within the present’s earnings.
Mega-producer Scott Rudin made $2.5 million upfront from his Broadway slate in 2016, plus a proportion of the field workplace, based on Business Insider.
Technicians
Each stage manufacturing is staffed with technicians and stagehands who guarantee lighting, sound, rigging, and particular results are executed correctly every nightly.
Technicians earn a median yearly wage between $49,078 and $66,550, reviews Sapling. Like different roles within the manufacturing, technicians could make extra cash per week primarily based on their expertise and training.