Entertainment Question

[PAHORNER]

Dose anyone know how long the Broadway type shows run on the ships? The shows DH and I saw in Jan 05 – Zuid was same as Jan 06 – West and again same as Jan 07-Zuid. Different cast, naturally, same two shows none the less. Just wondering.

[RuthC]

I make every effort to avoid the production shows (and am quite successful at it, I might add :D ), but I believe they go for years. (Seems it, anyway. :rolleyes: )

For some reason I think it's something like 4-5 years before they're retired.

[PAHORNER]

Thanks so much Ruth. I knew if anyone would know it would be you. We went the first couple times because we had never cruised and it was new to us but this last time it was just down right boring, so we made better use of our time by making a small contribution in the casino.

[Love Cruises]

We enjoy most of the production shows. The young performers work so hard and really try to do a good job. But, we wish they would get rid of "Tommy Tune's Papparazi". Many of us find it quite boring compared to the other ones we don't mind seeing "again and again and again"!

[bepsf]

I make every effort to avoid the production shows (and am quite successful at it, I might add :D ), but I believe they go for years. (Seems it, anyway. :rolleyes: )

 

Yes, that Tommy Tune show does feel like it goes on for years...

...but I think it was only a bit over an hour.

:cool:

[hammybee]

Dose anyone know how long the Broadway type shows run on the ships?

 

Too long.

[mamaofami]

After seeing the same production show twice in about a year's time, I asked the CD about it and was told that it's very expensive to pay for royalties, so they keep the same show (at least the same tunes with sometimes different staging) on all the ships for at least a year, and it looks like longer.

[SakeDad]

We enjoy most of the production shows. The young performers work so hard and really try to do a good job. But, we wish they would get rid of "Tommy Tune's Papparazi". Many of us find it quite boring compared to the other ones we don't mind seeing "again and again and again"!

Being in the "biz" I can safely say that Tommy charges ALOT:rolleyes:LESS than anyone else to keep his "tunes" alive and kicking! So as long as it's CHEAP to keep doing his shows (notice they aren't being done ANYWHERE on land including Broadway:p) they will be on every ship in every channel in every country for years to come!:eek:

[bepsf]

Being in the "biz" I can safely say that Tommy charges ALOT:rolleyes:LESS than anyone else to keep his "tunes" alive and kicking! So as long as it's CHEAP to keep doing his shows (notice they aren't being done ANYWHERE on land including Broadway:p) they will be on every ship in every channel in every country for years to come!:eek:

 

I guess that places Ruth and I safely in the Piano Bar!!!

:cool:

[gizmo]

I make every effort to avoid the production shows (and am quite successful at it, I might add :D ), but I believe they go for years. (Seems it, anyway. :rolleyes: )

For some reason I think it's something like 4-5 years before they're retired.

 

It sure does seem like it goes on for years. :eek: I am sure you remember Copacabana. I thought they would never retire that one.

[Krazy Kruizers]

It's only been recently that we have gone to a couple of the production shows as they were new ones.

 

But it costs way too much for HAL to keep changing the shows every few months.

[mamaofami]

I also remember the painful rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone", a Rodgers and Hammerstein number from the show Carosel ,that HAL decided they could rewrite and arrange better than the original writers did. I heard that one at least twice.

[Copper10-8]

I also remember the painful rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone", a Rodgers and Hammerstein number from the show Carosel ,that HAL decided they could rewrite and arrange better than the original writers did. I heard that one at least twice.

 

Carol, just a quickie! HAL doesn't decide that, Stiletto Entertainment in L.A., who hires the ship's cast (singers and dancers), does

http://www.stilettoentertainment.com/cruiseship/index.htm

[Juanita462]

We saw the same Broadway type show 4 times in two years - different casts on different ships but the same songs and choreography. So they do keep them more than a year. Give me some of the old type dancing rather than the pelvic thrusts and gyrations of the modern dance. So now we always sit where we can slip out easily if we have seen the program before.

 

I suspect they have the decibel level way over the safe limit - asked the tech if they ever measured it and he said no. I had heard that anything over 85 dB damages hearing and I know that an orchestra averages 90 dB but have never heard an orchestra as loud as the music during a show onboard.

[Kinky.Rigger]

The reality of changing the shows (at least on the Vista Class ships) is that it simply cannot be done without taking the ship into a dry dock or losing out on showtime entertainment throughout the week. Due to the sheer size of the set pieces in addition to the prohibitive cost of the sets it's not viable to take the ship out of service for long enough to change shows.

 

They are officially designed to be on the ships for 4-5 years as Ruth noted though there are several that have run longer. On the Zuiderdam Under the Sun and Under the Boardwalk will be going away with the next dry dock to be replaced by a new welcome aboard show and two new production shows to join Stage and Screen.

 

Incidentally, Paparazzi is coming towards the end of it's life - I'm sure everyone is as pleased as I am to hear that. :)

 

As for the volume levels - I'm not a sound technician but I do work in the theatre and have been working live events for *cough cough* years... having said that the production shows aboard generally run from 85-95db with peaks up to 100db. his equates to a range from a lawnmower to a snowmobile. Certain very popular guest entertainers run significantly louder that this. TLevel ranges are set by the entertainment department of the corporate office - the ships follow those directives. In theory they are set to maintain a certain amount of energy in the space between the cast and the audience member. As sound is s subjective thing it will certainly not be to everyone's liking. The honest answer is that if it feels too loud for you, the spectator, then another location might be in order perhaps farther from the main speaker clusters. In saying all that, I'm not taking either side saying it's too loud and should be turned down or the commonly heard adage, if it's too loud your too old. I'm just trying to shed some light on things - if any offence was interpretted I apologize in advance.

[jtl513]

After seeing the same production show twice in about a year's time, I asked the CD about it and was told that it's very expensive to pay for royalties, so they keep the same show

Funny, but that doesn't seem to bother a lot of summer-stock theaters on much slimmer budgets! :)

[Copper10-8]

......Incidentally, Paparazzi is coming towards the end of it's life - I'm sure everyone is as pleased as I am to hear that.........

 

Now that, is great news! Thanks for the intel! Talked to some of the cast that perform that masterpiece and a lot of them don't like the show either.

As far as volume, the average live concert (either in an in or out-door arena) is a hell of a lot louder than a production show aboard a ship. And I'm not taking about ©rap either but stuff like Gloria Estefan, Martina McBride, Alan Jackson, Foreigner, Eagles, etc.

[Judyjay]

Funny, but that doesn't seem to bother a lot of summer-stock theaters on much slimmer budgets! :)

 

 

Royalties are based on the size of the theater, and the number of times the shows are performed. A small summer-stock theater with a limited run will not pay near what HAL pays in royalties.

[bepsf]

The reality of changing the shows (at least on the Vista Class ships) is that it simply cannot be done without taking the ship into a dry dock or losing out on showtime entertainment throughout the week. Due to the sheer size of the set pieces in addition to the prohibitive cost of the sets it's not viable to take the ship out of service for long enough to change shows.

 

Huh???

Vistas have hydraulic stages that raise/lower/spin/etc. at the mere push of a button - and there's absolutely no drydock necessary to bring different backdrops aboard. Maybe a couple hours bringing prefabbed sections aboard while at the pier and a couple more hours for the onboard carpenters connecting the sections & mounting them on cables to reside in the flyspace above the stage

(Unless they choose to use canvas rolled backdrops for a show - even less time to install)

:cool:

[SakeDad]

The reality of changing the shows (at least on the Vista Class ships) is that it simply cannot be done without taking the ship into a dry dock or losing out on showtime entertainment throughout the week. Due to the sheer size of the set pieces in addition to the prohibitive cost of the sets it's not viable to take the ship out of service for long enough to change shows.

 

The rest of your post makes sense, like you're in the biz...but this part shows you know very little about cruise ship entertainment. These shows are rehearsed and teched onshore down to the inch, just as they are for tours of Broadway shows. They are then loaded onto the ship while in port and loaded into the theatre and rehearsed during the day and late nights when the showroom is not in use. The sets are switched out over a 2-4 day period when the main show is not available, then there is a new show premiered. VOILA!! Certainly no dry-dock needed. At the very least there may be no shows for 2-3 days in the main showroom, for which passengers are RICHLY rewarded by seeing a show with a VERY energetic cast doing a brand new show.

[Radiomark]

This will be our first time on HAL. Are the cruise directors comics? In addition to the production shows, do they have comics and comedy routines, etc.?

 

Mark

[RuthC]

Are the cruise directors comics?

Some of them think they are! The CD's introduce the evening shows, then give the farewell/plug for what else is going on the rest of the night at the end of the show. Sometimes they are humerous about it.

In addition to the production shows, do they have comics and comedy routines, etc.?

There are typically two production shows in a week. The other nights will have any variety of comics, musicians/singers, jugglers, magicians. Frequently there will be one night where two or three previous entertainers will come back for brief acts each.

[Copper10-8]

This will be our first time on HAL. Are the cruise directors comics? In addition to the production shows, do they have comics and comedy routines, etc.?

Most C/D's are not comedians (although some seem to think they are). They come from a variation of backgrounds and most have made their way up via the Cruise Activities (formerly Cruise) Staff. See this thread for the background of some of HAL's C/D's

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=454466&highlight=Meet+HAL%27s+senior+staff

 

The C/D is the head of the Entertainment Dept and therefor responsible for all the entertainment, including the ship's cast (usually on board for six-month contracts) and all guest entertainers (on and off for various lengths of time). Like Ruth said, on the avg 7-day cruise, you'll have two production shows by the cast and, usually, 3-4 guest entertainers which could be musicians, singers, comedians, ventriloquists, jugglers, magicians, illusionists, pick-pockets:eek: , etc.

Most C/D's will open/introduce the nightly show/act and will frequently close it also. For some, the job is made for them i.e. Susan Wood, Bruce Alan Scudder, Gary Walker, Pieter Daems, Mike Connachan, etc. Others are not that good and/or still getting their feet wet. Some are very visible and approachable, some less than. The C/D and his/her staff is also responsible for the activities during the day-time such as games, quizes, etc.

A cruise director should not make or break your cruise but he/she should provide you with good entertainment if that's what you are looking for on your cruise.