Opening Announcements

[Luke]

Nothing particulary interesting - just got me thinking...

 

What do you usually say for your 'Good evening ladies and gentlemen..' calls?

 

 

Luke.

[Bryson]

For the audience, or the cast?

 

Either way, smells like Stage Management to me....moving....

[nickb12345]

It does smell a bit that way!

 

For audience we have recordings along the lines of "Good evening ladies & gentlemen. Tonight /This afternoon/Morning's performance will commence in xx minutes" and then with the 2 minutes call include something like "would you please take this time to switch off all Mobile phones & pagers, and please be aware that all forms of video & still photography are strictly prohibited".

 

The 5 min also includes "Please take your seats"

 

Seeing as our theatre is named after Sir Donald Sinden (The Sinden Theatre ;)) we recorded him making the announcements on MD.... we never found out why the next day that disk was blank B-)

 

 

Nick

[blackbird]

My calls for matinees generally descend into:

 

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen (* CRAP I'VE DONE IT AGAIN!! *), this afternoon's performance will commence in ......"

[sam.henderson]

For cast I use the standard:

 

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Cast this is your ... call, thank you

and at the 5 min.. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Cast this is you 5 minute call and Act One beginners standby, thank you.

 

For FOH I use:

 

5, 2: Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to this evenings performance of .... The performance will be commencing in 5/ 2 minutes so please take your seats, Thank You.

 

1 min: Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to this evenings performance of .... The performance will be commencing in 1 minute so please take your seats. Patrons should also be aware that this is a no smoking theatre and that all photography is stictly prohibited. In addition can we would also like to remind you that Strobe Lighting is used in this performance, Thank You and enjoy the show.

 

Sam

[gareth]

For cast I use the standard:

 

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Cast this is your ... call, thank you

and at the 5 min.. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Cast this is you 5 minute call and Act One beginners standby, thank you.

Rather odd (and certainly not 'standard') choice of wording, considering that the five and beginners are two distinct and separate calls (the five at 10 minutes before curtain up, beginners at five minutes before).

[ChrisD]

Hate to be dumb, but I feel I'm getting mixed messages. Could someone please outline the most common/"by the book" order of cues, names, and actual times they should occur as I've never actually worked in a theatre so don't have a definative guide as such.

 

Many Thanks

[themadhippy]

35 minutes before show half hour backstage call to cast and crew

30 minutes before show open house

20 minutes before show 15 minute backstage call to cast and crew

15 minutes before show 10 minute backstage call to cast and crew

10 minutes before show 5 minute backstage call to cast and crew

6 minutes before show 5 minute call to front of house ("good evening laddles and jellyspoons and welcome to the marina theatre,this evenings performance will commence in 5 minutes,you have 5 minutes thank you")

5 minutes before show act 1 beginners to the stage,all technical crew to there post

4 minutes before show 3 minute call to front of house

2 minutes before show 1 minute call to front of house

1 minute before show "get yer arses sat down the shows starting" call front of house,and technical crew put on standby

show time

At least thats how we do it

[mac.calder]

We only open 20 min pre show (15 minute call), so here is my standard calling structure:

 

35min: Ladies and gentlemen of the XXX company, this is your half hour call, half hour till act one beginners

 

20min: Ladies and gentlemen of the XXX company, this is your 15 minute call, 15 minutes till act one beginners, the house is now open.

 

10min: Ladies and gentlemen of the XXX company, this is your 5 minute call, 5 minutes till act one beginners.

 

5min: Ladies and gentlemen of the XXX company, act 1 beginners. Could x,y,z please ensure they are in place for act one beginners. Awaiting front of house clearance.

 

Ladies and gentlemen welcome to this evenings performance of XXX, we ask that you please take your seats, the show will be commencing in 5 minutes. We also ask that you ensure that all mobile phones and pagers have been switched off, as they do interfere with our equipment, and our performers. We would also like to take this time to remind you that photography and videotaping of performances is strictly prohibited, and that should a patron be caught breaching these rules, the equipment will be confiscated. Taping and filming is a breach of copyright and can result in large penalties. We hope you enjoy this evenings performance.

 

On FOH clearance:

 

Call standbys and fade out preshow music, and lx to black - slowly over about a minute

 

Ladies and gentlemen of the XXX company, we have Front of House clearance. The show is about to commence.

 

Ladies and gentlemen welcome to this evenings performance of XXX, we ask that you ensure that all mobile phones and pagers have been switched off, as they do interfere with our equipment, and our performers. We would also like to take this time to remind you that photography and videotaping of performances is strictly prohibited, and that should a patron be caught breaching these rules, the equipment will be confiscated. Taping and filming is a breach of copyright and can result in large penalties. We hope you enjoy this evenings performance.

 

Start the show.

[Bryson]

Mobile Phones interfere with your performers? Are they robots? :P

 

Anyway, I have to say:

Good Evening and welcome to the Princess Theatre.  In consideration of your fellow passengers, we ask that there be no mass reservation of seats.  Please note that the last three rows on each side of the theatre are reserved for our passengers with mobility difficulties.  Tonight’s show will incorporate pyrotechnics and non-harmful atmospheric smoke for stage effects.  Audio and video recording of this evening’s performance is not permitted.  We thank you for your attention and hope you will enjoy the show.

 

Although by the end of the cruise it's more like:

Good Evening and welcome to the Princess Theatre.  In consideration of your fellow passengers, we ask that there be no mass reservation of seats.  Please note that the last three rows on each side of the theatre are reserved for our passengers who are planning to sleep through tonights performance.  Tonight’s show will incorporate pyrotechnics and non-*cough* harmful *cough* atmospheric *cough* smoke for stage effects, and will not affect you unless you are illegally reserving seats.  Audio and video recording of this evening’s performance is not permitted. Anyone found recording the show will be asked to leave the ship immediately. We thank you for your attention and hope you will enjoy the show.

 

Backstage calls are pretty similar, but our convention is (because the dressing rooms are so close to the stage) to call beginners at 2 minutes before we start the show. And obviously I call the backstage calls in a more compact way as it's the same company every night.

[Tomo]

On my ship we didn't bother with many FOH calls, mostly because the announcement PA is broken, but also because we have a "No Announcements" policy.

The only one that was done was 5 min before the show, announcing what the show is and that video recording and flash photography was not permitted.

 

Backstage calls tended to be:

15 min before showtime:

"Guys, gals, 10 minutes! Get your kit on! 10 minutes, thankyou!"

 

5 min before showtime:

"XXX to the pit, YYY to booth, 2 min to places! See you XXX, YYY."

 

1 min to showtime:

"We're holding for a bit - the captain's still not here. Places please!"

Phone call to the pit - "Hi XXX, we're holding for a bit. I'll call when we're about to start."

 

10 sec to (new) showtime:

"Guys, gals, We're rolling! Have a good show!"

[andy_s]

Backstage calls are pretty similar, but our convention is (because the dressing rooms are so close to the stage) to call beginners at 2 minutes before we start the show.  And obviously I call the backstage calls in a more compact way as it's the same company every night.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I understood that the American version was a two minute "delay" so to speak - i.e. half at 32 mins, quarter at 17 mins, 5 at 7 and beginners at 2. my experience has been that for UK performers, beginners can sometimes be interpreted as "last chance to go to the toilet", whereas for Americans it quite literally means "the show will start in two minutes". More national stereotyping?.....

[mac.calder]

Backstage calls are pretty similar, but our convention is (because the dressing rooms are so close to the stage) to call beginners at 2 minutes before we start the show.  And obviously I call the backstage calls in a more compact way as it's the same company every night.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I understood that the American version was a two minute "delay" so to speak - i.e. half at 32 mins, quarter at 17 mins, 5 at 7 and beginners at 2. my experience has been that for UK performers, beginners can sometimes be interpreted as "last chance to go to the toilet", whereas for Americans it quite literally means "the show will start in two minutes". More national stereotyping?.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Dunno... In Au, beginners is 5min, and is interpreted as "Your arse should be in place ready to start" - maybe the yanks use two min as they cannot sit still for any longer?

 

Sorry, I have worked with American actors, maybe I got a bad bunch, but their attention span was that of an excited puppy in a room filled with guests - that is to say seconds long. I spent most of the performance comparing their blocking with the location of the fly bars, and the urge to call certain fly cues early.

[peternewman]

We do:

 

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to Warwick Arts Centre, this evenings performance of Junk will commence in 5 minutes. Ladies and Gentlemen this evenings performance of Junk will commence in 5 minutes, thank you.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this evenings performance of Junk will commence in 3/1 minutes. Ladies and Gentlemen, this evenings performance of Junk will commence in 3/1 minutes, thank you.

Then a pre recoded pre show, including the usual mobiles pagers, but also digital watches.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this evenings performance of Junk will continue in 5/3/1 minutes. Ladies and Gentlemen, this evenings performance of Junk will continue in 5/3/1 minutes, thank you.

I'm currently having to do these despite only being LX, they're also subtly different each night due to me having failed to get them right every time yet. :)

 

PN

[danburns]

We don't have "proper" backstage calls -

30 mins at 7.00

20 @ 7.10

15mins and phones off @ 7.15

10 @ 7.20

5 @ 7.25

3/beginners and FoH bells at 7.27.

 

Recorded FoH announcement (that has a tendancy to go missing - I wonder why?)

 

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen. [sponsors] and the Apollo Players welcome you to the Apollo Theatre. In the interests of your comfort and safety, we remind you that the whole theatre and bar interiors are now no smoking areas; and request that if you have a mobile phone, you turn it off, as the location pulses transmitted every few seconds, can interfere with the theatres audio loop system. We hope you will enjoy this production of xxx by somepoorbugger

 

Almost a minute on CD...