Posted: 3/20/16 at 3:50pm
Because Jersey Boys does not have its band in the pit the tour is able to utilize that space and build their deck out over the pit of most (if not all) the touring houses it plays at and keep that down center elevator entrance.
Posted: 3/20/16 at 11:11pm
That's interesting! Never seen a tour use a trap.
And what's the Genie trap thing in Aladdin?
Posted: 3/20/16 at 11:18pm
It's used for the genie reveal when he comes out of the lamp. It makes whoever is playing the genie spiral out of the ground. It looks fun. I have no clue how they will change it for the tour. It seems extremely vital.
Posted: 3/21/16 at 12:24am
- Jersey Boys tour: if I recall correctly, that trap was used for the first national and not the second national when it opened... The second national has since downsized (and is also the same staging used for the UK tour) and it does not have a trap.
- Genie in Aladdin: that moment seems vital because it looks so distinctive. It is really in no way vital that the Genie enter like that and that moment can be staged 100 different and equally effective but visually different ways,
Posted: 3/21/16 at 1:11am
I'd imagine they'd use some sort of spinning set piece and lighting/fog.
Posted: 3/21/16 at 7:09am
RippedMan said: "That's interesting! Never seen a tour use a trap.
And what's the Genie trap thing in Aladdin?
"
At some of the bigger cities Wicked's 1NT installed a trap for the Witch's melting scene and for Elphaba's entrance during the Finale
Posted: 3/21/16 at 9:14am
Most of the theatre that I see is in the form of National Tours in Toronto, where tour stops can be longer than other cities (several weeks to months). I have seen trap doors used in many tours, including the example of Wicked mentioned above. I have always wondered about the cost of cutting holes in the stage (and everything that is needed under the stage) for each separate production. The trap door is never in the same spot, so it's not that they have a standard trap door location that they work around.
Posted: 3/21/16 at 9:35am
Many, many houses of a certain size (but certainly not all!) have stages where sections can be readily removed to allow for a trap door. The challenge is that you then have to construct decking around the actual structure of your trap door to enclose it at stage level and to keep the top at stage level and be absolutely perfectly level with the stage for the show deck to them be built. That adds MANY further requirements to the physical needs of a venue - limiting where you can take the show even more, that takes a lot of truck space since the entire structure would really need to tour as a solid piece in most cases, that adds HOURS to the load in / load out time where you do not have hours to spare and need it to be a fast as possible... That is why if you see a trap door on a tour, it is going to be on the largest of tours that have a jump set that loads in early, a tour that has a lengthier break between each stop, or a shallow trap of some sort that is only several inches deep and fully contained in the show deck.
Posted: 3/21/16 at 3:35pm
The traps at Radio City were pretty incredible! Like gigantic parts of the stage.
Same with Sunset BLVd!!
