Up until the 1960's, a producer would take a show on the road, hoping to work out any problems before facing the Broadway critics. When the owner of Bloomingdales produced a musical that was ailing in Philadelphia, he called in playwright George S. Kaufman for advice. Bloomingdale stubbornly brought the show to Broadway, where it failed. Workshops use minimal sets, props and costumes. They may involve major stars or unknown performers, and be staged anywhere from an empty Broadway theatre to a rehearsal hall.
Producers usually bring potential investors to see the results.
While a workshop can only give a rough idea of what a show will be like, it must look good enough for people to lay dollars and reputations on the line for it. Many producers team up with non-profit theatre companies that can stage a workshop in a cost efficient manner. If the show is a hit, the theatre company gets a small percentage of any future profits and a nice dose of prestige. The producers of Rent had such an agreement with The New York Theatre Workshop, which staged two workshops and a full Off-Broadway production. Rent 's phenomenal success was a publicity coup for NYTW, and the commercial producers moved a fully developed project to Broadway at about one fourth the cost of most new musicals in 1996.