**MARY POPPINS SET BREAKS....SHOW CANCELLED 10 min. INTO ACT 2**- Page 2

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 12:55am

I thought Ms Luker was in prime form. I enjoyed her tonight more than in Music Man or Sound of Music
Updated On: 10/26/06 at 12:55 AM

[clarkstallings]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 12:58am

I guess I knew they had handlers, I just didn't know how hands on they were, like if they were with them for every moment just about that they aren't on stage.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 12:58am

Aw, Calvin and broadwayguy2, we are lucky to have Becca back onstage in a lead, where she belongs, sending us that honey voice!

Break a leg, Becca!

We love ya!

Did you guys sign up for her in the "showcial network" yet?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 1:00am

The wranglers pretty much are attached to them when they are not in view of the audience....


Yes, it was a definate treat to see Ms Luker again.. I will be back there soon. I have a feeling that this is a show I won't tire of quickly.

[Calvin]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 1:02am

No, but I will. I had thought I was going to get a chance to perform with her, but it looks like that's not going to happen, now.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 1:03am

Do not give up hope, Calvin!

Visualize it and think good thoughts!

[DG]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 1:03am

OH MY GOD, HOW CAN THIS KIND OF THING HAPPEN?!?!?!?

And don't give me any of that "it's live theatre/they're only human/sometimes things happen" CRAP!

I'm a consumer, and that comes with guarantees, dammit! I don't care what it takes, if I've spent money, then bend the laws of physics or whatever!

There is no excuse - I WILL NOT BE DENIED! I AM OWED, do you hear me OWED!!!

I'm going to SUUUUUUEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

[nycdncr]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 1:39am

wow...people really blow things out of proportion. i was in the first balcony, and i didn't hear anyone screaming or vocally upset. i'm sure everyone was disappointed, though.

i was more upset with the amount of time it took to clear the theatre, than the actually cancellation itself. it took ages to get everyone out of the house.

as far as the cancellation goes...sure, it's unfortunate, but c'mon...that huge piece of scenery is completely automated. previews are a time to work out kinks. clearly this is just a big kink that needs to be worked out.

i'm sure you won't have to worry about tomorrow's show being cancelled. disney will not want to lose anymore money than they already lost tonight. my friend works for disney, and he said tonight's cancellation was an easy $200,000 down the drain.
producers don't take cancellations lightly when there's that much money down the drain.

[nycdncr]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 1:39am

double post...sorry

Updated On: 10/26/06 at 01:39 AM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 1:43am

very true, nycdncr. I was in the rear of the orechstra and the only yelling I heard when the set broke, was some woman and her kid who were asking who wanted to leave.. because she wanted their seat.. she was REALLY trying to push peopel out of the door before the announcement.

I was VERY dissapointed. As I aid, I found myself enthralled by the physical production on levels i couldn't believe. the production values are stunning.

[suzycat]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 2:05am

According to the Playbill article, it seems like the London production also had technical difficulties Wednesday night that led to a cancellation. A crazy coincidence...
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/103010.html

[DG]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 2:10am

This is in previews, correct?

Disappointment is a natural and understandable reaction to this occurance. Some of the anger being evinced and/or described (erroneously?) borders on psychosis - and evinces some amount of narcissism, greed and entitlement.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 2:11am

Yes, Schumaker pointed that out to us when he made the cancellation announcement, ever stranger, he said it was caused by something different.. yet at the same point in the show!

[Trish2]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 4:10am

Thats's interesting because when I saw the show in London in June, the exact same thing happened in the exact same place. We were told that it was a common occurence, and it only took them 10 minutes to get it oiled up and working. So odd to have a problematic set design fault that has not been addressed by the time it came over here. Or still over there for that matter.

[FP]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 5:58am

Just curious with the talk of the house, whether or not the ground section is made of three pieces as it is in London? I always love the set change out of Step In Time as the sections join and creep downstage as the lights begin to come on.

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 10:05am

"They could have at least finished with a concert performance. They did for Elaborate Lives in Atlanta when the Pyramid stopped. What a rip."

From what I've heard this happened for about half the Atlanta "Elaborate" performances (including opening night and press night) and they always did concert performances. Why couldn't Poppins have done this last night? Just do the rest of the show as a sort of "Wandelprobe". The producers have already paid the cast and orchestra for the night. Of course refunds or exchanges should still be offered, but why not let all those tourists who won't be able to come back at least be able to hear the rest of the show?

[jess20882]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 10:57am

I was a Child Wrangler for a Broadway show a couple of years ago. It was the best job I've ever had
If anyone has questions about it or wants to know how to get into that sort of thing, let me know!

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 10:59am

"Of course refunds or exchanges should still be offered, but why not let all those tourists who won't be able to come back at least be able to hear the rest of the show?"

Because those idiot tourists would have griped that they didn't pay for a concert. And why do the full concert AND ask them back for free? let them (and me as well) come back for free and see the show with gasp induing moments.....

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 11:02am

Scenery and automation for this show was constructed by Hudson Scenic. I will say that I was shocked to read that in my Showbill during intermission since this far and away not only one of the most complicated sets I have seen, but COMPLETELY out of character for the type of work that Hudson seems to do.... I've never really had a moment when I have opened a playbill and been GLAD To see them credited with construction and/or automation.

[MandaGurl]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 11:04am

Thats crazy..LOL

-Amanda*

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 1:23pm

"Because those idiot tourists would have griped that they didn't pay for a concert."

Why are you calling the tourists idiots? They're not the ones who can't get a multi million dollar piece of staging to work in front of an audience paying full price. I think it's obvious who the real idiots are in this situation.

"And why do the full concert AND ask them back for free? let them (and me as well) come back for free and see the show with gasp induing moments....."

Because these people paid for a night's entertainment, and the cast crew and orchestra are being paid for a full night's work. Disney and Cameron should do everything possible to accomodate this room full of people, many who have paid more than $100 to be there. Of course the entire audience should also get a chance to see the show performed properly without paying anything extra.

If Poppins had done the rest of the show as a concert there still would have been complaints, but there would also be many people who realized that they had seen something special and unique. It wouldn't hurt for Broadway producers to be a little customer conscious now and then.

If we're going to use the fact that a show is in previews as an excuse for this sort of nonsense it's time to stop charging full price for preview tickets.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 1:29pm

'previews' is never an 'excuse'. You pay to see live theatre.. Thinsg go wrong. Something went wrong. Nothing there has to do with ticket price, preview vs performance, or how much the set costs. Things can always go wrong. It's a fact of LIVE performance. And even if the set costs millions, you still have this little factor... humans. Humans aren't perfect. If YOU can do better, than YOU do it, Mr Tech. They paid for a night's entertainment, and they will get a night's entertainment.... they can return and see the full thing. There was NO room to do a concert style staging of anything on thats tage when the malfunctioned happened. Really.. there wasn't.
I feel that Disney was VERY gracious toward their customers last night. I was there. Were you?

[clarkstallings]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 1:55pm

Broadwayguy,

My experience working with stuff built by Hudson has not been very positive. Of course many many shows in NYC use stuff built by Hudson,k but from my hands on experience, it makes me wonder.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 1:59pm

It's kind of freightening actually when i sit in a theatre and can tell on site if it was built by Hudson or if it was built by Showmotion. I can usually spot the work from thos two companies.

[nycdncr]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 3:23pm

i just found out that the new am box office isn't offering to replace comps from last night's cancelled performance. what a load of crap. just because i was given a ticket to the show, does that mean i shouldn't be entitled to seeing the performance anyway? i understand that priority should be given to those who paid for their tickets, but comp ticket holders should be offered a chance to see it as well. it's not my fault i was invited to see the show on a night that the set broke.