Backstage for Wicked: Cue lights, props & sets

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Brooms, wands and green babies – there’s more to bringing the mythical land of Oz to life. G Töngi goes behind the curtains to look at the iconic props and elaborate sets that make up Wicked the Musical.

The musical comes to Manila after the New Zealand season with the exact re-creation of lighting, spectacular sets and innovative props that conjure the magic for biggest Broadway show of the last decade.

G TÖNGI: Hi Emily. So tell us, what do you do for your job? What are all these monitors about?

EMILY STURGEON, DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER: So basically, I call the show. I talk to all the departments. The mechanist, the lighting, dome, sound, David Young who’s our musical director. And that’s where it all kicks off. So we have a colored monitor. Our infrared black and white for when we have our blackouts so I can see exactly what’s happening. Here is our musical director, so basically conducting the show. So I can see everything, if he has any problems, he’ll pick up the phone and talk to me. Here we have different angles which is also infrared so I can see what’s happening at any point. But that’s basically it. I also have cue lights pretty much. So along with calling the show, I give them cue lights.

G TÖNGI: So you’re responsible for giving the actors their really good lighting.

EMILY STURGEON, DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER: Pretty much.

G TÖNGI: Yes okay so tell us about this book. This is the show bible.

EMILY STURGEON, DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER: This is our bible indeed. Here we have the standbys and basically this is what I follow and I follow D.Y. (David young) so it’s everything. So everything that is written in here pretty much dictates what happens.

G TÖNGI: And the entire length of the show is how long?

EMILY STURGEON, DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER: It’s about 2 hours and 47 minutes including a 20 minute interval.

The props are an integral part of the show. Assistant stage manager James Cole shows us some iconic pieces!

G TÖNGI: So James. We have how many broomsticks in the production of Wicked?

JAMES COLE, ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER: So you’d think there’d be only one broom but actually in fact, there’s 4 which all serve a different purpose.

G TÖNGI: I see. So tell us what is the purpose of each broomstick?

JAMES COLE, ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER: We’ve got our fight broom here which is lightweight and can be thrown around by Elphaba of course. And then the levitating broom which Elphaba makes fly. This one here has got a special bit of velcro so it moves with the set when it’s placed down. And this is our Defying Gravity broom. So when Elphaba is flying, that’s the one she’s got.

G TÖNGI: Okay and what about Glinda’s wands?

JAMES COLE, ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER: So we’ve got our act 1 wand here which is used when she’s in the bubble and then the wand for act 2 which is a bit more flexible and can be thrown around a little bit.

G TÖNGI: So James, tell us about this prop (green baby). This is an iconic prop yes?

JAMES COLE, ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER: This is one of the first props seen in the show and its our baby Elphaba. It’s made of silicone and it’s exactly the same weight as a newborn baby so its actually quite odd to feel. So here we have our nickydick cart which is used in act 1. One of our characters names is actually Nickydick. He’s a professor that comes in to take over one of the teachers for one of Elphaba and Glinda’s classes. So this is also used for a scene with Elphaba and Fiyero so we’ve got our lion cub. So here we have 2 of the wheelchairs from the show. We’ve actually got 3 but one of them’s currently up in the air. This is our act 1 wheelchair which is used by Nessarose and for our governess’ mansion, we’ve got our second one. Unfortunately the maintenance for this one is quite hard because there’s only one meter left in the weld of the material used for this wheelchair.

Beside the props, the elaborate sets are also the exact replica of the show on Broadway!

Don’t miss an enchanting and spectacular night at the theater for Wicked the musical in Manila! Opens January 22!
G Töngi, Rappler. 

For a better look at Wicked, watch exclusive interviews with Jay Laga’aia who plays the Wizard, Suzie Mathers, who plays Glinda the Good Witch, David Young, Wicked’s musical director and the rest of the cast.

Based on Gregory Maguire’s novel with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, Wicked will run at the Cultural Center of the Philippines from January 22, 2014 to February 23, 2014. – Rappler.com