'Twas That Night

[Jrbgwfan06]

The nosebleed sections, way in the back of the theatre have been the only thing available right before the show begins for the earlier show times. I don't think the theatre has hit max capacity yet, though. Before the last showing of the night, you can still get halfway decent seats if you come right before showtime, and really good ones if you come 20-30 minutes before.

 

[mwhinva]

If they cannot find or create the facilities they need to provide their performers the practice time they deserve, then they shouldn't try to have the show to begin with.

It is the park's responsibility to provide their performers adequate practice time for their safety and professional reputations.  There are indoor rinks they could have rented, if that is what it took.

Warm winters are common in Virginia and this year it was predicted early.  BGW cannot hide behind the weather to excuse their failing to allow their talent time to prepare, especially with costumes and props like the ones in the show.

Aren't there indoor ice rinks in Tidewater? Richmond has 2 indoor rinks for public skating, group/private skating lessons, and ice hockey teams.

I would have thought that BGW would rent a rink for 2-3 hours a day for the performers to practice. They could roughly mark out an area that represents the stage rink and at least go through the choreography with the performers. Course, this show appears to be heavily prop and costume driven. So, if the costumes were not ready and fitted to the skaters when they needed to rehearse; then, I can see them struggling some during the actual performances.

 

[horsesboy]

But, is it fair to criticize BG for lack of rehearsal time?  Isn't rehearsal time on the ice also dependent on ice conditions, which is also dependent on weather?

It is very possible that the warm weather we've had this fall made them cancel a bunch of rehearsals.

From what I have been told from people who are in poisons to know that played a role but it's at most 50 percent to blame and probably closer to 25 percent. They lost some time do to that yes but they were also not going to have much to begin with. The cast was not fully fit to costumes and props till last week and they didn't have rehearsals scheduled to begin till Tuesday. To add one big thumbs up to the cast sand crew I understand that in an effort to make the most of there limited time that they were there till after 11 in the evening on both the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving getting in as much as they could in colder night hours.

 

[RocketChk]

Aren't there indoor ice rinks in Tidewater? Richmond has 2 indoor rinks for public skating, group/private skating lessons, and ice hockey teams.

I would have thought that BGW would rent a rink for 2-3 hours a day for the performers to practice. They could roughly mark out an area that represents the stage rink and at least go through the choreography with the performers. Course, this show appears to be heavily prop and costume driven. So, if the costumes were not ready and fitted to the skaters when they needed to rehearse; then, I can see them struggling some during the actual performances.

It seems as though the practiced at the IcePlex in York County. Quick article here: Daily Press Article and video. He seems like a nice guy.

Relevant quote from the article: "The rehearsals get very tiring," he said. "The ice surface for the show is much smaller than this rink, so it is almost constant turning when you're on the ice. You definitely feel it afterward. But it's all worth it when we get to put on the show."

I really enjoyed this show. Granted there will be slip ups and mistakes, but they're also ice skating on ice, so I can accept a mistake a little more in this show than a mistake in something like Scrooge No More. I think it's pretty awesome that they brought a big name like Elvis Stojko in. Was really concerned about Santa falling off the roof of the RPT though. It was pretty dark up there.

 

[Luke]

I thought he was a nice guy...but while trying to get a autograph the stage person said he wouldn't give them as they are not in his contract...unless it's sponsored by the park.

 

[CastleOSullivan]

I saw a show on Sunday where Santa did not appear on the roof. I don't know if the slight rain had anything to do with that.

 

[BGW Family]

Has anyone been to Colonial Williamsburg's outside ice rink, yet? How is it holding up in the same conditions? Actually, I'd guess worse conditions since it's unsheltered. If CW is doing better, how are they accomplishing this while BGW is not?

 

[Zachary]

The same question crossed my mind the other day BGW Family.

Any idea what the ice differences between a typical public skating rink vs a performance rink are, mwhinva?

 

[Jrbgwfan06]

For what it is worth, SWO's Winter Wonderland on Ice only performs one showing a day, quite later in the night(the earliest it does perform on 9:00 closings is 8:30, it's usually 9:30 because the park typically closes at 10:00). I recall going to see it a couple years ago on an abnormally warm day, I believe temps were hovering around 80-85ish degrees at show time, and puddles were visably forming on the ice. The ice skaters were kicking up slush and they seemed to be falling every other second.

IF BGW was having issues with the ice, I believe removing the first showing on Friday and Saturday was no more than a precaution, as those showtimes were actually removed from the website a couple days earlier.

Also, I'm no ice expert, but if the ice is melting it may have something to do with the cooling machine they rented/bought and how powerful it is. I believe the ice is cooled by filtering salt water below the surface, because in basic chemistry, we all know salt water has a much lower freezing point than regular/purified water, so perhaps the machine isn't cooling it enough for the warmer days?

After all, it is the first ice show at the park in a long time, so they may be going through a learning process once again.

 

[mwhinva]

The same question crossed my mind the other day BGW Family.

Any idea what the ice differences between a typical public skating rink vs a performance rink are, mwhinva?

Well, I don't think there are differences between a "public" / "performance" ice rink. The public does skate on ice that a professional / amateur figure skater performs on and vice versa. (No, I did not miss-understand your question, just trying to make the point that the ice rink refrigeration systems are all designed to remove the heat from whatever surface the water is laying on in order to get the water to freeze into ice).

Course, now you have to figure out other factors that could impact the surface conditions of the ice:

• Indoor or Outdoor Ice Rink
• Permanent or Temporary Rink
• Rink Surface Area
• Air Temperature

I think these are the major fundamental variables that can impact the ice conditions on a rink.

I gave some explanation on the indoor versus outdoor ice rinks earlier; so, I won't rehash those variables. I do think that permanent ice rinks could have an advantage over ice rinks that are temporary set ups.

Permanent Ice Rinks have their refrigerant pipes in poured concrete. The concrete itself can keep cold longer and thus maintain a more stable ice surface than the material that houses the refrigerant piping for a temporary ice rink.

I thought temporary ice rinks either used an existing base (stage floor at BGW for example) or have to build a stable, flat, temp sub-floor. Then, some sort of insulation material is laid down on top of that. Then the refrigeration pipes are laid down. I don't know in what form those pipes are placed in. They could be panels connected together or a flexible mat that is rolled out.

Depending on the material the refrigerant pipes are in, the water could be added directly to that surface or another hard, thin layer is placed over the pipes and then the water is added.

Most temporary public ice skating rinks are outdoors and are usually 20% to 70% of the surface area of an officially sized American Ice Hockey Rink. Downtown Richmond has a temporary outdoor ice rink that opened the week before Thanksgiving. I guess the surface area is about 30% the size of an ice hockey rink.

Based on Matthew's photos of the show, the stage ice rink looks to be 5% the surface area of an ice hockey rink. It could be that the refrigeration systems needed for larger outdoor ice rinks are more robust and can deal better with the external variables when keeping the ice frozen.

Course, the ambient air temperature over the ice probably is the biggest factor. You also have to deal with the radiant heat from the sun if the ice is exposed to direct sunlight for outdoor rinks.

Even the best indoor ice rinks can have bad ice if the indoor air temperature is high for an extended period of time. Unlike a freezer, an ice rink can only remove heat from the water from one side; the floor. So, the water right next to the floor has the best chance of staying frozen; while the ice at the surface has the best chance of melting.

This has more impact for figure skaters. Ice Hockey ice is right around 3/4 inch thick. For figure skaters, the ice is just under 1/10 inch thicker. In addition, figure skaters require the ice surface to be "warmer" than the ice hockey players. For figure skaters, they prefer the ice surface to be between 26 and 28 degrees. Ice Hockey players need the ice surface temp to be between 24 and 26 degrees. Ice surface conditions can vary GREATLY with a temperature change of just 1 degree.

So, as you can see BGW has their hands full keeping the ice frozen and at the right surface temperature for figure skaters.

 

[sgmz28]

Last night was my first time seeing it and everyone in my family enjoyed it.  I'll go see it again when I'm back in a couple of weeks.

I didn't have the best of seats and just quickly going through the photos before going to bed, but here's one of the few I got of the show.

 

[sgmz28]

Here are my photos of the show.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.785740451536208.1073741835.710081799102074&type=3

 

[Jrbgwfan06]

I rode past the RPT on the train a few hours before the first showing yesterday to see what they were doing to combat the warm temperatures, and keep the ice from getting in too poor condition. Well, the ice had quite a large cover over it, it was shaped like a large tent over the ice, with the peak somewhere in the middle. Sure enough, 45 minutes before the first showing, as I was walking in there seemed to be no issues with the ice. This leads me to think the biggest problem may not actually be the temperatures as much as it is the sunlight, as the sun sets to the back of the theatre, so the ice probably gets a decent amount of exposure from it. That also means the roof probably does nothing to protect the ice in the afternoon. It seems the park has found a decent solution for that problem, though.

 

[horsesboy]

They have been using that same method from the very begining of making ice for the show it help some but not much from what I hear. I did hear that the park was looking into purchasing a small Zamboni type machine wish should help greatly. I have also heard from a reliable source that the park has a contract that runs 3 more years with Elvis so there will be a more shows.

 

[Thomas]

Both shows were canceled due to the warm weather tonight.

 

[Jrbgwfan06]

Did it rain last night? Because I feel like cancelling due to warm weather may have been a little white lie...

 

[Thomas]

Drizzle and warm temperature; I'm sure neither were beneficial to the ice. At least the park was kind enough to make a park-wide announcement about it.

 

[DJTLG]

I was there last night. I heard the announcement that the 8:30 performance was cancelled due to warm temperatures, but never heard and announcement about the 6:00 performance. Aside from that, it was a GREAT night to go. There was a slight drizzle a few times, but aside from that the crowds were extremely light. There was no line for anything - including santa. Parking lot trams weren't even running.

 

[CastleOSullivan]

Last night Twas That Night was postponed 30 minutes until 6:30. When the show began, someone accidentally pushed the show cancellation cue instead of starting the show itself. The cue only played partially. The man that does the pre-show looked surprised but relieved when the show music started.

With the sugar plum fairy, the sheet that she carries out is supposed to fly away from her. She wasn't even able to get onto the stage with it this time. I have also seen it come right off of the rigging. I wonder what makes that trick so difficult that I have only seen it done right twice. Even now, I wonder if it is actually supposed to fly away. Overall, nobody made it on the stage with any props, including the train. It got stuck. While other shows have had mic. issues, props are still a big problem in Twas That Night.

 

[MAZ]

Everything worked for the 8:30 show. Blanket, train, fireworks, Santa sled. It was a good show. The ice skaters are very talented. They were giving out free CT blankets to annual pass members at the ticket sales plaza next to guest relations and they came in really handy at this show.