The life of a broadway performer.... It takes countless years of training, auditions, blood, sweat, tears and hard work to make it to the big stage.  Ever wonder what it's like to be on broadway?  Here are some important things to know as a career performer on the broadway stage.

1.) Broadway performers perform 8 shows a week. Typically, a run of a broadway show includes 8 show weeks with a dark day on Monday.  That leaves one extra show during the work week, right?  Broadway tends to offer two show days (infamously named "2 doe shay"), which typically fall on weekends.

2.) Gotta look great at 8.  While a typical 9-5pm job has an early morning start, primetime for broadway shows is an 8pm curtain.  This means as a performer, you must find a way to adjust your schedule to suit the demands of performance. It's all about budgeting your time and energy wisely in order to bring your best every night on the stage.  While you may want to cram your days with training, workouts or even a friend date or two, you need to use your "off" time efficiently to rest for a night of shows.

3.) Vacation swings to the rescue!  Once a broadway show has been running for awhile, the vacation swings are here to save the day.  A vacation swing comes in and learns a variety of tracks so the OG cast can take some time off to recoop.  A swing's job is very difficult and is not for the faint at heart -- you must know all the blocking and choreo for each assigned track.

Special seasonal performance opportunities pop up, too. Have you ever watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade? If your show is new to the broadway stage, it isn't uncommon to see a number or two live on the Macy's parade stage.  Around Tony time, select musicals also bring their show faves to the stage.  These opportunities are once in a lifetime -- certainly another huge perk of living the life of a broadway performer.