Friday, April 25, 2008
The Shows Must Go On, but Not Until They Change Theaters
New York Times: "The computer-controlled lights and the fog machines were waiting in the wings. More than 600 props — including the maroon queen-size pullout couch and the Zippo lighter — had been packed away. The sets that weren’t being bashed into shape to fit new stages had been muscled onto scenery trucks."
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8 comments:
I actually never thought about how rare it is for shows to change theaters on Broadway, I suppose it is so rare that it isn't really even on the radar. It is also interesting that the shows fit into another theatre relatively well, the scenery especially is usually designed with a theatre in mind, touring scenery excepted since it is built to tour. But to modify scenery to fit into a new theatre must be one interesting task. I also found it funny to hear about loading trucks and driving them around the block, since generally shows get trucked further than a block or two.
As Teddy said, it's interesting that two shows were transferring theaters on the same day. It's also strange that it took them 1.25 million dollars to move relatively uncomplicated shows over a block or two...just shows how much planning and such goes into even relatively small changes.
i saw august, and im really happy its going to stick around for a while because its really good. its also really interesting from a management and coordinating standpoint to see how well thought out all these arrangements are. it sounds like all the kinks were realized beforehand to avoid catastrophes on moving day.
The logistics of this must be amazing. Moving from one space to another, taking certain pieces to different shops to be modified, storing other parts so that different things can be loaded on first. It's a TD's dream and nightmare at the same time. The cost to move to the next door is crazy. Hire some college kids to pick the entire set up and move it all at once... wait... that happened at booth and that didn't work so well (but was funny to watch).
I think that because both of these sets are fairly minimal, the moves are possible. If they tried to move something like Wicked to another theatre, this idea would probably be rejected much more quickly. The move for August Osage County doesn't surprise me after its Pulitzer win, for it probably has at least another 6 months run in store. I would definitely enjoy being in New York on this day to see this move happen. I'm sure it will be pretty smooth, but it would be fun to watch.
It always knocks me off the chair how much it cost to transfer the show. It really doesn't matter how much you're traveling, but the fact that the show is going into the other theater just cost so much money. I have such a great respect for people who arrange the tour nationally and internationally.
It's strange to picture such a large orchestration of moving in such a small space in the city. I can barely understand how cars fit down those streets, let alone moving vans. It goes to show how important it is to understand the space and environment you are working in.
It's amazing that this cost as much as it did, but then again, the complexity of such a move must be tremendous. moving the scenery we build just down the hallway can take a significant amount of planning and modifying on-the-spot. So getting it to go a couple of blocks away, must have been quite complicated.
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