Stage Machinery????????

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 9/9/08 at 6:00pm

Anon 2 quoted this on the Joseph thread.

they have i believe built new steps tho and have copied the new London design but taken out the inflatable sheep and cacti. The stage floor is the orignal one that houses the mouse and spade track which brings the stairs from the back rather than the floor and the light columns have also been shipped onto tour....the nodding egyptian dogs have never been used on any tour lol......so basically everything is rusty and dusty but they'll keep using anyway...until it physically falls to pieces!

I do not work in theatre, so know nothing about staging and would like to find out more, what is a mouse and spade track? What other sort of machinery do productions use in the stage?

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 9/9/08 at 6:16pm

Updated On: 5/1/09 at 06:16 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/9/08 at 6:48pm

There's a Legally Blonde video on Broadway.com where they show you how the tracks are built into the stage. You might want to check that out.

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 1:37am

One thing I've always wondered about are trap doors built into the stage. It seems that almost every broadway production has its own custom trap doors in certain spots on the stage depending on where they need to be.

Do they install traps based on a show's need, and re-build the stage after shows leave?

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 1:37am

Edit: Double post!

Updated On: 9/10/08 at 01:37 AM

[winston89]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 2:27am

Yes, shows that have thier own trap doors are custom built fort the show. When the show closes they fix up the stage the way they found it.

This is why a show has to alter things when they go on tour. For example, Wicked on tour had to alter some of its exits and entrences that use trap doors because they don't have that option on the road.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 2:30am

They don't always have that option on the road. Sometimes they do.

[Dover]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 9:31pm

I've never heard of a "mouse and spade" before. Is that just the British translation of "knife and dog" or is it somehow different?

[Sparx67]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 12:27am

In Australia we call them rabbits and knives. Interesting the differences between the countries. :)

[outdamnwench]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 12:29am

Shows that require traps often build another stage on top of the existing stage so that no damage is done to the hard deck.

[Byron Abens]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 12:30am

I worked with a master electrician from England a number of years ago. During the first day of hang she started asking us to find her a splitter. Needless to say, we young college students just stared blankly at her for a moment before she remembered "Oh, you damn Americans call them two-fers."

(For those of you who don't know, a two-fer, or a splitter, is a pair of electric cables that join together to allow two lights to be put into the same circuit.)

[[tos]fan999]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 12:42am

Oh, god.
I remember the days of sitting the the back of my high school auditorium for hours on end just making two-fers.
Good times.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 3:14am

Not to mention hanging out with the splitters...

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 3:37am

Updated On: 5/1/09 at 03:37 AM