Remembering the Mark Hellinger Theatre (In Honor of Eliza Doolittle Day)- Page 2

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 9:41am

An absolutely beautiful theatre. The only time I ever attended a show there was to see Sugar Babies in 1982.  I still have my ticket stub.

[Justin D]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 11:44am

As much as I would love that theatre to come back into theatrical use, I feel that gorgeous interior will get spoilt by all the light and sound rigs or even worse (cough) Mary Poppin's "bridge" thats still there at the New Amsterdam, ruining the look of that theatre's dome

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 5:09pm

Interesting point you bring up Justin D. Lighting rigs have disrupted the elegant designs of a great many theatres, on Broadway and elsewhere. Necessary, but still I can't imagine there isn't a more discreet way to do it.

[Justin D]

Posted: 5/23/17 at 9:18am

Atleast over at the majestic if memory serves, I guess they knew they were going to be in for the long haul and at least painted their lights to match somewhat the ceiling.

One hand I love to see technology but other times it really is too much, was glad to see that not a whole lot was hanging from the roof of the palace for Sunset, and I also loved that in Anastasia (spoiler maybe) they make use of the blank side walls in that lovely song, it actually made me tear up.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 5/23/17 at 4:13pm

There's perhaps a bit of an extreme example at the Broadway. There are not one but two sets of lighting rigs that stretch across much of the length of the auditorium, one quite far back.



Does anyone know if the rigs change for every show?

Updated On: 5/23/17 at 04:13 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/23/17 at 11:14pm

I saw my first Broadway show, Shenandoah, in the Hellinger.

I went back a few times for church services.  What's really nice is to sit upstairs where you can see the crown flanked by angels hanging over the proscenium.  You can see some of it in the second to last picture.

eta:  I'm not sure if they do, but it would be so nice if the church opened it up for tours.  I'd love to go onstage and even see the backstage.  I'd pay to take a tour of the theater.

Updated On: 5/23/17 at 11:14 PM

[Justin D]

Posted: 5/24/17 at 10:00am

I assume the theatres themselves own some of the basic rigs, but more are added as needed.

The thing about that miss saigon photo, it is a pitty that the show was not intended to be more 'permanent' because they could do well with some masking around those box areas to fully black out that area.

I like when this happens because overall things look less distracting/clashing with the architecture.

Cats does it, but this is also a production design choice. same for Phantom to an extent.

the rigs over at Wicked are hidden quite well but thats probably more about the design of that theatre