No Less Than Five Pounds

Many people don't realize how much money goes into mounting a musical. According to the Artsbeat blog of the New York Times, most Broadway musicals today cost upwards of $2.5 million. To put that in numeric terms, that would be $2,500,000. For comparison, the poverty line for a four person family, according to aspe.hhs.gov, is $24,250.  

To stress this even more, $2.5 million is just the baseline. "Next to Normal," which was nominated for the Tony for Best Musical in 2009, cost $4 million. "The Book of Mormon" (a Broadway sensation currently on tour) cost $9 million, and "Spider-Man: The Muscial," one of the greatest Broadway flops of all time, cost $75 million. 

All of this really puts Washburn's little production into perspective. According to Paul Prece, the director, the total budget for the production was over $10,000. This includes sets, costumes, lighting, props, tickets, ads, royalties, musicians, musical director, choreographer, and rehearsal accompanist. 

Breaking that down, approx. $3000 went to royalties and rental of orchestration and scripts. This was based on the number of performances (seven), ticket prices ($6 with student ID, $12 without) and the number of seats in the theatre (330).

Costumes had a budget of about $4000. I know that sounds like a lot, but that had to be divided by 21 cast members. Of those 21, most of them needed multiple costumes. This means that each character has a budget of $190.46. This would be enough for a killer night-on-the-town dress, but most of the girls needed a ballgown, which costs between $150-$350. This is why sewing is so important. Quite a few of the costumes were handmade, or hand-altered. The fabric was purchased at JoAnn's Fabrics or online.