Sorry this happened to you. Was this an
amateur group, or professional company?
I've been there, with a substitute last minute director sitting outside the installed
system's prime coverage
pattern 3' from the
stage insisting on giving me "tips" in real time. It was an
amateur musical 1 nite only performance in a super reflective room (glass windows on 2 long sides, marble floor, hard wood paneling) with only 2 rehearsals in the space with tech. Plenty of alcohol swirling around, too.
I ended up taking the A3, giving him the intercom, and instructing him to say "yes" to anything he was told and not bother me with it. This was at the same time we discovered a hardware fault in the Roland M-480 early
digital mixer where
mute group buttons worked fine to
mute, but randomly would fail to unmute all members. Across multiple
fader layers. I mixed, the A2 did sfx rolls and dealt with one by one unmutes at scene changes as the layers flapped by, and the A3 functioned as
shock absorber. Fun times ... perfect storm.
Otherwise, I agree that both are useful, depending on the skill and consistency of the actors, whether mics are being traded between actors or remain constantly assigned, the flow of the show, how many channels are in use, whether floor or overhead area mics are also in use for chorus, lesser characters, tap dancers,
etc., if you are mixing the
orchestra as well,
etc. I hesitate to do complex shows without a digital
console tho, and generally specify that one must be rented if not available at the
venue. It also helps to be able to source rental gear, so you have control over what gets dragged in, a way to get hardware support if it's not working,
etc.