716 posts
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Post by theatre-turtle on Apr 29, 2016 10:11:40 GMT
Let us not forget that technical elements going wrong is not just the set... it can also be lighting, sound, the curtains, something to do with the Orchestra... it can be anything. True..but I think everyone there is so capable of either fixing it or going on without this element. There are so many things happening on in these shows that go barely unnoticed. I am sure if a certain light is out the show can still go on. It has to be REALLY bad for them to cancel it altogether. Keep in mind that these shows are alive for the sake of making money. A cancelation is a huge loss to the bottom line. The cost to the prducers of a single cancelled perofrmane must be quite significant given how slim margins are in theatre. With all the premium seats etc I reckon it could be 75k+, taking into account bar sales etc? It would surely be a last resort and I don't think the moving travelators would be enough to cancel a performance completely |
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1,936 posts
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Post by wickedgrin on Apr 29, 2016 10:12:00 GMT
I remember seeing Les Mis at the Queens Theatre when the revolve broke down during Act 2. The show continued with the cast bringing on furniture etc. It was so slickly done that I assumed the revolve not working was a regualar occurance! The show did not stop for a moment!
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724 posts
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Post by basdfg on Apr 29, 2016 10:14:03 GMT
True..but I think everyone there is so capable of either fixing it or going on without this element. There are so many things happening on in these shows that go barely unnoticed. I am sure if a certain light is out the show can still go on. It has to be REALLY bad for them to cancel it altogether. Keep in mind that these shows are alive for the sake of making money. A cancelation is a huge loss to the bottom line. The cost to the prducers of a single cancelled perofrmane must be quite significant given how slim margins are in theatre. With all the premium seats etc I reckon it could be 75k+, taking into account bar sales etc? It would surely be a last resort and I don't think the moving travelators would be enough to cancel a performance completely And cast problems even less so because the majority once they arrive probably wouldn't go for a refund if an understudy took over. |
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153 posts
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Post by liverpool54321 on Apr 29, 2016 10:42:37 GMT
I see a Sun journalist offering to buy stories on Twitter from those there last night. Not sure the Sun knows what truth means.
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362 posts
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Post by JJShaw on Apr 29, 2016 10:51:38 GMT
I remember seeing Les Mis at the Queens Theatre when the revolve broke down during Act 2. The show continued with the cast bringing on furniture etc. It was so slickly done that I assumed the revolve not working was a regualar occurance! The show did not stop for a moment! don't think it happens too often but i do believe that that contingency plan is rehearsed every so often, or cast members are notified of what to do, much like if the cherry picker in Wicked ceases to work |
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527 posts
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Post by Hamilton Addict on Apr 29, 2016 11:06:06 GMT
Can anyone explain to me what's going on or what this rumour was, or is no-one aloud to say? What is this tweet? I'm so confused right now. You go to party with Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens for one night and you miss everything!  |
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1,936 posts
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Post by wickedgrin on Apr 29, 2016 11:47:03 GMT
Can anyone explain to me what's going on or what this rumour was, or is no-one aloud to say? What is this tweet? I'm so confused right now. You go to party with Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens for one night and you miss everything! No I'm afraid we can't tell you what's going on for fear of armed police breaking our doors down, cuffing us, confiscating our computers and throwing us into the cells, and even worse getting censored on here for merely copying a tweet! I am awaiting a knock at the door as we speak! |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2016 11:51:16 GMT
Can anyone explain to me what's going on or what this rumour was, or is no-one aloud to say? What is this tweet? I'm so confused right now. You go to party with Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens for one night and you miss everything! By sheer coincidence, Sauce and a Vixen were involved. Is that cryptic enough not to be spending Bank Holiday weekend in Holloway? |
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968 posts
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Post by TheatreDust on Apr 29, 2016 11:59:59 GMT
getting censored on here for merely copying a tweet We rarely remove posts and only take that action after careful consideration. In this case the tweet that was quoted here was also deleted from the twitter account. Hopefully board members understand why we wish to ensure TheatreBoard stays on the right side of the law. In some cases it is 'better safe than sorry' - we don't want to jeopardize the future of the board by unwise speculation or repeating actionable comments. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2016 12:03:55 GMT
getting censored on here for merely copying a tweet We rarely remove posts and only take that action after careful consideration. In this case the tweet that was quoted here was also deleted from the twitter account. Hopefully board members understand why we wish to ensure TheatreBoard stays on the right side of the law. In some cases it is 'better safe than sorry' - we don't want to jeopardize the future of the board by unwise speculation or repeating actionable comments. It's only to ensure that we are all protected. It really is for everyone's best interests, including those in the show. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2016 12:10:25 GMT
Seems my post has gone down cos I mentioned the tweet, but they don't have to justify the technical difficulty, I've been at many shows before when shows have been stopped for around half hour and the only explanation we had was 'technical difficulties' I'm always suspicious when people are vague about the cause of a problem. It suggests it's something embarrassing that shouldn't have happened. I generally find people are far more willing to accept problems if they know what's going on: "they've screwed up" is annoying, but "they've screwed up and are obviously lying about it" is worse. |
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527 posts
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Post by Hamilton Addict on Apr 29, 2016 12:21:35 GMT
Me trying to figure out what went on this thread last night...  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2016 12:25:18 GMT
Seems my post has gone down cos I mentioned the tweet, but they don't have to justify the technical difficulty, I've been at many shows before when shows have been stopped for around half hour and the only explanation we had was 'technical difficulties' I'm always suspicious when people are vague about the cause of a problem. It suggests it's something embarrassing that shouldn't have happened. I generally find people are far more willing to accept problems if they know what's going on: "they've screwed up" is annoying, but "they've screwed up and are obviously lying about it" is worse. Worse than "they've screwed up and ******** was *****" though? |
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Post by welsh_tenor on Apr 29, 2016 12:30:58 GMT
I love Twitter....
Whilst the tweet has been removed I just searched Funny Girl Cancelled and think I've got the jist of the rumour....
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5,062 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Apr 29, 2016 12:37:48 GMT
Normally when there is a genuine technical hitch, the stage manager are only too happy to explain, what the problem is, for instance Billy Elliot, when Billy's bedroom failed to raise they stopped the show for 10 minutes.
Part of good set and lighting design is to provide redundancy if something does fail or easy recovery. Say that the scenery change conveyor belt did break, this would be more than likely be a motor failed or a MCB trips, there should be a on-site maintenance team who could easily change the motor quickly. If a MCB does trip, all this needs is resetting, the problem would be if it kept nuisance tripping, which would mean there is a short circuit somewhere and that is hard to find. Worst case scenario the belt physically breaks, the maintenance team, should have a spare one. The only thing that technically could knock out a show, is loss of the street power supply, but even this has happened and the show continued albeit with reduced lighting, when I saw Love Story at the Duchess.
A show will be stop and cancelled if an issue cannot be resolved if it affects safety.
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Post by littleflyer on Apr 29, 2016 12:38:47 GMT
Seems my post has gone down cos I mentioned the tweet, but they don't have to justify the technical difficulty, I've been at many shows before when shows have been stopped for around half hour and the only explanation we had was 'technical difficulties' I'm always suspicious when people are vague about the cause of a problem. It suggests it's something embarrassing that shouldn't have happened. I generally find people are far more willing to accept problems if they know what's going on: "they've screwed up" is annoying, but "they've screwed up and are obviously lying about it" is worse. Would you have been suspicious had THE tweets not gone up? A couple of months back I was at Kinky Boots, after Take What You've Got they stopped the show and announced it was due to technically difficulties, the show started around 10-15 minutes later with no other explanations. Whilst I understand this is different as the show wasn't completely cancelled I still have no idea what the difficulties were, I don't however believe it was due to anything other than, as they said, technical difficulties, and just accepted it. They would always try to fix the issue if they can but surely once a certain length of time has passed the decision needs to be made that it will be too late to finish the show |
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Post by d'James on Apr 29, 2016 12:41:55 GMT
Of course you're right and they'll make sure we never know if what was said in the tweet did happen - that is of course unless it happens again.
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751 posts
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Post by horton on Apr 29, 2016 13:05:59 GMT
I was at a performance of a show I won't name but it stopped clearly because a cast member had a significant problem. There was a 15 minute wait and then an alternate resumed. This was still described as a technical difficulty although clearly it did not involve, set, music, sound or lights.
The technical difficulty at Funny Girl could still be described as such even if it involved personnel issues. Especially if other people reacted badly to such issues and things got ugly. As observed earlier, cancelling a full house is a very extreme, expensive step to have to take.
(I do know someone who was at the performance last night)
I guess we'll know if they manage to rectify the problem tonight.
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Post by d'James on Apr 29, 2016 13:14:47 GMT
There's no reason why what was said to have happened last night would stop the full cast going on tonight.
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15 posts
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Post by mammarose86 on Apr 29, 2016 13:16:07 GMT
I've now received an email from the deputy theatre manager, again re-iterating it was - and I quote - a 'technical failure'. Whilst I totally understand this, and that things like this happen, it would be really appreciated if someone from the show or the theatre actually explained what the technical failure was...I know myself and several others who were in the audience would be a lot more understanding if we were actually told just a little detail on what went wrong.
I don't think thats too much to ask when people have invested so much time and money in getting to the theatre.
Haven't felt like this in 10+ years of visiting the West End! Oh well...
That's show business I guess.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2016 13:22:14 GMT
I love Sheridan, she's our generation's Judy.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2016 13:22:43 GMT
There was already one post from the week or so after the MCF run removed which proved subsequently to be an unfounded rumour, my rule of thumb is to not trust the motives of anyone posting an 'I heard', 'supposedly' or 'Twitter said' comment.
As people really should know by now, repeating something is considered as being no different to saying it first.
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1,103 posts
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Post by mallardo on Apr 29, 2016 14:10:12 GMT
Problem is, the only plausible explanation we've heard is the one we dare not speak of.
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15 posts
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Post by mammarose86 on Apr 29, 2016 15:45:57 GMT
OK - so box office have sorted me out with replacement tickets on same row of stalls (H) for next Thursday! And the show is going ahead tonight according to the deputy theatre manager who I spoke to on the phone.
The front of house staff at the Savoy are really understanding! Fingers crossed!!!!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2016 15:47:10 GMT
I've now received an email from the deputy theatre manager, again re-iterating it was - and I quote - a 'technical failure'. Whilst I totally understand this, and that things like this happen, it would be really appreciated if someone from the show or the theatre actually explained what the technical failure was...I know myself and several others who were in the audience would be a lot more understanding if we were actually told just a little detail on what went wrong. That's the issue I have. Before I learnt to drive I used to get around almost everywhere by train, and when things went wrong I didn't mind so long as I was told what was wrong. I have a pretty good grasp of the technical aspects of running a railway so I can appreciate how apparently minor problems can result in significant delays, so if they disclose the nature of the problem I can set my expectations accordingly. But when they get all cagey about what's happening the implication is either that the problem is a result of avoidable incompetence or that they're playing "we know something you don't know" power games, and either way the result is unnecessary irritation. Nobody expects everything to be perfect every time. Machinery breaks down, people make mistakes, and sometimes things go wrong for really stupid reasons. But once they have gone wrong they won't go right again by keeping quiet about what's actually happening. |
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