Zack, Pam and I are going to see Sweeney Todd tonight, at Atlanta’s historic Fox Theatre. It’ll be nice to hear the music that was cut from the film. I enjoyed that movie so much that I walked alone through the snow (ten miles, uphill, both ways) in Denver one night to see it by myself, after seeing it with a group of the LYDIA actors.

This will be my first time since I was a kid seeing a touring production of a show. I am reminded of some of the things an actress friend of mine said to me about how difficult it is for audience members to tell when they’re seeing the Equity or the non-Equity version of the tour. Producers sometimes abruptly fire the entire Equity cast before or during the tour, and replace them with non-Eq actors. Of course, there are asterisks (or not) in the program – but if marketing materials and review quotes remain the same, audience members don’t learn the difference till they’ve already paid for their tickets.

And, of course, the tickets still cost just as much. Not that non-Eq casts can’t be just as good, but they haven’t really come straight from Broadway.

So I tried for myself to determine if this was an Eq or non-Eq cast, and couldn’t, not through a few simple clicks. I’m going to wait and be surprised.