USA But In The UK

I imagine it'd be a nightmare scheduling wise not to mention travel costs to ship the set and cast overseas.

Plus many UK tours go to the Far East, Dubai, South Africa etc, which is what made me thought it must be an Equity issue between the UK and USA.

What would a couple of cargo crates cost for a week at sea? Then you have the cast and tour management air fares, do you pay for business class or would the cast be happy with premium economy/economy? Even so this wouldn’t be too expensive and they are one off cost, the cost of transport of set and costumes easily offsets building a new set and costumes for the UK leg.

Equity wouldn’t like it, but ultimately they’re powerless to do anything to stop this, but my preferred optioned would be to work with Equity and negotiate, for example it could be possible to cast several roles to British actors for both US and UK leg, depending on cast size.

If the tour is successful then you have the bonus of re-casting a British cast for a West End run and also if the tour is well received subsequent tours can go out with a British cast, you know the shows that hit the road a lot, something like Spamalot or Chicago.

In a big theatre like at Southampton or Edinburgh etc you could rake in a million a week.

'American Idiot' sent an entirely American cast to play a few stops in the UK. I saw it at the Palace in Manchester.

I think most of the issues highlighted here are correct, but one of the biggest complications is what is called "first class rights", which viserys alluded to.
When you option a play, you pretty much get its rights for each domestic market, which is why producers who own the rights for a Broadway show will also have the rights to tour it in the USA. The UK is another option, which needs to be negotiated separately.

I also think that in order to tour, you need to have a very capable team that is knowledgable of the tour circuit in each market can has the ability to set up and run the show across the country. These people aren't necessarily familiar with the ins and outs of doing it in the UK, you'll need a local time to hand hold them. This is exactly why the American producers of Hamilton team up with someone like Cameron Mackintosh: they need someone to help them put it together in the UK (despite many of the original creative members and crew from various productions in America being flown over to set it up with a local crew).

But sometimes random stops in the UK are added to a US leg.

He did - I’m sure he did it with the intention of a UK recasting (which happened but fell through and the show closed early). Maybe this was his ‘trial run’ and if it had worked he would’ve done more??

Come on a set to be shipped from the East Coast to Southampton/Liverpool 3 months? surely that is a wild calculation?

I think that the producers of BOOH have shown great confidence in their product at every turn. Nothing has been rushed, great care has been taken to protect the cast and their health, the social media has been on point (prize winning apparently) and subsequently they have shown that playing the long game has people hungry for more.

Tours do appear to be mounted a lot more quickly in the states, but that is mostly down to deeper pockets & the size of the country. Why would you invest millions on something that people can get elsewhere by getting on a train to London for a few hours? By having a definite plan from the beginning, the team at BOOH have a media presence in North America (plus Toronto is a cultural centre full of media types.) without the risk of Broadway. Bat isn’t cool and would have been torn limb from limb by the snootier US critics, but by giving it a fan base in Manc before it’s London run it neutralised the financial risk that going straight into town would present. It has done the same in Toronto leading to those same critics asking why it isn’t on Broadway yet.

The Jerry Lewis Damn Yankees at the Adelphi 20 or so years ago was basically part of he US tour I think, so it can happen. Mind you, I remember reading that there was a dodgy producer involved and it didn't end happily.

Canada is in the continent of North America. Nobody said Toronto was in America.

Compared to the UK, Canada is a very small market - a little over half our population, spread over a vast area. Toronto is something of a special case: there's a lot of theatre there and in the surrounding area (Stratford and the Shaw Festival are both an easy drive away), and theatre pulls a lot of visitors into the region from a catchment area extending a fair distance into the USA. And the theatres where tours play in Toronto operate a combined subscription scheme; they sell a lot of season packages, so they aren't dependent on walk-up sales to sustain a run.