technical difficulties stop 9 to 5 tonight.

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 9:18pm

Got a message from my friend at 8:40 saying that they stopped the show. She said an announcement came on that said "all stop,all stop,due to technical difficulties we have to stop". She also said that the actors had no clue what was going on.

[TimeSquare3]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 9:20pm

They HAVE to figure this sh*t out before the end of the month.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 9:23pm

Did Dolly come on stage?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 9:50pm

That's part of the reason there ARE previews. It happens.

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 9:52pm

Sorry to hear this. Saw last night's preview and everything seemed to go perfectly.
Updated On: 4/9/09 at 09:52 PM

[KingKong]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 9:52pm

Did Allison do her famous ping pong ball trick to entertain the crowd?

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 10:03pm

Gross.

[KingKong]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 10:04pm

you clearly have never seen it. It's a beautiful thing.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 10:05pm

You mean the one that she does with The Jackal?

Seriously, folks, what dramamama said. This is what previews are for. Better to call an all-stop than to risk an actor's safety. You have to expect this sort of thing if you see an automation-heavy show during previews.

[EveHarrington]

Posted: 4/9/09 at 10:30pm

What ping pong ball trick are you talking about? LOL. She totally should have done the Jackal though.

[Just_John]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 2:31am

They stopped because there was trouble with the sound.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 2:40am

I have never heard of a show being stopped because of the sound. Ever. Can you elaborate?

[Just_John]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 2:44am

Nope. I was talking to one of the producers after the show and that's what he told me.
Updated On: 4/10/09 at 02:44 AM

[Eris0303]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 2:59am

It could be that it was something else but the producer didn't tell you because they didn't want it to end up on BWW.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 3:02am

That's my thinking, eris, though why they'd make something up is strange, too. None of it makes sense.

Thanks, JustJohn. That's really, really odd. The only things that tend to stop shows are safety issues - automation problems (which can make continuation hazardous) or medical emergencies. Any issues with sound (or lights, for that matter), they just muddle through. Stopping a show is very much a last resort. Very weird that they'd do it just for sound.

"They HAVE to figure this sh*t out before the end of the month."

You say that as though this has happened before, times sq. If that's so, do you know why?


Updated On: 4/10/09 at 03:02 AM

[outdamnwench]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 3:19am

Sound can be just as much of a safety issue as sets.

With the kind of power getting pumped into the sound systems at large theaters, you could easily damage the hearing of hundreds.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 3:20am

At the end of the song "I Just Might," all the mics went out.

When the next scene started, they still weren't working. Ioana Alfonso got a huge laugh when she started saying her lines to Karen Murphy (I think). When the announcement was made to "All stop," she looked at Karen and in character said, "I'm going to take a break."

I was in the first row of mezz and I could see the Stephen Oremus pounding on his keyboard as it produced no sound.

Technological glitches like this come up all the time. BILLY ELLIOT often has tech problems well into its run. So it's not just during previews that these things happen. The more technology the show uses, the greater the likelihood that something will go wrong.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 3:39am

"Sound can be just as much of a safety issue as sets.

With the kind of power getting pumped into the sound systems at large theaters, you could easily damage the hearing of hundreds."

I hope you're joking, because if you're not, I don't know any other way to put this: that's nonsense. The sound doesn't get stuck on. The problem is the opposite, as miss pennywise is explaining. Now it makes more sense. They had some sort of massive failure in the sound system. Hard to muddle through if none of your sound is working, especially your orchestra.

Thanks for the additional info, Miss pennywise. You're right, these things don't just happen during previews, but it's much more likely that these problems will crop up then, and less likely later. Also, later on, if these problems do happen, they tend to get fixed much more quickly. Billy Elliot is kind of an exception to the rule. They've been having problems into their run far longer than any other I've known. Even Titanic, which had horrific preview problems, once having to cancel the show mid-way through, got their problems in hand and rarely had them after opening.

I think many on this board would be surprised at how often near catastrophes happen without the audience ever having a clue that anything was wrong.

Updated On: 4/10/09 at 03:39 AM

[outdamnwench]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 4:25am

""Sound can be just as much of a safety issue as sets.

With the kind of power getting pumped into the sound systems at large theaters, you could easily damage the hearing of hundreds."

I hope you're joking, because if you're not, I don't know any other way to put this: that's nonsense. The sound doesn't get stuck on. The problem is the opposite, as miss pennywise is explaining. Now it makes more sense. They had some sort of massive failure in the sound system. Hard to muddle through if none of your sound is working, especially your orchestra. "


No it really isn't nonsense at all.

If for some reason a cable was pulled, resulting in the mics going dead, putting the cable back into the hot system could blow a few speakers if the levels were correct. Resulting in hearing damage for the audience as well as thousands of dollars of destroyed equipment.

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 6:05am

I was there as well. I think they must have been having trouble with the sound even before that scene, because I was having major difficulty hearing the actors over the orchestra. I actually could hear everything better once all the sound had cut out. The balance seemed to be better after that (although still not ideal.)

Overall, I really liked the show. My only major disappointment was the choreography. While there are some interesting ideas, the choreography seems very deliberate and disconnected from both the music and characters. Also, the individual dancers don't really come together to make an interesting stage picture. It just kind of looks chaotic. It works for the opening number, and some of the office scenes, but at some points, the choreography just looked awkward.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 7:13am

This thread had me howling

Conspiracy theories galore, the show is in previews, at times during previews things will go wrong.

Whoever said they don't normally stop shows due to sound obviously knows bugger all about the theatre. Ive done many shows through previews when the show has been stopped due to sound cutting out, levels been incorrect etc.

[madbrian]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 7:44am

I was there last night, and when the sound went out, my wife could still hear everything through the assisted listening device. So, while everyone else could barely hear the actors, she heard everything just fine. I was wondering if anyone with more tech knowledge than I could explain that.

Updated On: 4/10/09 at 07:44 AM

[singtopher]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 8:33am

Huh, that is odd/funny. I can only speculate that the assisted listening devices run on a completely different circuit.

When the sound went out, it seemed as if the board lost power. It was very sudden, and then synthesizers didn't work either, so it wasn't just mics. (I was there too)

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 9:16am

It's in it's first few nights of previews for gods sake.
Get over it don't go!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/10/09 at 9:19am

It's in its first few nights of previews, for god's sake.
Get over or it don't go!


You're welcome.