The Conveyor Belt in Into The Woods

[TheatreFreak05]

I was just watching the original production of Into the Woods, and I was reminded of how cool the conveyor belt was. I was wondering, what other shows have used this effect?

I know the original production of Annie did. Any others?

[PiraguaGuy2]

Like, the conveyer belt in the stage? Shrek uses something like this. It's sort of a bunch of moving cocentric circles that recreate it.

[husk_charmer]

It's technically called a treadmill.

[SDav 10495]

I remember a similar treadmill being used in the "Music Man" revival.

[CATSNYrevival]

Why in the world did they need one for Annie?

[wonderfulwizard11]

I believe the one in Annie was used in the NYC sequence, in order to create the feel of a bustling city.

[husk_charmer]

Cats-
that was one of the BIG things about the original. It used it's treadmills to create sweeping, cinematic scene changes and effects. It made the ensemble seem like something out of an old MGM musical.

It was pretty impressive, from what I've seen.

[Jon]

The treadmill is a really OLD stagecraft device. They were common a hudred years ago. Many old opera houses had them permanently built into the stage floor.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

I think they have one of some sort in Lion King, given the way the setpieces moved. I really liked the effect.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

the revival of SITPWG used it to great effect as well

[dg22894]

i heard wicked uses one.

[TimeSquare3]

Wicked doesn't have one.

[morosco]

that was one of the BIG things about the original [Annie]. It used it's treadmills to create sweeping, cinematic scene changes and effects.

Agreed. It was one of the coolest sets I've seen on Broadway. Tons of things all moving at the same time in every direction. And what makes it even more interesting is that Annie was before computers automated everything. This was all accomplished by hard working stagehands.

[morosco]

Aspects of Love incorporated treadmills in the set design. Coincidentally both Ann Crumb (Aspects) and Dorothy Loudon (Annie) were seriously injured by the treadmills.

[Tag]

The Really Useful revival of The Sound of Music (which closed recently in the West End and is playing in Toronto) uses a "conveyor belt". They call it a travelator.

[SDav 10495]

The Really Useful revival of The Sound of Music (which closed recently in the West End and is playing in Toronto) uses a "conveyor belt". They call it a travelator.

Aren't travelators different devices? I know the ramps in "Phantom" that rise and fall at constantly changing angles (to create the effect of descending into the lair) are called travelators.

[totheatreguy]

No, the somewhat ambiguous name "travelator" is generally applied to moving walkways. The Phantom ramp was sometimes referred to as a travelator, but it's a bit of a misnomer since it wasn't actually a conveying mechanism but rather a very cool and dynamic ramp/bridge.

I seem to recall some incarnations of Joseph using one or more travelators/conveyor belts.

Shrek simply uses a triple concentric revolve, which at one point is used in a humorous and "conveyor" like way, but again is not a conveyor belt at all.

[LadyDramaturg2]

It's like a turntable, right?

And Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire (well, Stanley Donen, anyway) liked to use those concentric turntables in some of their grander films -- oooh, I almost said, "movies."

I'm sure no one else is awake.

[TheatreFreak05]

I love the use of conveyor belts in Singing in the Rain (the movie). They are used in the Broadway melody part where he goes to New York and a bunch of people glide past on conveyor belts.

I don't think I'm explaining this correctly... Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

[BrianIdol]

Grey Gardens

[wickedfan]

Actually, Grey Gardens didn't use a conveyor belt. It was more of an empty space that was exposed when the house moved backwards, and when exposed, it slid on set pieces on like, little squares of stage. It acted like a conveyor belt, but I don't think it technically was.

[BrianIdol]

^you're totally right. I remember now:)