Beauty & the Beast

[Hoggie134]

As a member of stage crew and an active member of a musical society I am involved with our local theatre in Dundee. We have just been given permission to perform Beauty & the Beast and having seen the West End production wondered if anyone knows how they did the beast transformation,I have seen various threads of how it can be done but would like to know how they did it.

[What Rigger?]

You need to hire Hall Associates Flying FX out of Chicago: Hall Associates Flying Effects

Or Foy or the Z company if you really wanna go there.

They can come in and rig it right, rig it safely, and make it look freakin' spectacular.

Don't even think about doing that transformation yourself. You're not qualified.

[icewolf08]

Originally Posted by What Rigger?

You need to hire Hall Associates Flying FX out of Chicago: Hall Associates Flying Effects

Or Foy or the Z company if you really wanna go there.

They can come in and rig it right, rig it safely, and make it look freakin' spectacular.

Don't even think about doing that transformation yourself. You're not qualified.

The Z company I assume is ZFX.

[What Rigger?]

Yeah. But I'm not too fond of 'em. And if I call 'em "The Z Boys" it's an affront to skateboarding, 'cause lord knows it ain't Tony Alva or Stacey Peralta I'm talkin' about.

[JackMVHS]

Originally Posted by What Rigger?

You need to hire Hall Associates Flying FX out of Chicago: Hall Associates Flying Effects

Or Foy or the Z company if you really wanna go there.

They can come in and rig it right, rig it safely, and make it look freakin' spectacular.

Don't even think about doing that transformation yourself. You're not qualified.

Does anyone know about how much this would cost?

[icewolf08]

You would be looking at probably around a minimum of $5K to do the show.

[BNBSound]

A community theater I do some sound work for did B&B a few years ago and were able to rent the rigging they needed for fark less than $5k. Granted it wasn't a Foy job, he didn't go zinging off across the space. He started out in a heap on top of an elevated set piece, clipped himself in under the cloak and peeled his mask off while we did a bunch of stuff with smoke and lights. When the time came, he got hoisted about four feet, flipped over once, shed the cloak and landed on his feet.

It looked like more than it was because we played up his flight with a bunch of tricks. During the "transformation" the whole stage slowly faded into near darkness, with just Belle in a spot. Some haze, flashing colors, strobes and sound effects got the audience's attention away. And when the Beast finally did his flip, he was caught in a sudden burst of side light, which as anyone who lights dance will tell you, gives a certain floating effect. Land on two feet, boom boom, lights back up, and you look like wizzards!

[cdub260]

Originally Posted by BNBSound

A community theater I do some sound work for did B&B a few years ago and were able to rent the rigging they needed for fark less than $5k. Granted it wasn't a Foy job, he didn't go zinging off across the space. He started out in a heap on top of an elevated set piece, clipped himself in under the cloak and peeled his mask off while we did a bunch of stuff with smoke and lights. When the time came, he got hoisted about four feet, flipped over once, shed the cloak and landed on his feet.

It looked like more than it was because we played up his flight with a bunch of tricks. During the "transformation" the whole stage slowly faded into near darkness, with just Belle in a spot. Some haze, flashing colors, strobes and sound effects got the audience's attention away. And when the Beast finally did his flip, he was caught in a sudden burst of side light, which as anyone who lights dance will tell you, gives a certain floating effect. Land on two feet, boom boom, lights back up, and you look like wizzards!

Still, this is not something you should attempt to do on your own. Even a set-up such as you described requires a qualified rigger/rigging company to set it up and train those who will be involved with the effect. Even a fall from four feet can kill or permanently injure someone.

[icewolf08]

Originally Posted by BNBSound

A community theater I do some sound work for did B&B a few years ago and were able to rent the rigging they needed for fark less than $5k. Granted it wasn't a Foy job, he didn't go zinging off across the space. He started out in a heap on top of an elevated set piece, clipped himself in under the cloak and peeled his mask off while we did a bunch of stuff with smoke and lights. When the time came, he got hoisted about four feet, flipped over once, shed the cloak and landed on his feet.

Originally Posted by cdub260

Still, this is not something you should attempt to do on your own. Even a set-up such as you described requires a qualified rigger/rigging company to set it up and train those who will be involved with the effect. Even a fall from four feet can kill or permanently injure someone.

To build on what cdub260 said, if you did not rent and have this rig installed by one of the companies listed (ZFX, Foy, Hall Assoc.) then chances are it was not as safe as it should have been (and in that case it should not have been used). Even the major rigging companies like Sapsis and Clancy won't touch flying people unless done in conjunction with one of the aforementioned companies.

[kiwitechgirl]

Just want to point up that I'm fairly sure the OP is in the UK given the reference to Dundee and to the West End production of BATB rather than the Broadway production....in which case getting Hall or ZFX in is not really a practical solution! Foy does have a UK division (Flying by Foy) and there is also Freedom Flying (Freedom Flying although that webpage seems to be down at the moment) and Hi-Fli (Theatre Flying Effects by Hi-Fli.). I've not worked with the Freedom or Hi-Fli people (but have heard good things about them both) but certainly the Foy's guys are fantastic.