A look at the finances of Spider Man

[shiben]

Recalling from memory that they (the investors/producers) hoped to recoup expenses in about 7 years. It was noted that not many musicals run 7 years, so it's going to be interesting to see if the show ever makes back expenses from ticket sales on Broadway. Possibly a tour(s) and/or West End versions will help, but I can't but wonder how they will ever get to the point of taking this show on tour.

Very large arenas.

 

[zmb]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the $157,682.48 in lighting perishables.

Where I am, that could get you around 24,258 20x24 sheets of Roscolux gel, 13,419 Rosco steel gobos, or 10,726 HPL lamps. That's a lot of stuff.

 

[Esoteric]

Where I am, that could get you around 24,258 20x24 sheets of Roscolux gel, 13,419 Rosco steel gobos, or 10,726 HPL lamps. That's a lot of stuff.

Consider that they are replacing probably a hundred or more cuts of gel every night, they are probably replacing hundreds lamps after 50-100 hours (the time at which the color temps of lamps begin to shift) or so (and keep in mind some of those units have lamps a lot more expensive than $15) over the course of more than a year's worth of rehearsals, it doesn't really strike me as that much.

 

[shiben]

Consider that they are replacing probably a hundred or more cuts of gel every night, they are probably replacing hundreds lamps after 50-100 hours (the time at which the color temps of lamps begin to shift) or so (and keep in mind some of those units have lamps a lot more expensive than $15) over the course of more than a year's worth of rehearsals, it doesn't really strike me as that much.

I agree. For a giant show like that? I would guess well more than 100 cuts of gel get replaced every night...

 

[Esoteric]

I agree. For a giant show like that? I would guess well more than 100 cuts of gel get replaced every night...

Yeah, and that would be close to 30,000 cuts of gel in the course of year of rehearsals.

Mike

 

[Footer]

Yeah, and that would be close to 30,000 cuts of gel in the course of year of rehearsals.

Mike

For long install shows, they are not going to swap out gel nightly. First, if you are having burn outs that often you have larger issues. If that was an issue, they would just go dichroic and be done with it. It would cost them so much in labor to change out the gel the cost of gel would be a drop in the bucket. Same thing goes for lamps. They are not swapping out lamps weekly. Monthly is possible, but not weekly.

Also, all of these expenses were to date expenses as of January 2nd, 2011. These were not expected expenditures for the coming year, its money they have already spent. So, yes, they did spend 100k in lighting consumables since they walked into the theatre. I also have a feeling the costume designer was paid so little because he/she had not completed the contract yet.

 

[rochem]

For long install shows, they are not going to swap out gel nightly. First, if you are having burn outs that often you have larger issues. If that was an issue, they would just go dichroic and be done with it. It would cost them so much in labor to change out the gel the cost of gel would be a drop in the bucket. Same thing goes for lamps. They are not swapping out lamps weekly. Monthly is possible, but not weekly.

As I read it, Esoteric and shiben were referring to gel changes by the designer as worknotes, not due to burnouts. However, if they were referring to burnouts, I agree with you. Accessing some of the positions they've created in that house is an enormous undertaking in itself, and there's no way the PE would continue to swap in new cuts of gel if they were burning out that frequently.

Also, while Spiderman is a huge show, it's actually not as enormous as you might think from a lighting standpoint. While it's certainly one of the most complex shows on Broadway (units in every nook and cranny, lots of unusual cable runs, lots of flying and moving positions), the physical quantity of units is pretty comparable to other major shows, and in terms of conventional units, there are far less on Spiderman than on shows like Lion King.

 

[Esoteric]

I wasn't referring to work notes.

But I have to admit, all my experience is in tours where we did change gel at just about every stop (especially saturate colors), and changed lamps out at the 100-150 hour mark. I assumed Broadway house shows would do the same thing.

Mike

 

[Pie4Weebl]

asked a friend of mine close to the matter and this was the response I got:

Other then the fact that we were working in that theatre for one solid year and did two completely separate shows, both called SPIDERMAN, I have no idea what objects were put into what budget line item. But I can assure you it was not all gel, gobos, tie line and tape.

 

[Esoteric]

asked a friend of mine close to the matter and this was the response I got:

Pyro? Or are MAC2Ks considered expendables these days?

 

[chausman]

... are MAC2Ks considered expendables these days?

Depends on how many times an actor falls on top of one from 30'.

 

[Esoteric]

Depends on how many times an actor falls on top of one from 30'.

Wow. Too soon?