The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

#1

The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/11/09 at 6:12pm

I was just watching the original production of Into the Woods, and I was reminded of how cool the conveyor belt was. I was wondering, what other shows have used this effect?

I know the original production of Annie did. Any others?

#2

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/11/09 at 6:13pm

Like, the conveyer belt in the stage? Shrek uses something like this. It's sort of a bunch of moving cocentric circles that recreate it.

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Updated On: 4/11/09 at 06:13 PM

#3

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/11/09 at 6:16pm

It's technically called a treadmill.

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#4

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/11/09 at 8:05pm

I remember a similar treadmill being used in the "Music Man" revival.

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"If there is going to be a restoration fee, there should also be a Renaissance fee, a Middle Ages fee and a Dark Ages fee. Someone must have men in the back room making up names, euphemisms for profit." (Emanuel Azenberg)

#5

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/11/09 at 8:27pm

Why in the world did they need one for Annie?

#6

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/11/09 at 8:29pm

I believe the one in Annie was used in the NYC sequence, in order to create the feel of a bustling city.

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I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.

#7

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/11/09 at 8:32pm

Cats-
that was one of the BIG things about the original. It used it's treadmills to create sweeping, cinematic scene changes and effects. It made the ensemble seem like something out of an old MGM musical.

It was pretty impressive, from what I've seen.

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#8

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/11/09 at 8:37pm

The treadmill is a really OLD stagecraft device. They were common a hudred years ago. Many old opera houses had them permanently built into the stage floor.

#9

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/11/09 at 8:39pm

I think they have one of some sort in Lion King, given the way the setpieces moved. I really liked the effect.

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#10

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/11/09 at 8:41pm

the revival of SITPWG used it to great effect as well

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#11

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/11/09 at 8:46pm

i heard wicked uses one.

#12

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/11/09 at 8:48pm

Wicked doesn't have one.

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#13

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/11/09 at 8:50pm

that was one of the BIG things about the original [Annie]. It used it's treadmills to create sweeping, cinematic scene changes and effects.

Agreed. It was one of the coolest sets I've seen on Broadway. Tons of things all moving at the same time in every direction. And what makes it even more interesting is that Annie was before computers automated everything. This was all accomplished by hard working stagehands.

#14

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/11/09 at 11:43pm

Aspects of Love incorporated treadmills in the set design. Coincidentally both Ann Crumb (Aspects) and Dorothy Loudon (Annie) were seriously injured by the treadmills.

#15

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/12/09 at 2:34am

The Really Useful revival of The Sound of Music (which closed recently in the West End and is playing in Toronto) uses a "conveyor belt". They call it a travelator.

#16

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/12/09 at 3:33am

The Really Useful revival of The Sound of Music (which closed recently in the West End and is playing in Toronto) uses a "conveyor belt". They call it a travelator.

Aren't travelators different devices? I know the ramps in "Phantom" that rise and fall at constantly changing angles (to create the effect of descending into the lair) are called travelators.

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"If there is going to be a restoration fee, there should also be a Renaissance fee, a Middle Ages fee and a Dark Ages fee. Someone must have men in the back room making up names, euphemisms for profit." (Emanuel Azenberg)

#17

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/12/09 at 3:54am

No, the somewhat ambiguous name "travelator" is generally applied to moving walkways. The Phantom ramp was sometimes referred to as a travelator, but it's a bit of a misnomer since it wasn't actually a conveying mechanism but rather a very cool and dynamic ramp/bridge.

I seem to recall some incarnations of Joseph using one or more travelators/conveyor belts.

Shrek simply uses a triple concentric revolve, which at one point is used in a humorous and "conveyor" like way, but again is not a conveyor belt at all.

#18

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/12/09 at 4:22am

It's like a turntable, right?

And Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire (well, Stanley Donen, anyway) liked to use those concentric turntables in some of their grander films -- oooh, I almost said, "movies."

I'm sure no one else is awake.

#19

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/12/09 at 7:54pm

I love the use of conveyor belts in Singing in the Rain (the movie). They are used in the Broadway melody part where he goes to New York and a bunch of people glide past on conveyor belts.

I don't think I'm explaining this correctly... Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

#20

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/12/09 at 8:12pm

Grey Gardens

#21

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/12/09 at 8:20pm

Actually, Grey Gardens didn't use a conveyor belt. It was more of an empty space that was exposed when the house moved backwards, and when exposed, it slid on set pieces on like, little squares of stage. It acted like a conveyor belt, but I don't think it technically was.

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"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.

#22

re: The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

Posted: 4/12/09 at 9:27pm

^you're totally right. I remember now:)