Today’s stars are frequently recruited to pitch a wide variety of things ranging from automobiles to cosmetics, often using little more than their names, faces and voices. With their unique ability to sell products in mind, it makes sense that Broadway would want to cast celebrities to help draw crowds and boost the bottom line. But does it really make a difference? “In an enormous way, celebrity casting drives ticket sales,” says Jeffrey Seller, producer of RENT and AVENUE Q. “It is still, maybe more than ever, exciting for audience members to see performers that they know from movies or television to perform live. Getting in the same room as a star you love is still a very potent sales tool.”

There is little doubt that having a celebrity in a Broadway show or national tour garners much-needed press coverage. “In this day and age, it’s gotten so hard for the (touring) markets to get the attention of the media,” says Alecia Parker, producer of CHICAGO and GREASE. “We get less and less exposure and certainly over the years that I’ve been in the business, it amazes me how it erodes every time you go back through a town.” With a celebrity in the show, there’s automatically a fresh new draw for the media and public alike. “It drives publicity and I think publicity can ultimately help support the advertising dollars, which helps ticket sales,” Parker continues.

According to Seller, it’s quite common for casting agents to contact talent agents to find out which stars are available, qualified and interested in performing either on Broadway or in a national tour but occasionally it’s the other way around. “In the case of having Joey Fatone join us for the cast of RENT five years ago on Broadway, we were so lucky because he wanted to do RENT and he came to us,” explains Seller. With a show like CHICAGO, which has had numerous celebrities rotate in and out of the cast over the years, sometimes it’s simply a matter of timing. “Someone like Usher, we actually talked with over several years and it just wasn’t the right time and then one day we made the call and they were like ‘You know, this could be a really good time for him to actually do this’ so it just kind of clicked,” says Parker.

Casting a celebrity for a national Broadway tour can be more difficult than casting for a New York run, especially when it’s a movie or television star. “Many of the music celebrities travel as part of their normal everyday life, so that comes less hard to them,” says Parker. “But the movie and television celebrities - unless they’re single - it’s quite an issue.” If necessary, producers will try to entice stars to the road by doing some creative negotiating. “Typically in the case of most of our shows, not just CHICAGO, we have more than one production running so we’re able to say ‘Give us eight weeks on the road and then we can combine that with twelve weeks on Broadway and then you’re going to play six weeks on the West End.’ We have a way that we can try and make the package worthwhile.”

Seller believes the main obstacle in securing a celebrity is that doing a Broadway show is extremely hard work. “The challenge in casting someone is that performing eight shows a week on Broadway or a national tour is still a labor intensive, grueling process that not many are up for.” However, when the right connection is made between a Broadway show and a celebrity, it can be a very lucrative partnership. “Celebrities are brought in to maximize sales. If you’re doing good and you bring in the right celebrity who plays the role beautifully, then you will do great. And our job is to do great.”

By: Beth Cox