Question on shows

[TOMOGP]

Forgive me for asking this "stupid" question, we are looking at doing a Oceana cruise of some 35 days, and my wife wants to know if the headliners repeat the shows or are they the same ones ie Killer Queen etc

[Brayman]

Forgive me for asking this "stupid" question, we are looking at doing a Oceana cruise of some 35 days, and my wife wants to know if the headliners repeat the shows or are they the same ones ie Killer Queen etc

 

Normally the Headliners have about 8 shows in their repertoire so on a 35 day cruise I suppose you would expect them to do about 110/15 shows, I don't know how they manage that but it is down to the Cruise Director/Entertainment manager in conjunction with the Headliners. Remember there are other entertainment acts arriving on board at various ports of call. The Headliners also get involved with some other elements of the onboard entertainment so it would be interesting to know what actually happens.

[dsrdsrdsr]

On a 35-day cruise you'll probably not get repeats. I did a 72-day cruise on Arcadia and they did each show twice.

[BigMac1953]

Normally the Headliners have about 8 shows in their repertoire so on a 35 day cruise I suppose you would expect them to do about 110/15 shows, I don't know how they manage that but it is down to the Cruise Director/Entertainment manager in conjunction with the Headliners. Remember there are other entertainment acts arriving on board at various ports of call. The Headliners also get involved with some other elements of the onboard entertainment so it would be interesting to know what actually happens.

 

My daughter is in Soton at the moment learning to be a Headliner (Principal Singer).

 

She has to learn 11 shows, one of which is a "deck" show. They have 9 weeks to get it perfect before boarding.

 

She will have no other duties when on board. I think what they are doing is enough!

 

Stewart

[Brayman]

My daughter is in Soton at the moment learning to be a Headliner (Principal Singer).

 

She has to learn 11 shows, one of which is a "deck" show. They have 9 weeks to get it perfect before boarding.

 

She will have no other duties when on board. I think what they are doing is enough!

 

Stewart

 

One of the Headliners singers acted as Tour Escort in St Petersburg in July, I don't know how many others did the same, don't know if it was voluntary, never thought to ask.

Edited September 12, 2014 by Brayman

[richleeds]

My daughter is in Soton at the moment learning to be a Headliner (Principal Singer).

 

She has to learn 11 shows, one of which is a "deck" show. They have 9 weeks to get it perfect before boarding.

 

She will have no other duties when on board. I think what they are doing is enough!

 

Stewart

 

 

Its not a bad little number, touring and West End theatre casts do 8 shows a week, Monday to Saturday evenings and 2 matinee performances.

[4ever19]

Richleeds - The West End may well do 8 shows a week but the difference is it's the SAME show each time, not 11 different ones to be learnt and perfected in a limited time, like BigMac's daughter. ;)

 

And as a musician who has worked on many cruises, Brayman the entertainment lot are usually able to volunteer to be Tour Escorts on particular excursions as they are then free to them as opposed to having to pay to go on them as a passenger would. And let me tell you, they are pretty stressful! Having to count heads all the time! :eek:

 

Hope that helps lol! :)

[richleeds]

Richleeds - The West End may well do 8 shows a week but the difference is it's the SAME show each time, not 11 different ones to be learnt and perfected in a limited time, like BigMac's daughter. ;)

 

 

 

And as a musician who has worked on many cruises, Brayman the entertainment lot are usually able to volunteer to be Tour Escorts on particular excursions as they are then free to them as opposed to having to pay to go on them as a passenger would. And let me tell you, they are pretty stressful! Having to count heads all the time! :eek:

 

 

 

Hope that helps lol! :)

 

 

That's why they get an extended rehearsal period, to learn all the shows, remember each show is typically 45 mins to an hour so less than half a land based production of 2 hours plus, so you could argue they are learning 5 shows!

[Somerset Cruiser]

That's why they get an extended rehearsal period, to learn all the shows, remember each show is typically 45 mins to an hour so less than half a land based production of 2 hours plus, so you could argue they are learning 5 shows!

 

I have often wondered where the 'they do work hard' impression comes from, I have heard it so many times. My working week, including travelling, is way over 50 hours and I am sure many do much more than that.

[BigMac1953]

I have often wondered where the 'they do work hard' impression comes from, I have heard it so many times. My working week, including travelling, is way over 50 hours and I am sure many do much more than that.

 

I suppose it depends how you quantify working hard.

 

How about a six day week. Every day finishes between 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm.

 

When you leave every night, you have to take all tomorrow's music and lyrics to be learnt off by heart by the next day, so you are up until midnight.

 

All this time, there is the possibility, that at any time you may be told that you're just not fitting in and be sent home, so no pressure?

 

How many people could memorise every thing they read at work and recite it word perfect the next day?

 

Maybe you're right, it's not all that hard.

 

Stewart

[Sanjam cruisers]

Hi all

Having cruised with P&O since 2005 I have seen numerous Headliners shows over the years, all of the casts have been good, some exceptionally so while the shows have not changed each cast seems to put their own mark on the show and we have enjoyed them all. To quote Phil Collins " I can't dance, I can't sing" and I appreciate those who can and use their skills to entertain me. I look forward to watching the latest team of Headliners and their shows on Ventura in February 2015 and in particular BigMacs Daughter Sophie who I believe will be one of the Female Lead singers. I find on the whole the entertainment on the P&O ships to be very good to excellent, as the saying goes you can't please all the people all the time.

Happy cruising to all.

[Somerset Cruiser]

I suppose it depends how you quantify working hard.

 

How about a six day week. Every day finishes between 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm.

 

When you leave every night, you have to take all tomorrow's music and lyrics to be learnt off by heart by the next day, so you are up until midnight.

 

All this time, there is the possibility, that at any time you may be told that you're just not fitting in and be sent home, so no pressure?

 

How many people could memorise every thing they read at work and recite it word perfect the next day?

 

Maybe you're right, it's not all that hard.

 

Stewart

 

Seems pretty standard to me for anyone wanting to get on, I sure most of us can tell a tale or two.

[richleeds]

Seems pretty standard to me for anyone wanting to get on, I sure most of us can tell a tale or two.

 

 

Yeah standard for the rehearsal period or when a new cast member joins or they are re -cue'ing the lighting etc but apart from that when the show is up and running they only work the actual performance.

[Brayman]

Yeah standard for the rehearsal period or when a new cast member joins or they are re -cue'ing the lighting etc but apart from that when the show is up and running they only work the actual performance.

 

That's not necessarily true, they will still rehearse before the performance

[richleeds]

That's not necessarily true, they will still rehearse before the performance

 

 

They will do a vocal warm up and stretches before the performance, if they needed to rehearse it every time then they are in the wrong job.

 

Also rehearsals take it out of performers so rehearsing would tire them for the 2 actual shows.

Edited September 16, 2014 by richleeds

[davecttr]

They will do a vocal warm up and stretches before the performance, if they needed to rehearse it every time then they are in the wrong job.

 

Also rehearsals take it out of performers so rehearsing would tire them for the 2 actual shows.

They rehearse on P&O. Notice the show lounge and theatre are often closed, they are rehearsing in there cos i could hear them. They rehearse on thomson and you can watch if you want. Thomson show teams do 12 shows a week, 2 per evening plus a matinee play on sea day. That is 6 different shows. They work a 2 week cycle with some different shows the second week. I might call it a rehearsal but maybe professionals don't. They don't run through the whole show, just the important bits or where more practice is needed. That takes an hour or so and then they seem to spend a lot of their remaining time in the gym. Looks like hard work to me.

 

ps - the most grueling routine I have seen is in Moulin Rouge on Thomson. The Can Can, all 7 minutes of it. Boy they are sucking in the oxygen after that one

Edited September 16, 2014 by davecttr

[richleeds]

Yes they do rehearse at certain times as I've said but they don't rehearse before the performance on a regular basis as suggested above. When they do rehearse it's usually the afternoon of a day when they are not performing, not on a day when they are.

 

Often when the theatre is closed and you can hear music you are hearing the rehearsals of visiting acts/artistes so the tech crew know their sound and lighting cues. If the ship has a live backing band supporting the visiting acts then the whole show is usually rehearsed.

 

They do spend a lot of time in the gym building up their stamina, but usually after 2 shows thru come off stage physically tired.

[Brayman]

Given that it might have been a week or more since they did a particular show, then I would expect them to rehearse the show they are to do in the evening.

[richleeds]

Given that it might have been a week or more since they did a particular show, then I would expect them to rehearse the show they are to do in the evening.

 

 

Many performers will tell you they can remember the routines to shows they worked on 20 years ago - they become engrained.

 

As the shows are led by the music with little room for error or missed prompts then once learnt they don't rehearse them frequently.

Edited September 16, 2014 by richleeds