TribLIVE: It’s common lore that dragons breathe fire. But the pack of oversize reptilians that have taken over the Consol Energy Center this week can also take your breath away. The almost two dozen dragons that menace the island populace of Berk in Dreamworks’ “How to Train Your Dragon” are a fearsome lot.
6 comments:
Although I didn't get a chance to see this, I heard a lot about it. Reviews seemed to be sort of a mixed bag. Well I certainly think it's amazing that we have the automation technology to create life sized dragons that can fly their way around an arena, I can also se ewhere the flaws would come in. One major complaint I heard from someone who attended on one of the first performances was that they had to stop the show to fix a technical difficulty. Being in theatre, we all know this is a stressful situation. However, it's also a fantastic PR stunt in this particular situation. I'm sure that kids and 30+ dragon/theatre nerds alike enjoyed seeing how the crew ran and fixed up the tracks. So, however long this run continues for, I'm sure it will continue to sell out arenas just as it did in Pittsburgh.
I heard that this show had very, very poor acting in it. Apparently the effects were interesting.... but nothing could save the show. In fact, the people I know who went to see it left halfway through the show. As always it's a reminder to technicians and designers that we can do everything in our power to make a show amazing, but the talent of the actors and the quality of the director has to meet us halfway.
I have to say that I was extremely disappointed with this show. The acting was awful, and the storyline was choppy and unclear. There was not a whole lot of intriguing character development going on. That being said, though, the tech for the show was pretty awesome. I don't know that I ever really got over seeing the platforms/cranes that the dragons were attached to, but nonetheless the dragons were the best part of the show. I was thoroughly impressed by how life-like the huge dragons were- they sometimes made subtle movements that conveyed emotion and other times they were just as intimidating and scary as you would want a dragon to be. The dragons not only moved beautifully, but they were also beautifully outfitted. My other favorite aspect of the production was the media- it was used to create immersive, believable environments. Also, I loved the scene when the main character was climbing a mountain but was actually just walking up a wall with projections on it. If only the rest of the show could have lived up to the tech...
After hearing the descriptions of some of the special effects used in this show, I really wish I would have tried to see the show, even if I'm not that emotionally invested in the How to Train Your Dragon story. I probably would have just been watching the tech elements anyway. I wish I could have seen for myself how obtrusive the platforms and cranes were, as Shannon said. It's neat to hear about another puppet-driven show, and it seems like performances are getting increasingly cinematic lately, much like I thought War Horse was when I saw it.
Why people think that just simply remaking a disney/pixar film to the stage its gonna make money, which is why i had know interest in trying to see this show. the description sounds different then what i was going to expect from a potential child targeting show. It sounds rather impressive but from the reputation of faulty animatronics and rigging it sounds like the start of a new lord of the rings the musical. A lot of money for a grandious plan that just ends in a lot snags.
This show is having so many problems with their US tour. I never hear of these problems form there tour in Australia. The only great thing I have heard is that the flying dragons are extremely cool when they work. I know when they came state side they did do some refitting to help with their load in process and I am sure that they spent a lot on this but the flying trace seems to have a ton of problems and never seems to work for an entire stop. I wonder if something happened to it when it came to USA like a container being dropped. I hope that in the future shows they have better audiences and less technical problems.
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