Rocky Preview Shutdowns- Page 2

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 2/22/14 at 7:53pm

I know I'm sort of beating a dead horse...but for tech heavy shows where a lot is riding on the automation...ticket prices should be discounted for previews.

[Anshel2]

Posted: 2/22/14 at 8:05pm

I was there last night too and after 30 minutes of intermission, we left. I had no interest in seeing the second half. As we were leaving, we heard theatre management talking to another patron about past dated tickets. We went up and said we had to leave and they wrote on our tickets that they would accept them for past date. They were also h handing out forms about their past date policy. We went to the box office this morning when they opened and they gave us 3 tickets for the matinee - better seats than we had originally which were purchased through TDF. The show was pretty good and only had one technical shut down in the second act - right after the song in front of the Spectrum with all of the merchandise being sold in Philly. About 10 minutes. By the way, Thomas Meehan was sitting two rows in front of us.

[Happy2BeHere]

Posted: 2/22/14 at 8:32pm

I agree that ticket prices have become quite high during previews. They used to be lower while a show was in preview.

The beauty of seeing previews, to me, is being able to see the finished product after the show opens and how the show has evolved from previews to opening. If ticket prices were lower it would be easier to see the progression over the course of a few previews and then see the finished product after opening night.

I was there last night and wasn't surprised or upset about the curtain coming down and lights up for the technical problems. The assistant director made a point, at the beginning of the night, of saying that they had made quite a few changes during the day yesterday and we would be the first to see the new show. I don't know if those changes were the cause of all of the problems or just technical glitches that could happen at anytime when computers are involved. We were told that the tech glitches were not quickly fixed but entailed basically rebooting the whole system. Not exactly in those words but that was the gist of what I think he was saying. When asked about the show in Germany and if they had the same issues &/or sets, we were told that there are some differences in the safety standards and the way things can be done between Germany and here which would explain how the show may have gone smoothly and now seems to be starting from scratch again.

"Just recently, Machinal had a major tech snafu that stopped the show on opening night. It happens. Years from now, people who weren't there will be claiming they saw this debacle. You saw an utterly unique piece of theater that only a thousand or so people will EVER see."

You make a great point above. It is one of the reasons I enjoy seeing previews. I'm pretty sure (& hope for their sake) that we saw a unique, one time only show.
I found the whole night very interesting even though I'm sure the cast and crew were sweating it. Previews feel a little bit like I'm in on the rehearsals and getting a unique inside look at the whole show.

Speaking of the stressed out staff...one of them was heading out for the night and said, half jokingly, War & Peace was shorter. LOL

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 2/22/14 at 9:29pm

Thanks. I love previews myself. It is a more real experience than a frozen show, for me. I agree that preview prices ought to be less, as they used to be, but that's probably never going to change. Nothing against the OP, but if you want to lessen the chances that you'll have a show stoppage during a tech heavy show (or if an actor dropping lines or screwing up blocking or something might bother you), you should probably avoid previews.

Me, I live for that stuff.

Updated On: 2/22/14 at 09:29 PM

[ethan231h]

Posted: 2/22/14 at 10:01pm

sounds like GHOST

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/22/14 at 10:06pm

At least it's in previews. In its original run, Les Miserables had the turntable stop working after they were up and running.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 2/22/14 at 10:57pm

"At least it's in previews. In its original run, Les Miserables had the turntable stop working after they were up and running."

No long running show runs perfectly every night. Mechanical systems fail, computers crash, people make mistakes, etc, there is no way to completely foolproof everything.

I would imagine it was easier to charge less for previews back in the days when previews were a week or two. With preview periods now lasting closer to a month it's probably not easy for a producer to look at the line-item sheets and justify discounting the entire preview period across the board, since the show doesn't cost any less to run during previews, and running costs may be even higher when you factor in extra pay for ongoing rehearsals and overtime costs for shows that run long because of technical problems, like the performance that sparked this thread.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 2/22/14 at 11:38pm

Running costs in previews are way higher.

All the extra rehearsal time means more money for all the actors, creatives, and crew. Plus, far more house seats are held for creatives to take notes, not to mention seats held for critics.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/23/14 at 1:36pm

This is just another example why preview tickets should be sold with a 25% discount the way they were in the good old days.

[mikem]

Posted: 2/23/14 at 5:09pm

"All the extra rehearsal time means more money for all the actors, creatives, and crew."

Do the actors and creatives get paid more with more rehearsal time? I thought that rehearsal time was built in to their contracts, and that actors got paid the same amount in previews as they do after the show opens (and creatives get a flat fee plus royalties).

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 2/23/14 at 5:11pm

Actors, creatives, musicians, etc. are all paid for extra rehearsal time. So yes, one could assume that they are paid more during the preview period of tech heavy shows since the show is constantly changing and that requires additional rehearsal time.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 2/23/14 at 5:30pm

For the actors it would depend on how much extra rehearsal time is needed. There is some amount built into the contract each week, both during previews and even once the show opens. However, if it is a major change or revision that they need to rehearse then it may require more hours than what is already allowed and paid for in the contract, hence overtime.

You are also looking at continued work calls for the crew, which can vary in length and number of crew needed depending on the extent of the notes being taken care of. That can add unexpected costs.

Creatives (director, choreographer, designers, etc) are typically paid a flat fee (plus royalties when dealing with commercial theatre), so there wouldn't be associated overtime costs for them.