Technical difficulties?

A place to discuss changes, like stage layout, scenes, costume, music etc across the shows.
User avatar
olivejuice
Small Boy
Posts: 90
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2009 11:39 pm
Location: Kansas City, MO

Technical difficulties?

Post by olivejuice »

Has anyone ever been to a performance which they had to stop for technical difficulties? I did on friday night (11 dec). The lift that is supposed to raise the kitchen table did not rise during the first scene and they had to stop the show to try to fix it. The stage manager as well as another member of the team came out and apologized. In the end the tech crew had to manually bring on and off the table during act one, and it also affected when Billy goes down into the sewer type thing during Angry Dance (though Tom, Billy of the night, made the change look flawless). From the looks of the Victoria Palace Team it struck me that this isn't something that happens often, so I was wondering if anyone else had experienced it.

It was actually quite interesting to see the actors outside of their characters for a few moments. Joe Caffrey--who had to stop the show himself when he turned around to find the son he was supposed to be talking to was nowhere in sight--was joking around with the audience while waiting for the tech people and Ann Emery did some dancing for us which had Tom just in hysterics up on his bed.
London: Ollie-1, Dean-Charles-1, Tom-1
Chicago: Cesar-2, JP-2, Giuseppe-1, Tommy-3, Marcus-1
User avatar
StevenKing
Mrs Wilkinson
Posts: 1498
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:03 am
Location: palm springs,usa

Re: Technical difficulties?

Post by StevenKing »

Live theatre at its best...yep its happened uncounted times, Ive actually been to one where it happened FIVE times(ok in NYC at a preview) and the actors always handel it well.

Steven
Todd
Dad
Posts: 1664
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:05 am
Location: Kansas City, USA

Re: Technical difficulties?

Post by Todd »

It happened to me in June, 2006 when Travis Yates was performing as Billy. Everything was going smoothly until the interval, which lasted much longer than usual. Finally someone came out on stage and said that the 2nd half of the show was going to have to be cancelled due to a computer malfunction. It would have affected recorded music (such as Swan Lake), sound effects, etc. so they decided to not try and continue. They offered a refund or a ticket to another show. It was strange leaving an evening performance with it still being light outside ! The cast who appeared at the stage door were all very apologetic, but it did make for a memorable performance.
User avatar
hammy
Ballet Girl
Posts: 328
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:32 am
Location: UK

Re: Technical difficulties?

Post by hammy »

My experiance was on the 24th August, 2008 (i think) when Layton was performing the part of Billy. It was the part where Billy is sat on the bed and the bedroom decends into the ground until there is only Billy left on the bed (leading into the Letter and Boogie) The bed all descended but the boards that come around the bed so that Billy can walk to Mrs.W didn't come in. Layton was left sat there with a void around him. The scene started but then it was realised the boards weren't coming in and someone came on to say there would be a short interval.
The scene started with Layton stood where the bed would have been as the bed had totally decended at this point.
It amazes me how professional the cast are when these things happen.
Leon 2/05/07, Josh 28/12/07, Corey 16/06/08, Corey 12/07/08, Layton 28/08/08, Tanner 27/12/08, Fox 4/07/09, Tom 15/08/2009, Tom (5th Anniversary show) - 31/3/2010, Rhys 21/10/10
User avatar
pexcornel
Miner
Posts: 431
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 12:35 pm

Re: Technical difficulties?

Post by pexcornel »

Once they stopped the show for 10 minutes when the table where grandma sat didn't came up.
Then at the toilet scene with Debbie and Billy, while Billy was in the cabin, Debbie calls him as usual, "Billy". No response after 30 sec. Then again more annoyed: "Billy!!!!". Then a response, and so on for like 3-4 minutes. Clearly a problem. I think it was Brad and I think this was the show where he broke a bulb from the front lights with his feet while tapping. Not sure it was the same show though.
Tanner x3; Fox x4; Ollie x3; Brad x2; Tom x4.
User avatar
Chris
Tall Boy
Posts: 107
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:53 pm

Re: Technical difficulties?

Post by Chris »

The only time I've seen a set malfunction was on Matt Koon's opening night as Billy. Again, there was a table failure. The show was stopped at the end of Solidarity. Instead of Dad bursting on stage, Pandora, then the stage manager, walked on and stopped the show. There was an interval of 15 minutes whilst they tried to correct the malfunction, but they were unable to, so the table had to be carried on and off (or done away with - they put the letter from the RBS on a chair so they didn't have to lift on the table for that scene). As the hut is part of the same lift that brings the table on an off, that didn't appear either. There was a longer-than-usual interval, presumably whilst they made another attempt to fix the set. At the end, Phil Whitchurch made some quip about the show starting "yesterday". It must have been an extra issue for Matt on his debut to cope with such difficulties.
"In everything you do, always be yourself"
User avatar
ERinVA
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 17964
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:33 am
Location: Williamsburg, Virginia, USA

Re: Technical difficulties?

Post by ERinVA »

The "hut" in the London production of Angry Dance went through a spell where it was notorious for not coming up, leaving a hole for Billy to potentially fall into, or getting stuck and not going down. For a while, they did away with it altogether until they sorted out the problem. Recently, the footlights that flip up during Express were out of commission for about a week. As Steven said, in NY, there were lots of problems during previews. I was not there the evening they stopped the show five times, but I was there one evening when the stage manager came out in the middle of David A's Angry Dance and pulled him over the the side of the stage to stay away from the gaping hole left where the hut did not rise.

Most recently in NY during November, the Dream Ballet was stopped because one of the pop-up things that sends out the fog got stuck and would not go down, so it prevented the stage right set from moving as it is supposed to do. The show was stopped with an announcement about technical difficulties, and Trent and Stephen Hanna stopped dancing and walked off stage. After they got rid of the fog thingy so the set could move, Trent and Stephen returned to the stage, resumed their position where they had stopped and began from that point with no fog for the rest of the dance. That's live theatre for you. :D
Ellen



"I don't want people who want to dance; I want people who have to dance.”
-George Balanchine 1904 -1983


To follow the forum's Twitter at http://twitter.com/BEForum, click on the direct link in Applies to All Forums above.
User avatar
wendy
Tall Boy
Posts: 194
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:50 am
Location: essex

Re: Technical difficulties?

Post by wendy »

i cant rememer when it was but in the dream ballet scene, billy did'nt fly the guy that operates the rope was of sick,
User avatar
olivejuice
Small Boy
Posts: 90
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2009 11:39 pm
Location: Kansas City, MO

Re: Technical difficulties?

Post by olivejuice »

oh wow. i have such a great respect for everyone who works so hard to make this show happen. i've worked backstage on much less elaborate productions and i can only imagine how much goes in to it behind the scenes to make sure we get a great experience night after night. that really is the beauty of live theatre.
London: Ollie-1, Dean-Charles-1, Tom-1
Chicago: Cesar-2, JP-2, Giuseppe-1, Tommy-3, Marcus-1
User avatar
johnnyc
Mr Braithwaite
Posts: 804
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:22 pm
Location: West Virginia, USA

Re: Technical difficulties?

Post by johnnyc »

I attended a performance in London where Leon Cooke was Billy, and the Dream Sequence was halted just as older Billy attached the flying line to Leon. Everything stopped and we waited for awhile. The curtain eventually opened and the piece continued from the point where Billy spins over in front of dad. There was no music and no special lighting. (the stage was brightly lit.) A confusing ending for the audience, I imagine.

The flying mechanism could not be used for a week or so early on in the Broadway production. During that time, the choreography and music were changed so that at the point where the actors normally walk back to where the line would be, they instead went right into the last part of the scene, beginning where Billy has been freed from the line. The audience never suspected anything was missing. Of course forum members who attended any of those shows were disappointed that Billy did not fly. :cry:
Post Reply

Return to “Topics on Show: Changes/Crews (lighting, sound)/Differences etc”