I saw the tour two weeks ago and was impressed the the fall of the chandelier. There's much more going on at the close of Act I in the touring production than on Broadway.
As the chandelier falls, Christine comes out for her IL MUTO bow. The phantom (a double) appears in the upper left box and shoots sparks at the chandelier - it was very loud, in a good way. The curtain along with several pieces of scenery fall to the stage. Sparks shoots out of the chandelier as it is about to stop. Lastly, shards of glass rain down on the heads of the audience as the lights go out (ok - it's thick pieces of clear silicone, but they look remarkably like glass). The little old lady sitting next to me cussed.
I had a few of the pieces that landed on my head until last week when the oil change man sucked them out of my console with a vacuum.
That sounds interestingly different! I was worried that the tour would have a lackluster non-effect like the Royal Albert Hall showing. Maybe I will see the new tour when it comes through here this February after all.
I think the most impressive Chandelier was the one in Las Vegas (the Venetian). You could see the Chandelier flying from three different directions and assembled above you. I forgot whether they had 2 different chandeliers there, but I may be wrong. It was quite some time ago. Pity it's closed there though.
Phantom in Las Vegas had one Chandelier, in 3 pieces. The engineering of it was really a marvel, as all three pieced dancing toward one another to assemble and rise mid-air and the chrash that was completely vertical and then "vanished" in a split second black out. I would love to have watched the full thing happen in a full lit space, but I have only watched it via the auto-cad schematic. Sadly, impossible to do anywhere other than in a custom built theatre.
saw this video the other day and it reminded me of this thread. this vegas phantom spectacular thing has to be the most impressive chandelier fall. not the 2mph school zone sh!t here on bway
I've just read that many have seen this show multiple times. I'd like to know where they got the money to do so. Seeing the effect depends on how often you've seen it I suppose. With so little time, so many shows, and money not so available I only see shows once and keep them in my memory bank.
I'm so glad old threads are getting revived because I'm seeing posts I made FOREVER ago that I completely forgot about haha.
So I first the national tour of Phantom in Buffalo probably around 2002 and was SO scared of the chandelier when it fell. And then I went to see Phantom on Broadway two weeks ago, and the chandelier crash was... disappointing. It's incredibly slow, it doesn't feel like there's even a chance for it to actually crash, and nobody around me seemed scared of it.
Watching the Vegas videos AND the new National Tour, THOSE chandeliers look amazing.
I think it's definitely time for Broadway to have their set and machinery updated. After Masquarade, you can hear all of that set being wheeled off behind the curtain. It's so squeaky.
I was just watching a video on youtube that was going behind the scenes back when the show was celebrating it's 25th anniversary. While they were talking to people, little bubbles popped up with factoids. One says that the software that operates the chandelier is Microsoft software that came out in 1984. That could possibly say something as to why it's slow.
I saw the show in Feb. and said the ENTIRE thing needs to be updated and got **** on. But, it's a great show, but the effects from '86 don't play today.
