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Post by david on Aug 20, 2022 17:34:14 GMT
Just spotted on the Apollo Victoria page on the ATG site that there theatre tours of the venue running on various Saturday mornings at 10.30am starting from the 20th August. Book via ATG. Tickets £17.50 each though cheaper if booked in groups. Did this tour today and was definitely the most disappointing theatre tour I've done. We were only taken to the front of house and inside the auditorium, no backstage or onstage experience. The 'tour guide' didn't seem very knowledgeable at all, reading from an A4 script with little enthusiasm. Could probably have had the same experience by walking around the building pre show and reading my programme. Over in less than half an hour, for £17.50 that seemed very expensive for the experience we had. These seem to be quite new so I hope they look to improve them as they get more experience. Thanks for the review. i was going to book but might wait now. Hopefully they will get some feedback and look to improve on the tour content. |
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Post by TallPaul on Aug 20, 2022 18:00:03 GMT
Ever the optimist, our david. ATG isn't known for making improvements following criticism. Huddersfield's Lawrence Batley Theatre is the place to be on Sunday 4 September. There's plenty to do and see, including theatre tours and a chance to dance, all for free. There's even the promise of a VIP! www.thelbt.org/what-s-on/family/open-day/ |
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Post by david on Aug 24, 2022 18:03:10 GMT
The London 2022 Open House Festival programme has just been released and there are a couple of theatres doing guided tours between the 8-22 September - NT Archive Barbican Centre Theatre Royal Stratford East ROH NT Shaftesbury Theatre Link - programme.openhouse.org.uk/calendar |
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Post by danb on Sept 1, 2022 12:30:16 GMT
The Shaftesbury one only lasts 45 minutes! I’d only have just got my anorak off and it’d be time to put it back on!
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Post by richey on Sept 17, 2022 15:08:36 GMT
So the tour of Manchester Palace this morning was pretty interesting. Great to go onstage and see all the set/costumes for the current production (Dreamgirls)
Two lovely ladies showing us around with lots of little anecdotes and some interesting facts from the ASM. The one that really struck me was the weight of all the sets, which I've never really thought about before. Apparently the Lion King touring set has about 40 tons of scenery suspended above the stage!
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Post by david on Oct 8, 2022 11:14:25 GMT
An interesting hour tour of the Lyceum theatre this morning. A really enthusiastic tour guide giving us a history of the building and it’s various uses throughout time as well as a history (and some of the more technical aspects) of the Lion King show itself. We managed to get on stage and see some of the puppets used in the show that are stored backstage.
The best story though was during one show in “The Circle of Life”, a FOH staff member forgot to remove one of the safety ropes on one of the sets stairs leading onto the stage. When the actors in the elephant puppet tried to climb the stairs they got caught up in the rope and tumbled into the orchestra pit head first so all the audience could see was four elephant legs protruding from the orchestra pit.
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Post by Paulw on Oct 8, 2022 11:17:29 GMT
An interesting hour tour of the Lyceum theatre this morning. A really enthusiastic tour guide giving us a history of the building and it’s various uses throughout time as well as a history (and some of the more technical aspects) of the Lion King show itself. We managed to get on stage and see some of the puppets used in the show that are stored backstage. The best story though was during one show in “The Circle of Life”, a FOH staff member forgot to remove one of the safety ropes on one of the sets stairs leading onto the stage. When the actors in the elephant puppet tried to climb the stairs they got caught up in the rope and tumbled into the orchestra pit head first so all the audience could see was four elephant legs protruding from the orchestra pit. Is that a regular public tour or just a one off? |
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Post by david on Oct 8, 2022 11:20:13 GMT
An interesting hour tour of the Lyceum theatre this morning. A really enthusiastic tour guide giving us a history of the building and it’s various uses throughout time as well as a history (and some of the more technical aspects) of the Lion King show itself. We managed to get on stage and see some of the puppets used in the show that are stored backstage. The best story though was during one show in “The Circle of Life”, a FOH staff member forgot to remove one of the safety ropes on one of the sets stairs leading onto the stage. When the actors in the elephant puppet tried to climb the stairs they got caught up in the rope and tumbled into the orchestra pit head first so all the audience could see was four elephant legs protruding from the orchestra pit. Is that a regular public tour or just a one off? - It’s a regular public tour. They are running sat mornings and are booked through ATG. Tickets cost £17.50. |
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Post by Paulw on Oct 8, 2022 11:27:08 GMT
Paulw - It’s a regular public tour. They are running sat mornings and are booked through ATG. Tickets cost £17.50. Perfect I think I will look into that one Oh and I have to say thank you for the tip off of the open house stuff as I had a great time doing the Shaftesbury tour lasted well over an hour and the big boss was my tour guide! |
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Post by david on Oct 8, 2022 11:29:27 GMT
Paulw - It’s a regular public tour. They are running sat mornings and are booked through ATG. Tickets cost £17.50. Perfect I think I will look into that one Oh and I have to say thank you for the tip off of the open house stuff as I had a great time doing the Shaftesbury tour lasted well over an hour and the big boss was my tour guide! Glad the info was useful and you had a great time Paulw. |
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Post by mkb on Oct 8, 2022 11:33:16 GMT
I don't know if they are still running, but the tours of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough (former Odeon in Art Deco style) are really good. You even get to walk on the wire mesh "floor" above the main stage and below the lighting rig.
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Post by TallPaul on Oct 8, 2022 12:07:28 GMT
I don't know if they are still running, but the tours of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough (former Odeon in Art Deco style) are really good. You even get to walk on the wire mesh "floor" above the main stage and below the lighting rig. I can second this. Bouncing on the trampoline is great fun, if a little disconcerting to begin with. The exterior was used for the cover of Richard Hawley's 'Coles Corner' album. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 8, 2022 12:15:36 GMT
I don't know if they are still running, but the tours of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough (former Odeon in Art Deco style) are really good. You even get to walk on the wire mesh "floor" above the main stage and below the lighting rig. I can second this. Bouncing on the trampoline is great fun, if a little disconcerting to begin with. The exterior was used for the cover of Richard Hawley's 'Coles Corner' album. One of the only two date meeting places in the whole of Sheffield “Coils Corner or t’fishtank in t’oil under t’rooadd?” |
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Post by TallPaul on Oct 8, 2022 13:22:12 GMT
Where did you usually meet all your dates, BurlyBeaR? Because you're really old, I'm guessing the former. Must be quite difficult to attach a carnation to fur! |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 8, 2022 13:53:49 GMT
Usually some dim bar so they couldn’t see what I looked like 😉
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 8, 2022 15:31:13 GMT
Must be quite difficult to attach a carnation to fur! I'm now trying to work this out. Would you have to grow a small patch of fur longer so it could be tied round the stem of a carnation? |
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Post by TallPaul on Oct 8, 2022 16:10:59 GMT
Only on TheatreBoard would we go, in just five posts, from touring the SJT to the best way to attach a carnation to a bear. I love it. 🙂
All we need now is the definite answer. What is the best way to attach a carnation to a bear heading out on a date? Probably easier to meet under a clock, or summat.
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 8, 2022 20:53:56 GMT
Clarification from BurlyBeaR as to whether male bears wear clothes on dates or not would be useful. If they wear clothes then there's no problem, pin it to a lapel/braces/waistcoat. It's how you attach a carnation to an unclothed bear that I'm uncertain about. Although "carefully" is probably a good answer! |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 9, 2022 10:41:04 GMT
Clarification from BurlyBeaR as to whether male bears wear clothes on dates or not would be useful. If they wear clothes then there's no problem, pin it to a lapel/braces/waistcoat. It's how you attach a carnation to an unclothed bear that I'm uncertain about. Although "carefully" is probably a good answer! You have to go on a date with me to find out Dawnstar! 🙂 |
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Oct 9, 2022 11:33:51 GMT
If you google “Samuel Whiskers” you’ll see the big fat theatre-going rodents are exceptionally well-dressed!
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 9, 2022 18:48:12 GMT
You have to go on a date with me to find out Dawnstar ! 🙂 I'm afraid I live rather too far away from Manchester! In fact I've never been there in my entire life. |
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Post by david on Oct 9, 2022 20:57:18 GMT
I don't know if they are still running, but the tours of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough (former Odeon in Art Deco style) are really good. You even get to walk on the wire mesh "floor" above the main stage and below the lighting rig. , if a little disconcerting to begin with. - Is there CCTV footage available of you on the trampoline? If so, please post it! |
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Post by david on Jan 14, 2023 18:28:03 GMT
London Victoria Apollo tour -
I did the tour this morning. I have to say that despite a charming tour guide who gave myself and another guy an interesting history of the theatre and info onto some of the features in the building design in the hour tour, there really wasn’t very much in the way of behind the scenes stuff. Access was really only to the FOH areas and the auditorium. Apparently the theatre bosses don’t want anybody on stage or access to the technical areas backstage. So why offer the tour then? You can get the theatre history stuff from the many theatre history books available.
We did get to see the lighting team do their pre-show testing which was interesting, but certainly compared to my last tour at the Lyceum theatre which really got you the full on stage / behind the scenes stuff, the Apollo one felt lacklustre. For me going on these tours is being able to get access to areas normally out of bounds and sadly I don’t really think it was worth the £17 I paid.
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Post by appoul on Jan 14, 2023 20:18:26 GMT
London Victoria Apollo tour - I did the tour this morning. I have to say that despite a charming tour guide who gave myself and another guy an interesting history of the theatre and info onto some of the features in the building design in the hour tour, there really wasn’t very much in the way of behind the scenes stuff. Access was really only to the FOH areas and the auditorium. Apparently the theatre bosses don’t want anybody on stage or access to the technical areas backstage. So why offer the tour then? You can get the theatre history stuff from the many theatre history books available. We did get to see the lighting team do their pre-show testing which was interesting, but certainly compared to my last tour at the Lyceum theatre which really got you the full on stage / behind the scenes stuff, the Apollo one felt lacklustre. For me going on these tours is being able to get access to areas normally out of bounds and sadly I don’t really think it was worth the £17 I paid. I think it sometimes depends on whether there is a rehearsal of an understudy going on at the same time the tour is happening. I remember once a tour at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane when there was such a rehearsal and we were told by the guide that we are not going to be taken backstage, they wouldn't even allow us to enter the auditorium, but they finally did (just because we had an old lady in our group and it would be quicker for us to go to the other side of the foyer through the dress circle: they just asked us to walk as quickly as possible and not look at the stage (and certainly refrain from taking any photos!). On the other hand, I remember a backstage tour at the Prince Edward, a few days before the end of the first Mary Poppins run (January 2008), when they took us to many backstage areas (we also saw costumes, wigs, the umbrellas etc). |
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Post by joni89 on Feb 7, 2023 10:19:17 GMT
I generally enjoy venue/theatre tours but the quality and price does vary greatly.
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