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Phantom Chandelier


Jimmy Mitch

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Hi all, does anyone have any industry contacts or information on companies to help us fly our chandler for an upcoming production of Phantom of the Opera in July? The venue is near Winchester and has limited rigging (no fly tower). Any help or advice would be greatly receieved!
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A couple of the "human flying" companies have experience of doing this, failing that a good experienced circus performer rigger / rigger designer will be able to do it for you. Be warned though the forces/stresses involved are WAY more than you think they are, the equipment to do it costs a lot more than you think it does, takes more time to set up than you think it does and the effect you end up with is no-where near as dramatic or as effective as you are expecting it to be. This is one of those situations where you're going to end up spending several thousand pounds, employ several people for this one effect and end up going "oh, is that it?" afterwards.
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As imaginerTom said this is not going to be easy or cheap to do, we have a system that is used in Am-dram and semi pro shows, but it is based in the USA and therefore the freight alone will cost several thousand.

 

The original system uses Jigger rams and was designed and installed by Delstar at her majesty's and countless really useful productions worldwide , you could try them if you have something in the region of 200-250K to spend on it, it will look fantastic but as previously pointed out you are looking at a 2-3 week install of the equipment and associated engineering to do it.

 

To give you an idea of what you might get in the region of 12-18K install and 1-1.5K per week is two 5m/s winches and a bespoke collapsing chandelle, and usually takes 2 days to install. If you just want the drop on the front of the stage without an Auditorium swing which is what is done for lower budget shows you are still looking at 4-6K install an 750ish a week. It will take up a lot of your downstage grid space so you will need to look at splitting your front LX bar(s). All of this is assuming the venue has suitable points to fix to that are rated or can be rated by a structural engineer, (that would be additional to any of the above costs).

 

let me know if any of that is of interest and I can put you in touch with someone in the UK as I am currently in Australia.

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To be fair, that's the film version, which is very different to the stage in both physical construction and effect.

 

We ended up having a static chandelier with a synchronised sound, lights and pyro sequence to replace the crash when we did Phantom earlier this year. Still gave the audience under/around it a bit of a shock though judging by the reactions!

 

We did also have a line attached to the chandelier which allowed us to wobble it - earlier in the scene when the ballet corps are dancing we'd give it a slight shake along with a low rumble and flicker of the lamps on the chandelier, which cued the audience to pay attention to it: then at the climax a large smash/crash sound effect, combined with a blinder flash into a blackout with a couple of robotics firing at the blackout. When the lights come up into the interval of course it's pretty obvious what you've done, but the audience by that point don't really mind, as you've still made them jump.

 

We were earlier intending to make the chandelier fly in some way but as already highlighted; it's not trivial. Hence why we ended up not doing it!

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I have a lightweight (27kg) chandelier that's been used for Phantom and I've never seen it 'dropped'. I've seen it wobble with a line as someone else mentioned. I've also got a load of chandelier bits and pieces which can be used on the ground, but you'll still have the original hanging up after the dust settles.

 

Derby Youth Musical Theatre used my chandelier in a venue which needed a solution built on site. Might be worth contacting, give me a shout if you need a name or owt. I've also got a lot of other props for the show if needed.

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For the 25th Anniversary performances at the Albert Hall it wasn't dropped but revealed and then pyro rigged inside was fired.

 

Even with the production budget for that show, and a venue the size of the RAH, it just wasn't practical to drop it.

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