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Post by Anniek on Sept 9, 2017 12:27:17 GMT
I feel sorry for all involved. People booked for the 21st and booked hotels and flights, but also the people who know have to move their visit as well. BUT, as I have really good seats for the first preview, I'm superhappy that I will still see the first preview from the same seat.
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Post by infofreako on Sept 9, 2017 12:42:40 GMT
I'm impressed with the way they've dealt with it so quickly and efficiently. It's bound to affect some more than others but they seem to be doing all they can.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2017 12:47:05 GMT
Just how BIG do we imagine Cameron's Hissy Fit to be on a scale of 1-10? (I wouldn't like to be the bloke who's on the end of it.)
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Post by TallPaul on Sept 9, 2017 12:50:36 GMT
Do you think that, right now, Alan Yentob is earning his squillions and re-editing Imagine?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2017 13:09:13 GMT
Just how BIG do we imagine Cameron's Hissy Fit to be on a scale of 1-10? (I wouldn't like to be the bloke who's on the end of it.) Is it a hissyfit when it's deserved? This is a HUGE deal, I wouldn't be surprised if some people lose their jobs over it.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2017 13:35:50 GMT
If the restoration team at the Victoria Palace discover Queen Victoria (or Barbara Windsor) buried under the stage, the delay may extend further.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Sept 9, 2017 16:01:05 GMT
I kinda remember suggesting this might happen, and being shouted down by MrBarnaby (surely not!). I do hope he hasn't got tickets. Of course I have tickets darling but not until this mess is past.. so I'm safe! I do think it's unfair if they are 'unbooking' people later on to rebook those booked for those affected performances. But then I also feel sorry for those who booked first previews wanting to be all smug about getting in early.. I had heard that some of the building work had been done 'wonky' from someone working on the renovation but they never mentioned it was so far behind. All of this seating plan stuff is nonesense too while I'm at it- like any building , all plans are meticulously worked out in advance so they absolutey know where each seat will be and have done for ages. It's not like 10 months into the work they discover somewhere to slip 40 new seats in.
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Post by Seriously on Sept 9, 2017 16:03:26 GMT
So even you didn't believe you then!
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Post by alece10 on Sept 11, 2017 16:48:22 GMT
I know they said up to 10 days but has anyone heard back trom Ticketmaster yet after submitting their 3 choices? Not helping my stress level one bit
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Post by foxa on Sept 11, 2017 18:08:03 GMT
I know they said up to 10 days but has anyone heard back trom Ticketmaster yet after submitting their 3 choices? Not helping my stress level one bit Nope, nothing. Ten days is a long time to hold three dates open (sorry, that sounds pompous, but December does get booked up!) and I'm going through all my usual anxiety stuff (What if they didn't get my form? What if I miss their email? What if I don't like what they offer me? You get my drift.) I'm sure it will be fine - people who did get the automatic rebookings mainly seem happy with what they've got. It must be like a gigantic crossword puzzle trying to figure it out.
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Post by kathryn on Sept 11, 2017 18:52:41 GMT
On the bright side, logging in to Ticketmaster reminded me that I've also booked a ticket for June! I'd totally forgotten about that.
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Post by fiyero on Sept 11, 2017 19:16:34 GMT
On the bright side, logging in to Ticketmaster reminded me that I've also booked a ticket for June! I'd totally forgotten about that. It is reminding me about my 2 more trips, though it still hurts that I likely won't be going as early in the run as I wanted. The little clip on The One Show showed how big a task the builders have, I hope it doesn't slip any further!
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Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 12, 2017 15:13:27 GMT
On the bright side, logging in to Ticketmaster reminded me that I've also booked a ticket for June! I'd totally forgotten about that. It is reminding me about my 2 more trips, though it still hurts that I likely won't be going as early in the run as I wanted. The little clip on The One Show showed how big a task the builders have, I hope it doesn't slip any further! I can't imagine it realistically could! They're likely at the last possible date for opening, just 4 days before Christmas. That's not when they would have wanted opening night - it's certainly not when the critics would have wanted to have to keep an evening free to attend the new show (no matter if it's the hottest new musical in the West End!). I can't think of any other major new shows that have opened the same week as Christmas - the logistics are insane, especially as there'll be two full dark days over the Christmas period, and that's their first week takings completely blown, as there aren't 8 full performances that week. Worse case scenario is that 2 weeks of previews becomes 10 days (or even less), but it's getting to the point where they will face such terrible publicity for ruining people's bookings, that the negative press will kill their pre-opening buzz, that I'm sure has been meticulously planned. After all, that regurgitated Imagine program was likely set to coincide with the release of the next batch of tickets - that can't happen now, and who knows how many tickets will be left, once they've reallocated 16 shows' worth of bookings. Even if those shows were originally booked under half the capacity of each performance, that will leave just a scant handful of tickets left to sell, in the early weeks of the show - and there'll be the additional first 2 weeks' worth of bookings after the original opening date, that may or may not get shifted into the later weeks of December, and perhaps early January. Has anyone got their reallocation yet - and did they get what they wanted (including seat positions)? I imagine someone at Ticketmaster is sat with a giant virtual jigsaw puzzle and is trying to fit all the pieces together! I expect the theatre itself is on an 'must finish on time at all costs' work pace now. Lots of overtime, perhaps eliminating some 'nice to have' finishing touches, in favour of more basic completion work? I'd guess that stage and front of house area completion are the priorities (surely the actual building of the stage is done?!), and backstage/offices etc will become lower priority, and get rudimentary finishes, in order to meet the deadline. Then, they could do some work piecemeal, during previews - annoying and disrupting to the company, but not stopping the show from being started on time.
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Post by partytentdown on Sept 12, 2017 19:52:12 GMT
ALLEGEDLY, Cameron went so far as to consider opening the show in another venue for the first few weeks to get around this problem. Allegedly.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2017 20:04:58 GMT
ALLEGEDLY, Cameron went so far as to consider opening the show in another venue for the first few weeks to get around this problem. Allegedly. Really? But on last nights Imagine TV programme he said the Victoria Palace was the only possible venue for Hamilton and without that theatre Hamilton would not be coming over so I wonder where he was intending to put it.
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Post by partytentdown on Sept 12, 2017 20:07:17 GMT
ALLEGEDLY, Cameron went so far as to consider opening the show in another venue for the first few weeks to get around this problem. Allegedly. Really? But on last nights Imagine TV programme he said the Victoria Palace was the only possible venue for Hamilton and without that theatre Hamilton would not be coming over so I wonder where he was intending to put it. I mean, considered moving the show somewhere else for the first few weeks while the Palace problem was fixed. Vastly expensive, but less expensive than refunding a couple of months of tickets...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2017 20:23:29 GMT
Really? But on last nights Imagine TV programme he said the Victoria Palace was the only possible venue for Hamilton and without that theatre Hamilton would not be coming over so I wonder where he was intending to put it. I mean, considered moving the show somewhere else for the first few weeks while the Palace problem was fixed. Vastly expensive, but less expensive than refunding a couple of months of tickets... Oh I know what you meant I was just saying it would be interesting to know what other venue he was considering.
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Post by steve10086 on Sept 12, 2017 20:28:52 GMT
I mean, considered moving the show somewhere else for the first few weeks while the Palace problem was fixed. Vastly expensive, but less expensive than refunding a couple of months of tickets... Oh I know what you meant I was just saying it would be interesting to know what other venue he was considering. Me too, and I can't imagine how any "temporary" production elsewhere could have been up to scratch.
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Post by andrew on Sept 12, 2017 22:16:23 GMT
What is Cammy on about? What about Hamilton is so extreme that there's only one venue in the West End that can take it? It has a simple revolve + deck, little in the way of automation, simple set, minimal props, no requirements for traps, small orchestra and could play to any sized venue they chose. There's a lot of lighting to rig but that's not beyond the average West End theatre. It's all marketing and PR nonsense.
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Post by fiyero on Sept 13, 2017 8:21:05 GMT
What is Cammy on about? What about Hamilton is so extreme that there's only one venue in the West End that can take it? It has a simple revolve + deck, little in the way of automation, simple set, minimal props, no requirements for traps, small orchestra and could play to any sized venue they chose. There's a lot of lighting to rig but that's not beyond the average West End theatre. It's all marketing and PR nonsense. Of course it is marketing but there must be some truth in it, he wants a theatre the right size, available and preferably one he owns
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Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 13, 2017 8:24:33 GMT
What is Cammy on about? What about Hamilton is so extreme that there's only one venue in the West End that can take it? It has a simple revolve + deck, little in the way of automation, simple set, minimal props, no requirements for traps, small orchestra and could play to any sized venue they chose. There's a lot of lighting to rig but that's not beyond the average West End theatre. It's all marketing and PR nonsense. Completely agree - it's just a way of excusing a giant rebuild, and saying it's all for this mega-musical! That theatre did desperately need a pretty large refurb, and they (theoretically) had the time to tear down practically an entire theatre block and rebuild (Billy Elliot closed in April 2016, they had over 18 months to complete the project!). But someone didn't do their homework, and work out just how difficult it would be to access the site, and deal with the centuries of London weirdness they already knew were underneath the theatre! Not even to mention that Victoria station was undergoing massive renovations, at the exact same time, as well as the enormous building site all around that Victoria area. I'm guessing the project managers kept stringing the theatre company along, making promises that they would have their theatre back on time, until it was just far too late to do anything about the situation, except push back opening night (surely the last resort decision for any theatre). Hamilton could have gone into almost any of the 1000+ seat theatres in London - there's enough to choose from! DMT basically just decided they wanted a shiny, new theatre for their golden goose production! If you're going to charge the highest ticket prices in London, it was probably a good thing to have a completely modernised theatre to justify those prices. It's just the project to get to the updated theatre appears to have been badly managed - I have done project management as a profession, and just don't believe that the excuses they've used were actually unforeseeable. They just didn't do enough research at the start (this is such a common pitfall), to really understand the area, or know about other work going on around them, and therefore didn't build enough time into the project to deal with the issues, and/or find the right people who could circumvent any problems. I can actually believe this - because they will have literally thrown every idea they could onto the table, in order to rescue the production, at this late stage. Instead, they've gone with a delay - plus, probably throwing a large amount of extra money at the project, to get it finished. Even with the new timeline, I'm betting it's still down to the wire if they'll have a finished theatre on the first preview performance. I hope someone in the know tells all eventually - I'm sure there have been tantrums and firings aplenty, recently!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2017 12:20:00 GMT
What is Cammy on about? What about Hamilton is so extreme that there's only one venue in the West End that can take it? It has a simple revolve + deck, little in the way of automation, simple set, minimal props, no requirements for traps, small orchestra and could play to any sized venue they chose. There's a lot of lighting to rig but that's not beyond the average West End theatre. It's all marketing and PR nonsense. Completely agree - it's just a way of excusing a giant rebuild, and saying it's all for this mega-musical! That theatre did desperately need a pretty large refurb, and they (theoretically) had the time to tear down practically an entire theatre block and rebuild (Billy Elliot closed in April 2016, they had over 18 months to complete the project!). But someone didn't do their homework, and work out just how difficult it would be to access the site, and deal with the centuries of London weirdness they already knew were underneath the theatre! Not even to mention that Victoria station was undergoing massive renovations, at the exact same time, as well as the enormous building site all around that Victoria area. I'm guessing the project managers kept stringing the theatre company along, making promises that they would have their theatre back on time, until it was just far too late to do anything about the situation, except push back opening night (surely the last resort decision for any theatre). Hamilton could have gone into almost any of the 1000+ seat theatres in London - there's enough to choose from! DMT basically just decided they wanted a shiny, new theatre for their golden goose production! If you're going to charge the highest ticket prices in London, it was probably a good thing to have a completely modernised theatre to justify those prices. It's just the project to get to the updated theatre appears to have been badly managed - I have done project management as a profession, and just don't believe that the excuses they've used were actually unforeseeable. They just didn't do enough research at the start (this is such a common pitfall), to really understand the area, or know about other work going on around them, and therefore didn't build enough time into the project to deal with the issues, and/or find the right people who could circumvent any problems. I can actually believe this - because they will have literally thrown every idea they could onto the table, in order to rescue the production, at this late stage. Instead, they've gone with a delay - plus, probably throwing a large amount of extra money at the project, to get it finished. Even with the new timeline, I'm betting it's still down to the wire if they'll have a finished theatre on the first preview performance. I hope someone in the know tells all eventually - I'm sure there have been tantrums and firings aplenty, recently! Oh what I wouldn't give to have been a fly on the wall!! 😜
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239 posts
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Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 15, 2017 8:49:06 GMT
Has anyone had updates on their ticket situation? I'm curious about those people who booked in the original proper opening period (i.e. between 7-20th Dec), who are now scheduled to see a preview performance, unless those are being changed too? I know the original opening night tickets have been basically auto-transferred to the new opening night, but I've not heard about everyone else, and where they're moving people to.
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Post by londonmzfitz on Sept 15, 2017 8:59:12 GMT
Quote -
Please select three performances which you would be able to attend by completing our form no later than Friday 15 September.
After receiving your form, we will send you an e-mail within 10 working days detailing the best available seats into which we can exchange your tickets from the dates you have selected. These seats will be as close as possible to the location of your original seats.
Wouldn't expect to hear for a bit, if today is the closing day for the forms. It'll take a bit of work to get that jigsaw puzzle sorted, surely!
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Post by steve10086 on Sept 15, 2017 10:00:32 GMT
Has anyone had updates on their ticket situation? I'm curious about those people who booked in the original proper opening period (i.e. between 7-20th Dec), who are now scheduled to see a preview performance, unless those are being changed too? I know the original opening night tickets have been basically auto-transferred to the new opening night, but I've not heard about everyone else, and where they're moving people to. I'm going on 11 Dec and my date is unchanged. It was supposed to be after opening night but is now a preview, so I've been given a £10 refund per ticket.
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