lunes, 24 de enero de 2011

WELCOME TO THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE POWER TOUR BLOG



THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE POWER TOUR  was an amazing and successfull "live on stage show" about Masters of the Universe in the 80's .
The show had a great staging, including great costumes,special effects,dancers,choreography,laser lights and more ,to create one of the most spectacular touring productions in the history of live family entertainment.
of course the stars of the show  were He-Man and She-ra ,they were accompanied by major motu characters like Skeletor,Hordak, Sorceress,Man-at-Arms ....and SONGSTER,he was the singing  narrator of the show .

POWER TOUR gave 18 consecutive sold out performances at Radio City Music Hall in New York City,a house attendance record still standing today.

This blog is dedicated to gathering all possible information (pictures, videos, articles and more) about  THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE POWER TOUR

enjoy!!!


Editorial

FACE TO FACE 

Written by Matthhew L. Martin

It was one of the biggest events in Masters of the Universe history, and yet it remains comparatively unknown today. Only a few of us experienced it, though we'll remember it for a long time.

I speak, as you've probably guessed from the editorial title, of the Power Tour. This live show toured the United States in the winter of 1986-1987, featured many of our favorites "live on stage." He-Man, She-Ra, Man-At-Arms, Rokkon, Orko, Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, Beast Man, Ninjor, Blast-Attak, Hordak, and the Sorceress all made appearances. Two new characters who appeared only in the show were featured -- a general whose name I can't recall (we'll call him "General"), and Songster, an Eternian bard with a magical guitar who set the stage for the story, accompanied with song, and told us of the old days of Eternia. I'm going to describe it as best I can, but my memories are over twelve years old, so they're a bit fuzzy.

The set was comprised of Castle Grayskull's facade, with a laser cannon resembling the one that came with Eternia placed on the right tower, two giant video screens on the left and right of the castle, and two dinosaur heads and necks (which strongly resembled that of Dinosorb) flanking the entrance to Grayskull. I remember the heads moving up and down as appropriate during the performance.

The program opened with a report on the video screens from the aforementioned General on the Power Tour, announcing those who would be coming from Eternia to our world of Earth. One by one, Orko, Rokkon, and the other heroes appeared on screen, and then, accompanied by smoke and movement of the Dinosorb heads, stepped out onto the stage. The last to arrive, of course, were She-Ra and then He-Man himself.

After a few minutes' banter by the twins (including He-Man's line "I wonder how Beast Man's going to react when he finds out he has to wear roller skates"), they introduce us to Songster and his magical guitar. Songster welcomes the audience, and opens with a song. I remember very little of the song, but the chorus was "Welcome to my universe: Masters of the Universe". He then tells us of the Ancients and the history of Eternia. According to this version, Hordak confronted the Ancients a long time ago, threatening to do vile deeds in the future. That prophecy was fulfilled centuries later, when Hordak kidnapped Adora. Eventually, Prince Adam became He-Man to fight off Skeletor, and later, Hordak and Adora came to Eternia. Hordak and Skeletor reunite, while He-Man fights Adora until the Sorceress (who appeared on the video screen -- I'm not sure she ever appeared in person) told him not to fight her, as she was "of royal blood." Adora realized her identity and became She-Ra, and that brought us up to date.

At some point during the performance, Skeletor and the Evil Warriors had arrived, and near the climax of the first act, the Heroic and Evil Warriors competed in a contest using "Power Gifts" -- roller skates. Elements of this included Ninjor being called out for pulling weapons and Evil-Lyn "skating like an Egyptian."

No, I am not making this up.

I'm not sure who won the contest, but in any event, by the time the first act was over, Skeletor and the Evil Warriors were in control. After intermission, the second act opened with Skeletor on the screens, declaring himself in control, and forbidding the audience to have any interaction with He-Man. He-Man and the Heroic Warriors led an insurrection, which almost failed, but She-Ra saved the day by having secretly gotten up to the laser cannon on top of Grayskull, which had a pretty impressive "firing" special effect. After that, the show wrapped up with a reprise of the song, and then the cast came out to say hello to the fans. I remember that He-Man wasn't able to come out, being laid up by frostbite -- at least, that's what I was told -- but I did get to see She-Ra, Skeletor, and some of the others.

The characters very closely resembled their toys, with some concessions to basic necessity (Orko had legs, for example). The continuity was kind of weird, but that's par for the course with MOTU. The music was catchy to my eight-year-old ears, and the fights seemed to be done well.

Despite any of its flaws, though, I still wouldn't have missed it for anything. Part of that's simple nostalgia, but part of it is that this is one of the few times we actually saw representations of the Masters of the Universe face to face, without a screen or the printed page. There's something special about that, something that makes up for any weaknesses in the presentation.

Originally published on He-Man.org





sábado, 22 de enero de 2011

CHARACTERS

HE-MAN
SHE-RA
SKELETOR
HORDAK
SORCERESS
MAN-AT-ARMS   TEELA
EVIL-LYN
BEAST-MAN
ORKO
SNOUT- SPOUT

CLAMP-CHAMP

BLAST-ATTACK

SONGSTER

FULL CAST AND CREW

Directed and Choreographed by
Tony Christopher

Assistant Director
Forbes Candlish

Written by
Gary Goddard and Richard Hoag


Executive Producers
Louis Messina
Miles Wilkins

Associate Producer
Steve Hauser

Production Stage Manager
Martin Durham

Production Coodinator
Lyle Centola



Music and Lyrics 
Michael Rapp


Musical Direction
Ted King


Additional Music and Orchestration
Gary Guttman and John Debeney


stage set designed 
Tom Mcphillips


Lingthing designed
Jeff Ravitz


Costume designed 
Waldo Angelo










CAST NAMES

HE-MAN
JACK WADSWORTH

SHE-RA
LESLIE WADSWORTH


SONGSTER
DOUG HOWARD

MAN-AT-ARMS
ZACK HOFFMAN

SORCERESS AND ADORA
SALLY ANN BARTUNEK

BEAST MAN
JEFF BIGGS

RIO BLAST
DARRIN CLUBB

KING RANDOR
JOSEPH DAVIS

ORKO
MARCIE DINARDO

CLAMP CHAMP
MICHAEL JEFFERSON

ROKKON
KEVIN LANGSTON

EVIL-LYN AND QUEEN MARLENA
MICHELLE NEVIDOMSKY

TEELA AND JEWELED TOY
STACY OVERSIER

NINJOR
AUGUSTUS PARK

HORDAK AND SNOUT SPOUT
KHALOS PLANCHART

SKELETOR
ERIC VAN BAARS

CAPTAIN MORRISON
RICHARD HOAG

VIDEOS



 T

NUMBERS AND FUN FACTS



* Production budget : $ 3 million


The set was comprised of Castle Grayskull's facade, with a laser cannon resembling the one that came with Eternia placed on the right tower, two giant video screens on the left and right of the castle, and two dinosaur heads and necks  flanking the entrance to Grayskull.



* Stage size :  80-by-110-foot  



* The stage  included a  battery of  600 lights and two 30-by-30-foot video screens



* Runtime :   90 minutes


* The average ticket price was $ 10.50 and $ 11.50



* Power tour  featured  Acrobats, a black light circus, a roller derby explosions and simulated



* The show also included more than 100 costumes, Including a few electronic ones.



* at New York's Radio City Music Hall in February grosse $ 1.2 million , selling tickets 106.000 and $ 350,000 in sales of merchandise.







* The power tour was extended for 2 years, touring 60 cities



* New characters were introduced,  besides  songster(DOUG HOWARD), captain (or general)  morrison (RICHARD HOAG)and the same actress who played  Teela(STACY OVERSIER) also played a character called  jeweled toy  (???)


Because the production was so popular, the Music Hall had  added performances, sometimes requiring 3  shows a day.





* Jack and Leslie Wadsworth, He-Man and She-Ra  ,were husband and wife, still  married.






*  Jack and Leslie  previously starred in another show, "Conan the Barbarian", jack as conan and leslie as  Red Sonja. they met there.




* Masters of the Universe live action movie was starring  Dolph Lundgren as he-man , Jack Would Have loved to play the role Himself.
Jack  said  "I think I'm a little bigger Than Dolph is muscularly," and "Also, He-Man Comes across as very warm and soothing. Dolph  Lacks That."


* Jack had a 49-inch chest, 20-inch arms and 28-inch Thighs



* Jack was 250 pounds at 6'1"



* Leslie was 5'10"







*  The Power Sword weighed 15 pounds and was made of alluminum alloy






* Jack sweats off three pounds of water during every performance





*   A member of the Eternian Court, in the midst of a complex dance-battle number, fell off a riser, suffering a concussion




*   Leslie herself fell down a flight of stairs when a smoke machine began spitting oil onto the stage



*  She once missed a sword "strike" and smote her husband on the leg, inflicting a gash. "I sliced him," she says. "It was painless," he replies gallantly. 





*  Biographies of the lead performers were deliberately omitted from press releases which was "an executive policy decision."


* Power tour was written and directed by Landmark Entertainment Group 


* Gary Goddard one of the writers of  power tour was also the director of the masters of the universe live action movie.