et cetera...: When guests arrived at the train platform for a ride on The Polar Express this holiday season, they knew they were in for a magical evening — but chances are they never thought about the technical challenges that come with mounting a show on a moving train …
7 comments:
To me, this is an example of theater at it's best: transforming an unconventional space into something that can be a real life performance like that. I find it interesting the way they approached teching this show, with their choice to build a mock train car in a warehouse, to create an almost simulation of the real life working conditions. Theater has always been about transforming something and molding it into exactly what we want it to me. I also think that the experience of being on a real train was probably really awesome for all the kids in the audience, to get them to really feel like they are on the actual Polar Express. I wish that they had given us a better back stage look, because I'd really like to see where they placed their technicians, since it kind of looks like they weren't able to see the show actually going on directly, and perhaps only had a video feed. Overall, this is just a very interesting way to stage a show to me, and I'd love if they'd make a backstage youtube video or something to show how they did it.
This reminds me of the original ART production of Natasha, Pierre, and The Great Comet of 1812. The idea of having theater in an unconventional space is very appealing. Like with the Great Comet, The Polar Express puts its audience in a small immersive space. While Comet was a full dinner, The Polar Express actually moves. It’s insane how we now have the ability to turn any space we want into theater. I think this really changes the game, giving designers the unique challenge of designing for peculiar circumstances, and introducing new levels of interaction. This has definitely become easier as our technology has advanced. Instead of being tied to a giant light board, we are now able to use the internet and an iPad to control and program lights. Its innovative, time saving, and is the future of theater. Hopefully we, as a theater community, will continue to explore the possibilities of what a theater is and how we can use technology to make our lives easier in the long run.
This is such a great idea for a performance/piece. This kind of themed entertainment is really interesting to me. This kind of “magic” portraying a show in a very interesting way and taking away peoples need to imagine different things and to stretch the imagination. In today’s world their is a major struggle with creating this sense of disbelief in audiences and people with tv and film and things such as CGI creating and suspending people belief of what’s possible simply by creating the impossible and showing it to people. People are struggling with different perceptions of what is real and what isn’t. There are a whole different world and making things like this cite based theatre and recreating worlds that people know so that this issue with the suspension of disbelief starts to go away and diminish in the audience. Of course as laid out here with the ETC there are added struggles and logistical issues doing different things with the environment and making it a theatrical would presents a multitude of issues.
I think this is really impressive and looks like the kind of theater that really anyone could appreciate and enjoy. I think some of the most challenging and interesting theater is that that is done in unusual and unexpected spaces. I think it is a really cool idea to produce Polar Express on a train because, while it does present new challenges, it actually allows the audience to become fully immersed. When I saw the title of the article, I wasn’t expecting that the train would be moving while the performance was going on but I think that was a crucial element of the production that, had it been missing, would have compromised the quality of the show. One of the things I love about theater is that there is no set way of putting on a show, which allows producers, designers, directors, and actors to be constantly innovating and coming up with new ways to put on shows, and this production of the Polar Express is a great example of this.
While the article is about ETC and lighting, this idea of a performance is mind-baffling. I really enjoy the Polar Express and would love to experience something like what they have done here. Maybe not the Polar Express but this idea of live theatre in such a different but natural environment. It blows my mind a little. One of the cool things that this article hots on is that because of technology we are able to do such things. Like the lighting designer said, the EOS board made sense for something like this and having it able to connect to mobile devices for easy mobile control is just so helpful. Not having to yell across multiple train cars or walk back and forth wasting time getting to and from the board is great. You can adjust right there without need for the physical board being right in front of you. Technology is also still improving so who knows what sort of things we will be able to do in the future.
What a great article about a the unconventional space or the extra challenging space being turned into the perfect performance space. I do not think they would have been able to do it if they had not done a mockup in advance. Also there is a huge market for Polar Express type shows, kids love trains and learn about them now primarily from this film. Being in the Christmas industry I almost had the chance to be Santa for one of these type shows, except I had a late crit so I lost $800. As a Santa these are wonderful jobs to do because they are well produced and planned out so the craziness of seeing Santa is contained to those on board which is much more manageable for me and allows each child to have more one on one time for the children. It is not only a great way to see Santa but a great introduction to theatre and all the important aspects of a production.
This is a truly fascinating idea for the staging of a show, and the fact that they were actually able to pull something like this together is truly awe inspiring. This is truly a very interesting way to interact and use this space. While at sometimes, this article does read a bit like an ad (probably because it is) it is still very interesting to see what something like this entails. The crew quarters for this show also seem a little bit too small for comfort, which personally would be a little rough for me, as I am claustrophobic. However, one thing that seems to help alleviate this is the fact that they made use of wireless technology, using an iPad to remotely control the lights. This show looks like a truly once in a lifetime experience, for both those able to work on it, and those able to experience it first hand.
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