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Emma Halloran

Prof. Leonard

Stagecraft

6 May 2022

Final Project

I decided to analyze the falling chandelier in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of

the Opera for a few reasons. First, it’s one of the most iconic moments in musical theatre history.

A furniture piece falls from the ceiling, swings over the first two rows of audience members, and

ends Act I of the show with a startling blackout. It’s not a moment many viewers would forget. I

also chose this set design element because Phantom of the Opera is the first (and only) show I’ve

seen on Broadway. After watching that production, I walked out of the theatre knowing that my

passion lies in the performing arts and that I wanted to pursue it. I was also fortunate enough to

sit in the front row of the audience, so the chandelier was right in front of me when we walked

in, and it fell right over me at the Act I finale. I will never forget that experience, so it seemed

only fitting to examine the chandelier for my project.

To learn more about the basics of the chandelier used on Broadway and on tours of the

show, I consulted Adam Hetrick’s article for playbill.com and the official Phantom of the Opera

website. This chandelier is a replica of the Paris Opera House chandelier. It boasts 6,000 beads,

35 beads on each string. It has traveled around 817 miles from moving up and down during

Phantom performances, which is about the distance from Cincinnati to Jacksonville, Florida.

Throughout its time on Broadway, it has rarely malfunctioned, despite all the complicated

technology that goes with it. If something does go wrong and it starts to fall unexpectedly, “the
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cast is instructed to dramatically exit as they normally do” (Hetrick). In short, if the chandelier is

falling, regardless of when, get offstage as quickly as possible!

I did my best to research the rigging process for the chandelier, but I found very little

information on how the Broadway chandelier was rigged. However, I discovered a website

chronicling the construction of a chandelier for Norwich High School (located in Norwich, NY)

and their production of Phantom. The rigger and engineer for this show was Matt Grenier, and he

did a great job detailing how he went about this process. His general concept was utilizing a two

legged bridle system with one adjustable leg–the leg over the audience–to raise and lower the

chandelier. The fixed leg–the one rigged over the stage–was split into 2 cables for stabilization

purposes. To lift the chandelier, Grenier settled on a worm gear operated by a high-speed electric

drill. Grenier instructed a stagehand on how to belay the chandelier to stage with a static rope to

prepare for the drop. I looked at free body diagrams, rigging overview sheets, pictures of the

chandelier in different stages of construction, and a diagram of the bridle path along with the

upper and lower anchor points. Since this production was a while ago, there is also a video with

the chandelier in action, which was really cool to see. Examining this process taught me how

much intelligence, as well as artistic creativity, is required within the theatre. Not only does the

chandelier need to look ornate and fancy, but it has to function properly and obey the laws of

physics. Otherwise, someone could easily get hurt. Science is very much a part of bringing

theatre to life onstage. Another obvious element of the chandelier that I had forgotten about were

the lights. There are multiple flickering effects that occur from the chandelier in the show that I

completely forgot about. While my project is focused more on the construction and mechanism

of the chandelier than the electrical side of it, I thought this was important to bring up. The one

downside is that since this chandelier’s base structure is foam, the weight is under 100 pounds.
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While it makes sense to me that the bridle system would still work for a heavier chandelier as

long as the cables were stronger, I don’t want to make any incorrect assumptions.

Another thing I learned was how both theatre and filmed productions of Phantom carry

their own difficulties. A short behind-the-scenes documentary on the chandeliers used in the

2004 movie version of Phantom informed me about the long hours, detailed planning, and

tedious rehearsal it took to get the falling chandelier scene just right. The production team

needed to make 3 different chandeliers: (1) an old dilapidated one for the beginning; (2) a new,

fancy one that resides at the top of the theatre; and (3) the special effects one that crashes into the

stage but looks exactly like chandelier #2. While the second chandelier weighed two and a half

tons, the third one only weighed half a ton and moved at 2 m/s during the shoot. Pyrotechnic

elements and breakaway glass were both used to get that desired shattering effect. The actors

rehearsed this scene many times without using the chandelier. A production assistant would talk

into the mic, describing the sequence of events, and actors would go through their blocking as if

it were really happening. The crew could only afford one take with the breaking chandelier, so

there was nothing left up to chance. Fortunately, the one take with the chandelier went perfectly,

and as soon as it was over, firemen ran onto the stage to put out the fires that were a part of the

scene. Though live theatre faces its fair share of challenges, film is not a stranger to hardship and

tedious difficulty. I didn’t think about how the production team would need three different

chandeliers, especially one that could actually break in a safe yet visually appealing way.

The most important thing I learned through this project was about the added challenges of

taking Phantom on tour because of the chandelier. When the 2013 Phantom North American tour

came to New Orleans, a local news station interviewed Heather Chockley, who was one of four

stage managers for the production. She said that this chandelier weighed 1 ton and moved at a
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speed of 2.5 meters per second. It’s wired not only for lights, but for pyrotechnics and thrills, and

it hangs over the first few rows of the audience. The part of her interview that shocked me the

most was when she discussed transporting the chandelier from city to city. I was shocked and

aghast because I had completely neglected to think about that element of traveling. She

recounted that putting the chandelier together in New Orleans took them 2 and a half days.

Taking it apart and prepping for travel takes a little less time, only 15 hours. Says Chockley, “We

have a traveling crew of 20, in addition to about 100 local stagehands, that’s who puts it together.

And then, during the run of the show, we have about 35 local stagehands helping us make sure

everything’s perfect” (NOLA.com). Later on in the interview, Chockley jokingly called the

chandelier coordinating “the backstage ballet,” the one ballet the audience doesn’t see. Thinking

about having to spend around 3 days putting up and taking down an element of the show that’s in

action for about 1 minute makes me have a lot more respect and admiration for the theatre

technicians that dedicate their time to this. It’s a lot of work and commitment to the show, and

I’m grateful there’s people in our industry willing to do that.

This semester, I have learned so much about how complicated mounting a show is from a

technical standpoint. There are so many elements to consider: rigging set pieces to fly in and out,

balancing sound, lighting actors without having shadows on their faces - the list could go on and

on. I have infinitely more respect and awe for all that our shop workers, designers, and builders

do for our program, and I hope to learn even more about it moving forward in my time at XUT.

While there are so many advanced technical elements in our theatre, it is on a much smaller scale

compared to touring playhouses or Broadway itself. There are more lights, microphones, and a

higher budget for extravagant set building. It takes a lot more manpower and resources to tech
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for a Broadway show, and I’ve enjoyed learning about that process through the course of my

study on the chandelier from The Phantom of the Opera.

Works Cited

“Facts & Figures.” The Phantom of the Opera, 2016,

https://www.thephantomoftheopera.com/facts-figures/. Accessed 6 May 2022.

Grenier, Matthew. “Phantom Chandelier.” Matt Grenier, April 2011,

https://www.mattgrenier.com/portfolio/phantom-chandelier/. Accessed 6 May 2022.

Hetrick, Adam. “30 Little-Known Phantom Facts and Backstage Stories.” Playbill,

https://www.playbill.com/article/30-little-known-phantom-facts-and-backstage-stories.

Accessed 6 May 2022.

NOLA.com. “'The Phantom of the Opera' packs a 1-ton, pyrotechnic chandelier.” YouTube, 6

November 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-zGxdQ9PKo. Accessed 6 May

2022.

“Phantom of the Opera: The Chandelier - (Film) [HD].” YouTube, 13 August 2009,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlMbqAU-wMo. Accessed 6 May 2022.