When Phantom had 2 tours...

I have often wondered that when phantom had two tours out, was one smaller? I think it can only play large houses, and i remember seeing both the 2nd and 3rd national tour but could not tell the difference a the time. I know the one and only us national tour now looks just like the broadway company so..? just curious...does any one know the answer to this or would like to comment..i know the wicked 2nd national is said to be scaled back a bit..

not just for Phantom, but the second company of a tour isn't a smaller or modified show to fit smaller venues, but the same full sized show. The purpose is to maximize profit because they feel they can hit the major cities in rotation with two (or more) tours without bleeding through their potential audience base.

As for scaling down a show, it is later in a run when a tour make make cuts to be smaller and less expensive to operate (so a First National could be scaled back later in it's run). Change a few sets into backdrops and all of a sudden you have 1 semi instead of 2 to travel around the country. The quality of the experience isn't as good, but since you may have lower ticket sales in the later years, this allows for lower operating costs allowing the tour to stay profitable and run longer.

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I know at Rent's peak of popularity/maturity they had something like 5 tours, a few in the US and a few abroad, and AFAIK it was all the same stage version on the same scale.

The fireballs are definitely under local fire laws. Any fire, explosion etc. can only be used under local laws.

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I am pretty sure that there are different lawas in different places regarding the whole fire ball thing. So I am sure it changes from city to city on the tour.

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Interesting reading... Wish I had something to add, but I don't. Thank you for this!!!

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tourboi, i think you are confusing the fact that i was addressing the difference between a second company and a second tour. they may scale back a first national or launch a scaled back second national, but i have never heard of a case where there was a second company on the road at the same time as the first with significant differences between them. that was the initial question in this thread.

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A second company is the same thing as a second national, and again I have to cite MAMMA MIA because both companies were traveling at the same time (for a while, too). And physically, there were (as I said) huge differences in the production.

Ditto LION KING, two companies, essentially they were the same size, but one was considered the "second national" because it went out... second.

Like I said, it's different on a show by show basis.

Updated On: 8/8/08 at 01:06 PM

I posted a review of the Phantom tour when I saw it Chicago last Christmas. I focused on the differences between Broadway and the tour, so you might find this interesting. Originally posted on the Chicago board.

Here it is:

As a former Chicagoan now living in NYC, and as a total Phantom phanatic, I am lucky to get to see the original 1988 production alllllllll the time.
However when I went home for Christmas, I talked my friends into seeing the tour in Chicago. (I hadnt seen the tour since 1998 at the Lyric Opera) Now that I am so intimately familiar with the Broadway production of Phantom, I was curious to see just how different the tour was.

Well let me just say in general the tour was fantastic. Phantom, Christine, Madame Giry, even the managers were strong-voiced and clear. The only one who was bad was Meg---she sounded so nervous. My friends are all musicians so they cringed every time she had to sing. But there were a lot of lyrics (especially by Madame Giry and the managers) that get mumbled night after night on broadway but were clearly heard at the Cadillac Palace.
When I first walked in, my heart kind of sank to see the Phantom stage in such a huuuuuuuuge theater. The thing around the stage (whats it called anyway) with the angels and gold look so weird and out of place. It fits so perfectly and naturally into the Majestic theater in New York.

Its funny how the set pieces on the tour dont even come close to fitting the stage, and I was surprised at how the set pieces rolled on and offstage instead of coming up through trap doors. And the actors too used fewer trap doors.
On the other hand, the chandelier fell much faster than on Broadway since it had a longer way to travel, but, the people on stage who catch it came out way too early.........they were standing there for what seemed like ages while it fell, whereas on Broadway they just quickly appear right as the chandlier hits the stage.

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"I know at Rent's peak of popularity/maturity they had something like 5 tours, a few in the US and a few abroad, "

Not exactly. The Angel and Benny tours overlapped in the U.S. but there were never 'a few'. The Canadian production also overlapped. There were never five tours on at once. There were international productions which may have been at a similar time but with different producers, etc. so not the same thing. This would also be true of Phantom and many other shows which have had international productions.

The show was never scaled down in North America, even in the non-Eq productions.