Why some shows are smaller and cheaper

Canada’s largest theatre producer presented several non-union touring productions this past year. Theatre critic Joshua Chong checked them out

- Joshua Chong

The scaled down, non-union tour of “Mean Girls,” in Toronto until Sunday, is an improvement over the original’s distracting digital screens and video projections.

The changes were impossible to miss.

Gone was the large digital screen that wrapped around the stage, replaced by two-dimensional pieces of printed scenery that were raised and lowered from the rafters. Dialogue was cut. So too, it appeared, were key props and other parts of the set.

As I watched Tina Fey’s musical “Mean Girls” this month at Mirvish’s Royal Alexandra Theatre, I couldn’t help but feel that this touring production was noticeably different than the one that ran in Toronto less than two years ago.

My eyes weren’t deceiving me. This iteration of the show, which runs until Sunday, is indeed different from the original tour — although it may not be marketed as such. It’s one of more than a dozen non-union productions travelling across North America, at least five of which have played in Toronto over the past year.

Audiences who purchase a ticket to these productions — seats can cost more than $100 — may go in thinking they’re seeing a show equal in calibre to those on Broadway, with similar production values and designs. But with non-union tours, that’s not always the case. Some elements of the show are usually scaled down or cut entirely; scene changes that were once automated may now be done manually; and the cast and orchestra are typically smaller.

Most notably, actors and other company members working on non-union tours are often paid less than their unionized counterparts.