The Show Must Go On

Cable carrier keeps scenery moving for prominent production studio

Over the past year, the Broadway musical Urban Cowboy has weathered major obstacles to its continuation: the death of its original director; a musicians’ strike, a dancer’s broken fingers, a leading lady’s sprained ankle, problems with the mechanical bull centerpiece, near-cancellation the day after it opened…

The scenery challenges may be the least of its troubles, thanks to Hudson Scenic Studio, Yonkers, NY, a production and scenic fabrication company serving the professional entertainment community. Cable management for its moving scenery is a major concern. “You can’t have a power cable chain go down in the middle of a show,” states Dave Rosenfeld, electrical foreman for Hudson Scenic. 

Hudson has been using cable chain products from igus inc, East Providence, RI, since 1993 in various Broadway productions — including Pacific Overtures, Man of La Mancha, The Producers tour, and Billy Joel’s Movin’ Out. Most of Hudson’s automation work is done below the stage floor within sometimes-limited space. Scenery movement and equipment must be out of sight and sound range of the audience. Reliability of the equipment is of prime importance with demanding show schedules and technical scenery requirements.

For the just-opened Urban Cowboy production (www.urbancowboythemusical.com), igus recommended its Series 280 E-chain: a lightweight, thermoplastic cable chain in various sizes and shapes. The chain operates quietly, and the self-lubricating feature eliminates system maintenance, friction and wear. The plastic carriers are strong enough to withstand the stresses of an elaborate stage floor above it. Management of these critical cables posed a challenge for Rosenfeld’s team. “It’s important to keep the cables fully functional and to eliminate wear, knotting and twisting,” he states.

Hudson built a bandstand on a turntable that turns 180 degrees clockwise, then 180 degrees counter-clockwise from a central position. “The bandstand area of the stage floor, which included a baby grand piano, full drum kit, guitars and musicians, also needed to move towards the audience,” Rosenfeld explains. “However, the natural bend in the stationary end of the chain was preventing us from moving it the last critical 10 inches. This movement needed to happen nearly 10 times during each show. Ten inches may not seem very far, but on stage it makes a difference. Add to this the entire bandstand moving up and down stage in a fixed linear motion, and you could have some serious cable twisting issues.”

When any cable chain is fully extended horizontally to the floor, the stationary end is designed to bend naturally, much like the shape of a candy cane. Hudson mounted the cable chain to the stage floor with a locking bracket, but soon discovered that it needed to pivot on one end. After consultation with igus, Hudson’s engineering team fabricated a hinge mount and custom hinge assembly for the KMA bracket to allow the chain to pivot, roll up vertically, and to get more travel out of the chain. As a result, the end of the chain became an “L” shape vs. a bend, and Hudson was able to get 10 more inches of travel out of the bandstand. Since the speed was a slow 3.5 ft/sec, and the movement had a low cycle time (once every 15 minutes or so), the extra travel was possible. 

Hudson used two separate E-Chains for cables carrying lighting, automation and sound to the bandstand area. “The sound cables had to be kept separate from the lighting and automation cables to avoid any interference in motor noise, which would result in a distracting hum on stage,” adds Mr. Rosenfeld. 

The resulting system enabled Hudson to accommodate the cables’ natural movement, and save extra labor costs that would have been incurred by having two electricians manually “paging” or feeding the cables in and out of holes on the stage floor during the performance. The cables from the chain travel through holes in the stage floor through the central pivot of the turntable into the basement. There, they can hang and twist without becoming knotted because there is enough space and height to allow for movement and turning. 

“Reliability is critical,” declares Rosenfeld. “The show must go on!” And it is.

—SG

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