Hello Dolly -past tours- passerelle question- Page 2

[ArtMan]

Posted: 8/14/20 at 8:44pm

If you thought that was bad, imagine seeing her in a very, very scaled down production prior to the tour in a dinner theater.  She starred at the Alhambra in Jacksonville for six weeks prior to going out on the tour.  My late friend adored it.  I sat there trying to refrain from laughing.  It ranks up there with, in the late 90's at a VIP "event" in Miami, being two feet away from a balding, overweight KC (from the Sunshine Band)  shaking his booty, trying to be sexy.  I couldn't stop laughing.  It didn't help that I was "overserved".

Updated On: 8/14/20 at 08:44 PM

[DAME]

Posted: 8/17/20 at 1:38am

Tag said: "Basically a true passerelle in each venue is a custom install. All pits are different. With the latest tour the tour deck just goes straight on top of the stage deck, and done. Saves time & money. Things are very different from the Channing tour days."

Yep.  Things are different.  They were better then.  Still.. Channing even did short stops and that passarelle went up and down everywhere.  And in many of the same theaters this last tour did.  I understand saving money.  But everything else looked so beautiful.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 8/17/20 at 9:47am

DAME said: "Tag said: "Basically a true passerelle in each venue is a custom install. All pits are different. With the latest tour the tour deck just goes straight on top of the stage deck, and done. Saves time & money. Things are very different from the Channing tour days."

Yep. Things are different. They were better then. Still.. Channing even did short stops and that passarelle went up and down everywhere. And in many of the same theaters this last tour did. I understand saving money. But everything else looked so beautiful."

Yes. Because the *local presenters* were once upon a time willing to pay for that to happen and their insurance companies were more receptive to actors jumping over an open orchestra pit. Those are things that are fully out of the control of a show's producers.

Yes. It happened in many of the same theatres, but safety and insurance change and where their money goes is wildly different and lopsided.

Please remember that as recently as the 1980s and early 1990s, road houses were renovating and making structural changes to be able to host Phantom of the Opera. Phantom was not footing that bill.

Updated On: 8/17/20 at 09:47 AM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/17/20 at 10:11am

Please remember that as recently as the 1980s and early 1990s, road houses were renovating and making structural changes to be able to host Phantom of the Opera. Phantom was not footing that bill.

I remember the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale had to install stage extensions in order to accommodate the original 1st National Tour of MISS SAIGON in the early 90s.  That touring production was physically larger than the original Broadway production at the Broadway Theatre due to the portable hydraulics required to travel with the tour.  I remember hearing the Broward Center covered that expense as the tour had 3 months stays in each city so the cost would eventually be reimbursed.  

[VotePeron]

Posted: 8/17/20 at 10:50am

I was watching clips from the Les Mis tour in the 90s, and was shocked to see the use of a trap door in the stage for the Thenardier's during One Day More. I can't remember any tour in the last decade that has actively used a trapdoor in each venue - anyone have an example? Will be interesting to see how Hadestown translates.

[Tag]

Posted: 8/17/20 at 12:12pm

^Wicked's First National (closed in 2015) used a trap door in most venues for the final scene.  But the downstage centre trap (seen on Broadway) was never put in to the tour from the beginning.

Anyway, you can bet that if Hamilton had a passerelle, you'd be seeing that in venues now.  Hello Dolly is just not the hot commodity (and Buckley doesn't have the same star power as Channing pulled) as back in the day, when presenters would foot the extra bill for more labour/time.  

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 8/17/20 at 1:38pm

Tag said: "^Wicked's First National (closed in 2015)used a trap door in most venues for the final scene. But the downstage centre trap (seenon Broadway) was never put in to the tour from the beginning.

Anyway, you can bet that if Hamilton had a passerelle, you'd be seeing that in venues now. Hello Dolly is just not the hot commodity (and Buckley doesn't have the same star power as Channing pulled) as back in the day, when presenters would foot the extra bill for more labour/time."

Re: Hamilton. EXACTLY. 

Re: Labor / Time: I don't think there is true understanding among some posters about what it actually takes to install such a precise passarelle for a tour. It is far, far, FAR from "lower the pit and stick some platforms around it".

[DAME]

Posted: 8/17/20 at 3:46pm

broadwayguy2 said: "Tag said: "^Wicked's First National (closed in 2015)used a trap door in most venues for the final scene. But the downstage centre trap (seenon Broadway) was never put in to the tour from the beginning.

Anyway, you can bet that if Hamilton had a passerelle, you'd be seeing that in venues now. Hello Dolly is just not the hot commodity (and Buckley doesn't have the same star power as Channing pulled) as back in the day, when presenters would foot the extra bill for more labour/time."

Re: Hamilton. EXACTLY.

Re: Labor / Time: I don't think there is true understanding among some posters about what it actually takes to install such a precise passarelle for a tour. It is far, far, FAR from "lower the pit and stick some platforms around it"."

Understood.  But it has been done on most previous first class tours of Dolly no matter what was entailed.  Sad that they don't want  to take the extra effort or spend the money to offer audiences something so unique and specific to this show.

Updated On: 8/17/20 at 03:46 PM

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 8/17/20 at 4:12pm

The Wicked 1NT did not use an actual trap door. It was a set piece that had a fake door that would pull up and the actress would crawl behind the door to appear that there was one. Photo for reference:

https://ibb.co/BZKtXST

[Tag]

Posted: 8/17/20 at 5:27pm

GiantsInTheSky2 said: "The Wicked 1NT did not use an actual trap door. It was a set piece that had a fake door that would pull up and the actress would crawl behind the door to appear that there was one. Photo for reference:

https://ibb.co/BZKtXST"

Yes, the well set piece was used in some venues on the 1st NT, and exclusively on the 2nd NT.  But a full trap was used in many venues on the 1st NT, as I mentioned.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 8/18/20 at 5:31pm

I found it interesting that the Bodyguard tour was able to add that lift at the end at every stop, but then again the rest of the production looked cheap as hell.

Yeah the first national tour of wicked definitely used a trap when it was in Chicago, but that could’ve been because the sit down already made it possible for the trap to be situated where it needed to be.