TribLIVE: Even in a show with plenty of magic, a special sort of it happens right after intermission at “Aladdin” on Broadway.
No sooner have you settled back into your seat than a revolving door of what seems like hundreds of dancers performs the song “Prince Ali” at a hyper-caffeinated pace. They. Never. Stop. Coming.
8 comments:
The backstage action sounds almost as exciting as what is going on for the audience to see.
Gregg Barnes does some of my favorite costume work, and continues to create costumes that are glamorous, over the top, and still some how fit into the world of the show, every time. It never really occurred to me just how much organization goes into the costume changes of a show at that scale. I understand that because of the sheer number of pieces coming on and off the actors it must get complicated, but after the flow chart was mentioned my mind was blown.
It is amazing to think how closely everyone had to work to pull off such a large number. Forty seven quick changes in less than four minutes sounds intense.
It's awesome that management and costume got to collaborate so closely. It is also great to hear that the costume designer and choreographer were able to communicate so effectively. I have so many questions about designing a show at this volume, and the prep work that goes into the process. However, I'd love to skip the tech.
After reading this article I immediately had to look the scene up on youtube-- they performed it a few years ago on The View so I got to see it in fairly high quality. I was completely blown away by the amount of work it must take every night to perform (and help the performers) such a number. I can see why people would think that it's just different people going on every time, which I guess is a good thing because it speaks to the seamless quality of the number and the pit stops that are happening backstage. Scenes like this make me think about how important communication is backstage-- not necessarily always spoken communication, but also being in sync with the people around you and knowing what your job is and how that fits in with the jobs of everyone else. Communication is not just talking and listening but also tuning into the people around you on another level. You can also see the importance of communication in the process of setting up a number like this in the conversations that the choreographer and the costume designers had to have in order for the costumes to be danceable for this intense number.
I'm always so impressed whenever I hear about work like this. Lighting-fast quick changes are such an important (but rarely acknowledged) part of making theatre appear magical, so seeing the wardrobe and management team get some credit is really refreshing. Like Lucy said, communication is key to making a system like this work. The whole team must have worked for countless hours just to perfect this number, and like the designer said it's a shame that the audience doesn't get to see that. I love the comparison that this author makes between a NASCAR pit stop and the constant changes, as it really clues the reader into what a precise and organized system this has to become in order to be effective. On the design side of things I think it's really impressive that Barnes was able to create costumes that were easily taken on and off, as well as distinct enough to create the illusion of hundreds of people coming onstage. I'd really love to see this in action from a backstage perspective, so hopefully they'll eventually some sort of a behind the scenes video about it.
After reading this article I went and found the video of it from the View that Lucy mentioned. Having seen the scene now I can see why audience members might think there’s just a giant horde of actors back stage. The entire thing is so well done there really isn’t much if anything to clue you in that there are scene changes happening. I also totally agree with Jake that what’s going on backstage sounds as exciting as the action on stage. I would love to see how they managed to choreograph so many people getting through a small area so quickly. I can’t imagine what it must be like to coordinate that many quick changes that close together. I’ve seen shows start to fall apart with just one or two in quick succession, yeah those were with high school students and these are professionals but still it’s hard to move that fast in an enclosed space with that many people and not have something go wrong.
When I was on run crew last semester, I only had to do one quick change and it was already a bit stressful. I can't imagine having 15 dressers backstage quick changing for so many actors in such a short period of time. With everything happening on stage right next to you, it's easy to get anxious and nervous. Composure and precision is so important when it comes to quick changes - everyone has their own job and they do exactly what they are supposed to in the right order and the right timing at the right speed. This requires very strong communications and understandings of what everyones jobs are. I really like to watch videos of quick changes happening backstage, and I'm always amazed by how organized, calm and efficient things are despite how chaotic we imagine them to be. I'd love to see how the quick change process actually works for Aladdin, I hope that they will record and release it some day. Quick changes have always been magical to me before I went into theatre, and now that I know how they happen, they are still equally if not even more magical.
This is absolutely amazing. This is theatre magic! I hear so many people lately talking about how there is no magic to theatre, and while I can agree on the fact that sometimes the magic is lost on those of us working backstage, there is NO doubting this. This is incredible, well-crafted, well-executed, extremely detailed magic. I would absolutely love to see a video of them all running backstage and changing their costumes. Please, Aladdin, make us that video. The part of this article that has stuck in my head the most (besides the incredible image it creates), is at the end, when the costume designer states that probably no one knows what they've done at all, they just think that Disney has enough money to pay 100 actors every night for a performance. At first, that seems sad, but when I think of it a moment longer, it gets me totally overjoyed that there are children in their seats screaming and clapping at all these dozens of beautiful actors coming in and singing for Prince Ali. That is the magic I do this for.
This sounds so incredible! The description of the complexity of "Prince Ali" is kind of exhausting in a way. In a god way. The fact that the choreography is so precise and timed and so chaotic, and the fact that they had to create a flowchart for the number, only elevates my expectations. This is what I love about theatre. It is very easy to do this sort of thing in a film or on a tv show with the variety of means, but this is Broadway. This is live theatre and so much hard work goes into creating such an exciting experience for the audience. Woah! 15 dressers backstage? That's intense. I can't imagine that many people backstage along with all the dancers and actors coming on and off stage every 10 seconds. Luckily the Stage Manager keeps it all very orderly. But that is still a lot to manage. I couldn't picture myself running onstage, dancing as one character for a second, run off stage, change my clothes in .2 seconds, run back on stage, and dance as a different character. As said in a previous comment, "This is theatre magic!"
Yes, I love it. This is the true magic of theater.i think quick changes truly show the ingenuity and magic of our profession. Even when a person who can probably guess what just happened sees a great costume change, it's like watching real magic. Especially any inventie tear away or fold-up or down dresses. When a quick change is executed well it's amazing. And When its not it really looks bad. Once, I saw a local production of Cinderella where the usual change dress from a peasant to princess wasnt folded in the right way, and she looked like a brown ballsack for the half the show because her huge dress was tucked away in her brown peasant way. The reaosnthe Broadway ones work so well is due to the meticulous and careful planning and precision from designers and dressers, so everything is executed perfectly. And So Cinderella looks like a beautiful peasant and not a ballsack.
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