Entertainment Technology Resources & History
Opened on Broadway on November 16, 1959.
Opened at the Palace Theatre, London on May 18, 1961 (2385 performances)
Directed: Jerome Whyte
Set Design: Oliver Smith
Choreography supervised by Joe Layton
Apollo Victoria, London, starring Petula Clark
Opened November 2006, Closed November 2009, London Palladium. The production then went on tour.
Official website: http://www.thesoundofmusictour.com/
Official company website: http://www.reallyuseful.com/shows/the-sound-of-music
From the Stage Technologies website:
Stage Technologies supplied automation for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long-running West End revival of The Sound of Music at the London Palladium, produced by The Really Useful Group.
One of the focal pieces of the performance was a 12-tonne, automated mountain (26 tonnes including mechanics), which was raised and lowered from the grid and also rotated along a horizontal axis. The Von Trapp family mansion house was brought on stage in four sections by means of automated stage trucks – seamless synchronisation and millimetre-accurate positioning of the trucks was vital to keep the artistic flow alive, as the pieces were brought together in full view of the audience. Onboard drive systems enabled each truck to rotate, turning the sections and transforming the interior of the house into the exterior in fast, fluid moves. The control system was also used to automate scenic mountain backdrops, abbey walls, life-size birch trees, cloths and banners and a travelator was transported furniture and performers on and off stage quickly and safely.
At the end of the run at the Palladium, Stage Technologies was asked to provide a tailored-for-travel, 22-axis rental system with Acrobat-G6 control for a highly successful tour that began in 2009 and continues to delight audiences across the country.
Sightline article on Stage Technologies
