Broadwayguy2, I love a good argument, but I'm puzzled as to what it is I said that provoked such a heated response from you, with all those capitalized letters.
"'previews' is never an 'excuse'. You pay to see live theatre.. Thinsg go wrong. Something went wrong."
Others earlier in the thread had implied that this sort of thing should be expected in previews. If this is the case, then I think preview tickets should be cheaper. This issue has been discussed repeatedly here. Yes, things go wrong in live theater. If an audience wants a guaranteed perfect performance they should go a see a movie. By the same token there is a lot to be said for the old adage "the show must go on". I think it's unfortunate that set automation has become so dominant in live theater that a malfuntioning set can send everyone home.
"If YOU can do better, than YOU do it, Mr Tech"
Oh grow up, Mr. Broadwayguy2. What am I supposed to do, praise the guys at Hudson for at least getting through Act I without breaking down? It may be a very controversial thing to say, but I'm going to stand by my earlier contention that having a set fail and stop a show is not a good thing. Go ahead and flame me.
"There was NO room to do a concert style staging of anything on thats tage when the malfunctioned happened. Really.. there wasn't."
I wasn't there. Are we only supposed to comment on specific performances that we've attended? That would cut down the traffic on this board pretty quickly. If you say that a concert performance would have been impossible how can I dispute that? Perhaps the malfunctioning set made the stage unsafe. Fine. If it had been possible, I still think it would have been the appropriate thing to do.
I also question your earlier use of the phrase "idiot tourists". Anyone who works in theater in New York is primarily in the business of entertaining tourists, whether they want to admit it or not. If it wasn't for all of those idiots there would be far fewer people making a living on Broadway.
"I have got to have some professional music!" - Big Edie