The Palace Theatre has been given a $200,000 renovation for Holler If Ya Hear Me, the new Broadway musical inspired by the lyrics of Tupac Shakur that will begin performances May 29 towards a June 19 opening.
According to the Wall Street Journal, scenic designer Edward Pierce and the creatives of Holler have repositioned the ground-level orchestra seats into a stadium-seating configuration to "deepen the sense of intimacy" at the Palace.
"Everybody in those first few rows can basically high-five the actors," Pierce told the Wall Street Journal. "They're that close."
Rows A-J rise in a direct line from the edge of the stage up to the front mezzanine — to focus the performers' delivery upward — and rows K-Z of the orchestra will be unused, decreasing the house capacity to 1,120 seats (compared to the previous 1,740 seats). Holler is also responsible for returning the theatre's seating to its original state following its run (which currently remains open-ended).
Where is the attack? I don't see the big deal. They are altering the space for their needs. It will be returned to its original state when they close.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
"Everybody in those first few rows can basically high-five the actors," Pierce told the Wall Street Journal. "They're that close."
That doesn't sound distracting at all...
"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney
We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".
Dude was a far more drastic renovation. This sounds like the seating configuration will remain proscenium. Dude was a very unique "in-the-round" configuration. It was basically achieved by raising the front orchestra and stage deck almost to the height of the mezzanine, then building seating where the stage would normally be and creating a playing area in the center of the room between what had been the stage and the now almost level mezzanine. To make it even more unique, the aisle were also used as playing spaces and the orchestra was scattered around the house with the conductor sort of floating above everything. It was very cool.
Dude also played, The Broadway Theatre.
ARTc3 formerly ARTc. Actually been a poster since 2004. My name isn't Art. Drop the "3" and say the signature and you'll understand.
The real question is "does anyone know if they need any steel". (There - I can now say my message board usage is work related).
"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney
We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".
^ You laugh now, but 4 months from now when you are working on a time sensitive project and desperately need to get a question answered from someone who saw the Fiddler on the Roof run at the Orchard Theater in Dartford, well then, you'll be whistling a different tune.
I'm willing to wager that PhantomofLondon would not have had any problems with these modifications being done to the Palace if it were being doing for an all-white production.
What an incredibly melodramatic thread title to o along with that obnoxious signature of his.
Was the title 'Other Desert Cities', did that have bearing on the play? Just a bit of fun, calm down dear.
Anyway I always assumed that a Broadway house, could literally have its pick of shows, so on rent on the Palaces normal size, which is 6/7% of box office gross, so the Palace would rake in anything north of $70k a week, when a show has a capacity of 1800 with a drop of seating by 35% this would diminish there rent capability by $24.5k a week, so would allow the Nederlanders to collect roughly $45k a week in rent, I am basing this on a show that gross $1m a week.
Why did this go into Broadways biggest house, only to then reduce capacity.
I am surprised that the Nederlanders have dropped the ball here.