My dad is the head electrician of the Foxwoods Theatre (where Spiderman is going to open). He has been since it opened in 1998. He's loaded out 8 shows and is loading in his 9th in that theatre alone (he's done countless more across the U.S.). Some of these shows were hits, and other ones were shit. I hope this show is the next Cats .
Honestly this is a hell of a lot better than where they were production-wise one year ago. I remember talking with my dad on the phone at camp as he told me that this show probably wasn't going to get done at all. For what it's worth, I'm happy that it's opening because if it hadn't my dad would go back to freelancing around Broadway, unsure of where he could work and when. Luckily he has enough connections that he would never doubt being able to work anywhere, but his other guys aren't as experienced.
This show is keeping people at work, and even though I hardly ever see my dad now because he's working such late hours all of the time, I know that when it does open, he'll be able to relax. And when it opens, I hope it runs for at least 5 years because the strain it has put on him is worth that, if not more. I do not care that it looks ridiculous (although I have been down there and the music sounds great), it's keeping him paid and when it opens he'll keep getting paid but he won't have to kill himself from 8:30 am to midnight every night.
Either way it goes, the crews actually loading this thing are making bank, including my dad. For me, this is about to become a damn good thing because it's going to put me through college