CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Crews work fast to make Century II 'Wicked'

Wichita Eagle: "Before witches sing and monkeys fly, before Munchkins dance and wizards bellow, before the curtain rises tonight and Kansas gets its first look at the gravity-defying musical 'Wicked,' there's work to do."

4 comments:

Robert said...

This was a great article in showing how much work goes into a show. The amount of people that they travel with is a lot and then they hire all of those people to help them load the set in. I have never have seen the show but I am sheer that it is a very huge and elaborate show that is what I have heard about it. And then they sad that they are being forced into a space that is a lot smaller then they are uset to. I have never have worked on a load in like this but I am shire that is very well planed out. I would like to work on a show like this one just to see how they do things and make things work.

Unknown said...

IT takes 2.5 days to load in the set?!?!?! That is ridiculous! They have to ahve it down to a science though to get it done as quickly as possible. I wonder if the crew travels with them or they have a main crew and then hire local IATSE? The sheer visual impact of this show is required for its full impact and the man hours put in surely show in the set and detail. This show really is great

Jennifer said...

When they say that the load in is the show, they mustn't be kidding. To put together that show in two and a half days is incredible! That's the kind of thing I think would be thrilling to do. Arriving in a completely new space and just get to work. Everyone working together like a well oiled machine. Finding ways to fit the show in to a space half the size of what is needed. I think it would be especially interesting to be the head rigger for this show because its not like you can devise one way to hang everything and make everything work. Every theatre is going to have a different number of line sets and you have to figure out new ways of doing things because the show must go on. The load in sounds like quite a feat and it'd be so cool to be a part of it.

Timothy Sutter said...

I love this show. In fact, I have been backstage a few times. And from seeing the show and knowing almost the whole sequnece of set changes, I can see where it would take several days to load in the set. Throughout the productions, the set flies in from several places and the track system is complex. Not to mention the many aspects of the production that enable the various different characters to fly (i.e. the monkey, Glinda and Elphaba.) I think that this article perfectly describes the intricate aspects of loading in a lrge production.