Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
How will the show fare on 'normal' stages? The Beaumont is in the round. The stage is, appropriately, round. Will it be booking only venues like that? I can't really imagine how it could have the same impact without that technique. It made the actors feel so close to the audience, which, in my opinion, was one of the big successes of the production.
Could they possibly travel with their on stage/stage extension?
The stage where it's playing at in Minneapolis is not like the one in the Beaumont. It is just a regular stage.
Updated On: 3/24/06 at 02:26 PM
I'm they'll be bringing Bartlett Sher back in to reblock the show for standard proscenium stages.
I think it is a 50 city tour and will be presented in standard proscenium theatres. So the show will need to be redesigned/adapted and restaged.
Updated On: 3/24/06 at 02:52 PM
The Beaumont is a 3/4 Thrust space. They still will have to reblock the show, but not that much. Some very easy, simple, adjustments and they'll be just fine. Most of the show can stay intact. It should convert very easily to a proscenium house.
It's the exits and entrances mostly - I can't imagine it will affect the performance that much, though I do agree that it will lost a lot of the intimacy that the Beaumont afforded.
The show's design really stood out in the 3/4 thrust staging, but it should scoot backward without a tremendous amount of trouble. And the blocking shouldn't be hard to accomodate. It will lose those exits from the front of the stage, but other than that I think it will be fine.
According to the article I read, it is a 50 week tour in 25 cities.
The tour of Contact transferred really well to a proscenium stage...so Im sure Piazza will work just fine.
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