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Is Broadway a good move for Mario Lopez, money-wise?
Why would Mario Lopez leave his TV fans for Broadway? I don't live near there and wish he would go back on Dancing with the Stars, instead. Doesn't Broadway pay, like, nothing? Will he be poor?
—Carmella, Santa Cruz
The B!tch Replies: If losing the love of fans like you is a type of poverty, well, then, yes, I suppose that Mario Lopez is about to fall into a chasm of destitution where he feeds on the psychic equivalent of fried bologna sandwiches for the next several months for having taken a role in A Chorus Line, starting in April.
But financially, he's probably about to do just fine.
The higher end of the Broadway salary range can be tough to dig up, but know this: When Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick were at the height of their 2006 run for The Odd Couple, they were making a reported $75,000 a week, thanks to a deal that offered them a share of box office income. And before that, when they were doing The Producers, reports had them pulling in about $110,000 a week.
But remember, these guys are giants in their field, raging exceptions in a profession where even a Broadway star can make only $1,500 a week or so. Lopez may have a butt like a bocce ball, but he's no lord o' the Great White Way, at least not yet. That said, I'll wager a confident guess that Lopez's middling star power will earn him somewhere above that but certainly not Producers cash. Maybe low to mid-five figures every week as a member of A Chorus Line.
But Lopez probably isn't doing this for the money anyway. Julia Roberts, Clay Aiken, Jennifer Garner and Ashlee Simpson have all hit the boards recently, too, and, with the exception of Clay, who probably gets paid in flat irons and apricot scrub, they all probably took pay cuts. In exchange, they got to bask in the challenge of eight shows a week and an audience that changes every day.
"Broadway gives actors opportunity to really stretch," explains Actors Equity spokeswoman Maria Somma. "For many, many actors, Broadway is a big thing to have on their credits."
The respect that comes with live acting probably won't hurt Lopez's rep, either.
"This establishes you as someone serious," Chicago acting coach Ed Hooks tells this B!tch. "Dancing with the Stars—that's sort of in the vein of the World's Most Exciting Car Crashes, isn't it?"
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