Wicked 6/6 show- Technical Difficulties

[StageGuy99]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 2:09am

Was anyone else at Wicked last Tuesday night? I was there and the had to stop the show before One Short Day for "Technical Difficulties". They were obviously having problems with some of the large Gear pieces coming on and off stage, and even after about 15 mins and restarting the show, there were still some issues for the rest of the show. Anyone know what was up?

[FeelingElectric]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 6:35am

I took the Behind the Emerald Curtain tour last Saturday, and this topic came up. While I can't tell you why it happened, I can tell you they they had problems for the rest of the show. For the rest of the show after the stoppage, all the set changes were done manually (This is the first time this has happened in the history of any Wicked Production). The automatic system was shut down. All the cues for the set changes had to be rewritten (fortunately, one of the people who designed the staging for Wicked was in attendance to help rewrite the cues). This is how it was explained by Anthony Galde.

[dirty rotten guy]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 12:37pm

I was at the 6/7 matinee and the show went flawlessly. Must have just been some strange occurance...

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 12:52pm

lucky 6-6-06 show, huh?

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 3:06pm

It's the work of the devil...

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 4:52pm

VERY interesting. Sorry to hear they had trouble... and on THAT date, too SPOOKY... I don't really believe in that stuff, but...

Updated On: 6/16/06 at 04:52 PM

[WiiCKED x3]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 4:59pm

Scary.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 5:09pm

I went to Sweeney on 666 hoping for some creepy ****, but sadly I was 3 blocks off from the real wierdness

[willact4food]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 5:16pm

I had a friend who was there this day. They did stop the show, but continued it without flaw, from the audience's perspective.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 5:25pm

Pretty amazing to think that they can throw that HUGE show into "manual" and it can still run. I'm impressed.

My hat is off to the capable crew for pulling that off!

Musta had a lot of "flying monkeys" working hard backstage.

Plus, you know... SATAN.

[Chanticleer148]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 5:53pm

I was in attendance at the show with three of my students. It was a great night at the theater, and Eden Espinosa is amazing. Kate Reinders is also surprisingly a vocal delight!

The technical difficulties were in evidence for most of the rest of the performance, and the delay seemed endless. Eden and Kate took a few minutes to recover from the interuption, but the gave a fabulous show in spite of everything!

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 6:31pm

My birthday is the devil's day.

Akiva

[Katurian2]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 10:29pm

And the Wizard of Oz curse continues...

[Tag]

Posted: 6/17/06 at 12:01am

The flying automation (both sets and monkeys!) would be separately controled from the deck automation. As well the travelling gear peices would be controlled separately on their own tracks. If EVERYTHING had to be done manually, Wicked could not function.

[FeelingElectric]

Posted: 6/17/06 at 7:00am

I was only describing things the way they were explained on the tour. I don't know the specifics of the system, so it may very well have just been the deck automation system that was shut down and not the flying automation.I have heard nothing about the flying elements of the show being affected, but I was not in attendance at that performance. Mabye someone who was there could fill us in on that.

[StageGuy99]

Posted: 6/18/06 at 1:41pm

Being a tech myself and being there I would say the deck system was probably shut down then. The problems they were having were with the floor pieces coming out and moving into place. So I am assuming a lot of the set changes had to be hauled out manually and put in place. Which would explain the one rather long blackout for a scene change, where flashlights were seen on stage, and a man walking from out behind a set piece after the lights came up during another change.

[Parks]

Posted: 6/18/06 at 5:00pm

Wicked--The high school musical.

Anyone?