SPIDER-MAN's Producers Search for London Home

[FindMe12]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 12:08am

Im not up to par on all of the west end theaters but are there any besides the Dominion that could hold spider man?

[wicked1492]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 12:14am

I mean, the Olympics will be over like next week, right?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 1:30am

I hope the producers didn't actually say those things mentioned in the article. Of course, there won't be a West End theatre that wouldn't need to be substantially remodeled just like they did with the Foxwoods. Arenas are a different story, but they're not going to find a "prefect" theatre modeled the way the Foxwoods is now.

What I don't understand is why they're not thinking of downsizing. It just makes sense to me that London would be the perfect opportunity to try and make the show a little more tour friendly, and maybe stick to a design that limits at least most of the action to the proscenium. It doesn't HAVE to be a duplicate production, and the stunts don't HAVE to be as outrageous as they are on Broadway.

Of the two theatres mentioned I think the Theatre Royal/Drury Lane makes the most sense. I'm not familiar with the Dominion, but I believe Drury Lane, at least at one time, had flying rigs installed over the audience for The Witches of Eastwick. The only downside is that the theatre is owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber and the Really Useful Group and the Spider-Man producers may not want to deal with that.

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 1:45am

The stunts are the only reason anyones seeing it....

Updated On: 8/3/12 at 01:45 AM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 2:00am

I'm not suggesting that they cut the aerial stunts entirely, and I know that's the reason most people want to see the show. I'm just saying that it doesn't have to be so elaborate and risky. A lot of people in the balcony seem to complain about the set up before the flights being very distracting. Now might be a perfect time to think about simplifying just a few of the design elements to save some money and increase their chances of making a profit.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 5:34am

I think it would be at home at the Hammersmith Apollo (where American Idiot will be playing).

[THEATRICAL100]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 7:02am

Trust me, if there was simpler flying people would complain. The set up before flight is distracting? Boo hoo.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 9:19am

"Now might be a perfect time to think about simplifying just a few of the design elements to save some money and increase their chances of making a profit."

However, there was a good amount of that original budget that went into the research and development of that flying rig (yes, there is a lot of new technology in it).

And from everything I have heard, should they eventually go on the road the plan is something more in line with an arena tour where they will carry their entire rig and just hoist it up. You would be surprised at how quickly a show can go into an arena with that method, as opposed to having to either force a theatre to install new front of house pick points, or base your entire front of house rig on the pick points that all of the major road houses installed for Phantom (which a lot of tours do).

[rjm516]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 9:24am

Freaking love the idea of Olympic stadium!

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 9:42am

Actually, when I saw those rings flying in it just reaffirmed how much easier an arena tour would be for Spider Man to pull off. Go in to a city, do three days of performances, and still sell as many tickets as you would doing three to four weeks at the local road house.

Cirque, Barnum and Bailey, Dreamworks, and numerous rock concert producers have all figured out how to profitably tour a high tech, high spectacle show to these arenas. If the rumor are true then the producers of Spider Man will be able to as well.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 10:22am

Excuse my ignorance, but what is a pick point.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 4:37pm

Phantom, it's a reinforced point in either the ceiling of the house or in the grid. When Phantom of the Opera first went on tour they had a certain number of these that had to be created in a number of the road houses both front of house (for the chandelier rigging as well as their front of house lighting) and in the grids over the stages to help accommodate some of the equipment they were hanging over the stage. Since then pretty much every other tour has based their rigs on the Phantom rig as they know that these points now exist in pretty much all of the major road houses.

[finebydesign]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 3:24pm

"Freaking love the idea of Olympic stadium!" They might actually be able to fill it!