Billy Elliot 12/6 Matinee Problems

[balto]

Posted: 12/6/08 at 10:57pm

Anyone know what happened during today's Billy Elliot matinee? During Merry Christmas Maggy Thatcher, the big Margaret Thatcher "doll" snapped up into the ceiling. During the father's song, the big doll was brought down (with her hands hitting/grabbing the top of the Christmas Party stage in process - eliciting laughs from the audience).

Don't know if it's related, but there were audible (real) emergency vehicles that were during the Billy/Michael scene at Christmas.

Then, during the Swan Lake dance, the music abruptly cut off, then restarted, and the dance finished without any flight.

Very disappointed that we didn't see flight.

Has this ever happened before?
Updated On: 12/6/08 at 10:57 PM

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 12/6/08 at 11:01pm

Hmm. Sounds VERY odd.
Didn't happen when I saw it 10.29.
Fifteen days before opening night, they were
probably more concentrated on 'cementing everything'
and making everything work just-right.
Technical issues happen with BILLY, though.
As documented previously.

[jagfkb]

Posted: 12/6/08 at 11:04pm

Very odd technical problem, and I would think that they would do something other than just just the music. However, what most likely happened was that a cue was sent out incorrectly, and since the flight uses the same wire as the maggie thatcher doll, they must have just cut the flight.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 12/6/08 at 11:17pm

http://talkinbroadway.com/allthatchat/d.php?id=1658150

[balto]

Posted: 12/6/08 at 11:22pm

This sounds a little different though - no understudies today. Plus with the Maggie Thatcher thing, I'm sure it's connected. Seems like a different issue.

[Mamie]

Posted: 12/6/08 at 11:47pm

I'll be interested to hear from anyone who might have seen the show tonight. It's no show stopper if the big Maggie puppet is on the blink - and in fact it would be better to take it out than have it disrupt that beautiful song. I was there on the 22nd and I said it then that stopping the music and then starting it up again was a BIG mistake. If there are technical problems (or problems with the techs or dancers) that prevent the flying sequence from happening, then they should just fade the music out and have Billy just dance his way out of the 'dream'. (Grown Billy can just fade into the background). Starting and stopping the music tells the audience in BLARING terms that something wrong just happened.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 12/6/08 at 11:57pm

I overheard at an audition today that during the Young Frankenstein matinee the lifts weren't working and Igor had to improvise a tap routine.

[Mamie]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 12:15am

balto - are you sure there were no understudies? When it happened on the 22nd, they didn't have time to put the inserts in the Playbills for the matinee. They were there for the evening performance.

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 12:25am

On 11/22 there were definitely inserts. It was 11/21 that there were not because the issue with Stephen Hanna's understudy did not come up until forty minutes until the performance.

[JbaraFan1]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 2:53am

Greg latest blog is about this; explains all Updated On: 6/13/09 at 02:53 AM

[Mamie]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 3:11am

Thanks Barb. (And THANK YOU Greg!)

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 3:14am

I'm so glad to see Rosie O'Donnell in this show. Hopefully the flying will happen at the next performance, I know she's a lot to fly from the wings.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 7:06am

"I'm so glad to see Rosie O'Donnell in this show. Hopefully the flying will happen at the next performance, I know she's a lot to fly from the wings."


FlyingMonkey1223, that isn't funny. You just make up stupid things. People don't like it, you're an ass. Go away.

[jess20882]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 10:39am

I was there for the evening performance on Saturday. The Maggie Thatcher puppetry was fine, but they had the same problem with the Swan Lake scene, which was a bit disappointing (although I've seen the show before). The music cut off, the lights went off, and then came back on again a few seconds later. But David and Stephen kept on dancing. And there was no flight either - it looked like they had spent time rehearsing a new dance sequence should the flying not work. While having no flight was a little disappointing, they handled it very well.
And as for David Alvarez as Billy...in a word - BREATHTAKING.

[Mamie]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 11:41am

Greg explained in his blog that the Foy Flying people were able to fix the mechanism enough for the Maggie puppet to do her thing but that they didn't feel is was safe enough to use to 'fly' a human AND that they wouldn't be able to replace the faulty actuator until today. So the Sunday matinee folks also missed the flying sequence.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 2:01pm

Pretty scary that the rig can lose its "microchip mind" as Greg put it. Hopefully that never happens when a boy is attached. I assumed that real people were at the end of the rope.

[balto]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 2:39pm

not sure about that assumption - the "godzilla thatcher" as greg called it shot up in the air VERY quickly...

if there was a boy on it, he would have had sever whiplash...

and would have probably got burnt by a light or two up on "the grid".

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 3:01pm

I saw the show yesterday and Rosie went on. The lift was working and she came flying around, it was amazing. She is a great Billy Elliot, the best by far. The lift did seem too be moving to0 fast as her lips (wont say which ones!) were quivering during the turn.
Updated On: 12/8/08 at 03:01 PM

[sgv123]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 3:06pm

I am pretty sure that in London, there is a man in the wings pulling the rope up and down.