any tech week horror stories? i’m in a production of les mis rn and tech week is.. very soon 😭
Actually, for us, tech week wasn’t horrible, at least when it came to the actual tech part. In the past it’s been awful so this was a welcome relief. But there were a few technical mishaps here and there…
It took us a long time to get the sound effects for the cart crash right. A ridiculously long time. Honestly, I’m still not sure how or IF we managed to pull off that scene, because I don’t think I ever actually saw it.
Us gals had to sing the chain gang part of the prologue backstage, which meant we had to have our mics turned on for that. Usually it worked fine. Unfortunately, there was one time that Enjolras’ mic didn’t get turned OFF again, so we briefly had her disembodied voice interrupt part of the prologue. 😬 Whoops.
One of the guns from the barricade was left on the bridge through the end of the second act, which wouldn’t be a huge problem because the audience couldn’t see it, but during the wedding we were waltzing up there. We had to avoid tripping on it or accidentally kicking it off the bridge, which is more difficult than it sounds.
For a long time, we didn’t have the transition after Fantine’s death completely worked out, so for a while Fantine had to carry on and off her own bedding, and she really just does everything around this house huh
Poor Enjolras! During the final battle she’s supposed to die waving the flag, but on the opening performance it just… wouldn’t unfurl… Bless her heart, she tried so hard to get it open, but eventually had to give up and settle for a pitiful little red triangle on a stick. She says she’ll be bitter about it until her dying day, but honestly, it added a level of patheticness to the scene that actually wasn’t too detrimental to the story.
I think I already mentioned this, but I (a fool) decided to wear slightly-too-big flats during Lovely Ladies and kicked one of them halfway across stage?? I don’t know how noticeable it was but I had to spend the rest of our dance number trying to covertly get it back on
That one rehearsal where Feuilly’s shoes were untied during The Beggars and he almost tripped down the stairs
During The Confrontation, Valjean is supposed to break off a chair leg and use it to threaten Javert or whatever. We had it set up so that the leg could be taken off and replaced without issue, but during the second to last performance he actually broke the chair
Setting up the barricade was such a hassle. Most of it was unattached furniture pieces, so they had to be carried on and off individually, and that was a lot easier said than done. Luckily we got a set routine established by the time opening night rolled around.
The mug Grantaire used during “Red and Black” didn’t have a bottom for some reason, so one rehearsal where we were blocking that, Enjolras sings the line “Don’t let the wine go to your brain!” Grantaire just held it up and said “I’m not even drunk”
I told you all about the freaking grapes, right? From The Beggars? It was the ask before this I think idk but that was a m e s s
It wasn’t really a tech thing, but during dinner one night the table broke and spilled our salads all over the floor
And of course, as rehearsals get later, the cast gets more and more sleep deprived and slap-happy, but I feel like that’s a topic for a completely different post.
Hope that helps some! Best of luck to you and your cast!! Even when things go wrong (because they will), you can still have a great show. You’ve got this!
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