HAPPINESS technical difficulties (*spoiler* question)

[Anakela]

Posted: 4/4/09 at 7:05pm

SPOILERS. IN. THE. QUESTION. BELOW.


Saw HAPPINESS matinee today (and enjoyed it- thanks tdf!) and I have a random question: during Hunter Foster's dialogue right before the start of "Step Up the Ladder" all of a sudden the Voice of God came over the speakers, interrupting the show. It was literally Foster's "...in the private dining room at the 21 club-" cut off by a "Ladies and gentlemen, I am sorry to interrupt..." but they were having a technical difficulty, and needed to stop the show, and actors please exit the stage.

Then over the next few minutes the subway car was rotated around a couple of times, and then actors came back onstage, and Foster picked back up from the starting "I died at the age of..." part of his dialogue. However, when they came back onstage the subway car was now in a different position than it was when they'd left the stage. (When leaving the stage the car was parallel to that ledge the orchestra is on, when coming back the car was now perpendicular to that ledge.)

Anyway, sorry for the long detail, but so my random curiosity: how is that staging *supposed to* work? When does the car turn- was it supposed to happen during "Step Up the Ladder" and they just did it in advance?

[musicman_bwayfan]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 12:52am

The car turns perpendicular to the audience pretty much right as the song starts. It would be pointless in rotating the car parallel to the audience just to rotate it perpendicular less than 5 seconds later...they probably didn't want to back up and mess with too many cues and equipment. Best to play it safe in those cases and not find that backing up one cue ends up turning on the house lights or something drastic like that...

[Tag]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 1:18am

That's not how things work.

[musicman_bwayfan]

Posted: 4/5/09 at 2:05pm

Yes I know that, I was simply answering his question and suggest something. In the end, the train car is supposed to do the rotating that Anakela saw just moments after.

[Anakela]

Posted: 4/7/09 at 10:40am

*her. And thanks for the info!