VPT Being Refurbished for a Return of Mary Poppins?

[Todd]

I've always missed the projection equipment more when it's been omitted for the opening newsreel and for Margaret Thatcher's video image during "Angry Dance," which happened at the tour venues.

That's not present at all in London

They had the opening newsreel and the Margaret Thatcher images on the sign boards during "Angry Dance" when I saw the show 4 months ago in London. They didn't recently discontinue them, did they ??

[FanBilly]

I was confused by the lack of projection in the live screening, I assumed it was to do with filming equipment blocking a projector.
I saw the show in August 2013 and I'm pretty sure I saw the projection then. Has it actually been omitted completely?

[kport]

I was confused by the lack of projection in the live screening, I assumed it was to do with filming equipment blocking a projector.
I saw the show in August 2013 and I'm pretty sure I saw the projection then. Has it actually been omitted completely?

It was present when I was at the VPT last Monday

[OliverWaters]

I was confused by the lack of projection in the live screening, I assumed it was to do with filming equipment blocking a projector.
I saw the show in August 2013 and I'm pretty sure I saw the projection then. Has it actually been omitted completely?

It was present when I was at the VPT last Monday

Including for Angry Dance?

[Borrobil]

I was confused by the lack of projection in the live screening,

Correct me if i'm wrong but, the US and most other versions have projections during Angry dance. The UK version doesn't. (UK is focused more on Billy's anger and less on the whole community).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1RB_T85nQk#t=181
The opening film on the gauze was as normal in the theatre but they inserted the original film for cinema and DVD as live filming of the projection on gauze would look horrid.

[ERinVA]

Yes, there was projection during Angry Dance in the US productions, but not in the London one. It happened as the flats from Billy's "hut" that had been moved all around the stage as props during the riot got reassembled at the back of the stage to form the screen for the projection.

The film that is projected on the scrim at the beginning of the show was used on Broadway, although with slightly different footage included. But it did not collapse onto Small Boy at the end; it was used in the more traditional way, becoming transparent to reveal a lone miner on stage as he began singing the first line of "The Stars Look Down," and then rising into the fly loft as the lights came up and more miners entered.

[Sean]

In relation to the Angry Dance, having never seen the show live, when I saw the DVD, I was surprised at the lack of projection during Angry Dance, as I had only seen the Broadway version from a Tony performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7GcqFmFAE8.
I was a bit disappointing, as it was one of the things that made the video actually stand out for me, but I did think the London version fitted perfectly with the rest of the show.

As an aside, I was reading an article on stage traps the other day, and I found this interesting tidbit on the spire lift in London

The London production of Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace theatre needed a deeper understage space than was available, so approximately 4m of excavation took the theatre's equipment to within only 2m of the Victoria underground line. Permission also had to be granted by Buckingham Palace as the theatre is situated close to the Royal Sewers.

[Borrobil]

Permission also had to be granted by Buckingham Palace as the theatre is situated close to the Royal Sewers.

I smell a conspiracy theory . Why would Buckingham Palace have its own sewer? and one which just happens to go from straight from Buckingham palace towards the nearest mainline station, rather than the river? Sounds like a cover story to me.
Perhaps its how Ruthie visited her ex date, Prince Edward, at Buckingham Palace.

[LiamM]

There are lots of stories about tunnels under London connecting to Buckingham Palace, some exaggerated, some real.

There are several rumoured escape tunnels from Buckingham Palace. One is said to run under Green Park to the Piccadilly Tube line, giving the royals a speedy escape route to Heathrow. Another is said to give access to the Victoria Line - which runs under the Palace - for a similar escape, and one is said to lead to Wellington Barracks just over the road.

http://www.fictionalcities.co.uk/tunnels.htm

Search for "london tunnels buckingham palace" for more accounts.