The Theatre Question Amnesty Thread

^ But what if she's needed in two places at once?

She shouldn't be needed in 2 places at one because as well as the universal standby, they have a standby for the sisters in each company. Often the standby is the only cover for Eliza or Angelica so that's when she would be needed. The only thing I dont like about Hamilton understudies is they have a relatively large ensemble of people to choose from but for the sisters, there is a standby, an understudy for all 3 and then an addition Peggy/Maria understudy to cover their bases. Why can't they spread the roles out a little, there is a female ensemble of 5 and then swings.

They're just day tickets by another name.

"Rush" because you have to rush to the theatre on the day to get them - or at least you used to before TodayTix invented the electronic rush where all you have to do is be on the app at the right time.

Yes, I think you're right. Why they don't just call them day tickets I'll never know...

What are slips and what are the pros/cons of sitting in them?

Why are they called slips?

I can't believe I of all people forgot to point that out in my reply!! With Rent Larson/the producers later on were adamant that the kind of people Rent was about (young people non students) should be able to access it too, which is why their rush became one of (if not the) first for a Broadway show. 

And other shows soon noticed how having a line outside your theatre every morning made you look popular! 

It later became a lottery when people were sleeping out for so long it became an issue. 

Taking the explanation of slips a bit wider, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, has a large number of slips, called Lower Slips and Upper Slips, accessible from the Ampitheatre level.  The first few Lower Slips on each side furthest from the stage are excellent seats at a good price, while the Upper Slips are very cheap because the ones closest to the stage have no view of the stage whatsoever. In the old days there used to be illuminated music stands at those last couple of seats where music students could follow the performance aurally with a score. 

As an example of price differentials, for Jonas Kaufmann's Otello last year, the top price seats in the Stalls and Grand Tier were £270 while the best Lower Slips were £43 and the worst Upper Slips were £13. On less pricey opera nights the best Lower Slips are between £20 and £8 while the cheapest Upper Slips can be as low as £5 for operas and £4 for ballets.

All Slips involve sideways viewing and the Upper Slips are a long way from the stage, but there are many regular opera and ballet lovers who sit nowhere but in the Slips.  One of the benefits of always sitting in the same part of the auditorium for opera and ballet is that one gets used to the sound and the view and one can make a good comparative judgement of different performers, even from the Upper Slips.

End of lecture!

I couldn't 100% say for sure, but I may make a guess that it's because to "strike" could be referred to removing something? Obviously doesn't answer the question of *why* it's strike we say as opposed to just "removing" which may be more what you were asking!

EDIT: A bit of googling provided a link to this archived convo from another forum in 2007, the last post shows that the word first appeared in reference to removing set in 1889 - so I guess it's always just 'been there' and who knows what people said before it! www.waywordradio.org/discussion/topics/strike-in-theatre/

Hope this hasn't been asked already, at the end of most performances I've seen at the Royal Court the actors typically raise their right arms, possibly towards the balcony, as if in thanks to something/someone.

I'm pretty certain I've seen it in performances at other theatres as well.

Any ideas ?

Apologies if this sounds a bit dim but surely the audience can tell if the actor/actress is singing along to the click track since there would be two voices even though in unison. Does that mean that throughout the whole opening scenes of Phantom, the actors are miming? Thanks