Elphaba's broom

[Taylor Welch]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 10:52am

So I recently watched my first ever show!!  My mother picked a good show too, Wicked! After acting in plays for a while it was nice to switch places. It was such a phenomenal show! Everything was flawless! So, i would like to know some of the backstage secrets. How did elphaba's broom "levitate?" How did the benches move by themselves? Are there any other secrets you know of?

[trpguyy]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 10:56am

Witchcraft.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 10:59am

It was revealed shortly after the show opened at the Gershwin Theatre that there are ghosts that haunt the theatre.  Seems they were either actors or stagehands who miss performing so they perform those effects at each perfrormance now.  When WICKED first opened on Broadway they originally did the effects using a thin wiring system with a magnet for the broom and a magnetic system underneath the stage for the benches.  They soon stopped using these when they noticed the effects were happening on their own. Security cameras backstage and on stage revealed how the effects were suddenly being done on their own.  The US tour and other productions still do the effects the original way.  

[ethan231h]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 11:03am

You've been acting for a while but you have never seen a show just like in general? Oh geez. 

[Justin D]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 11:14am

snarky y'all are, lol

 

anyways, I'll bite.

The broom is very low tech, in the straw section there is a tupe and they just shove a stick up it and wiggle the broom up the trap door and she grabs it. On tour it looks nicer because it 'floats' in from the wings on a wire.

The benches and beds and all other scenery is driven/pulled on by wenches in the stage deck with cables and motors and all that stuff

[Taylor Welch]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 11:24am

Im a high school student i have  little to no free time :/ I'm always in to community plays so i cant really go see them. Our family's trying to save money too. I know it's insane ive never seen a show before. 

[Taylor Welch]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 11:26am

I figured thats how the bigger set pieces worked, the broom just really confused me. I saw it on tour and it was really cool cause the broom just floated on out.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 11:27am

This is fake.  You've all been warned.

[Taylor Welch]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 11:35am

What's fake?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 11:37am

Lea Michele's stagnant career.

[Taylor Welch]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 11:45am

If your talking about me or my wicked experience its not, i could even give you my facebook if you really wanted me to prove it

[whizzerwhizzer]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 11:59am

man somebody asks a simple question and people are so snarky. we aren't all theatre experts yet. 

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 12:45pm

Liza knows a fake.  Trust the headband.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 12:54pm

And I'm assuming the OP means his/her first professional production?

[Lot666]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 1:07pm

whizzerwhizzer said: "man somebody asks a simple question and people are so snarky. we aren't all theatre experts yet."

Nasty Ben Brantley wannabees.

[EvanK]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 1:28pm

In the tour the benches are pushed on by the cast... 

[Taylor Welch]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 1:30pm

Yes its my first professional production, those were the words i was looking for

[Taylor Welch]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 1:32pm

Not that i saw, maybe i missed it but they definitely went off by themselves 

[EvanK]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 1:44pm

Yeah on tour they get pushed on, then pulled off by the crew. The only automatic scenic movement is the centre track, which the bed and wizard head come on with. And obviously the tall towers. The shorter towers for defying gravity get brought on by crew hiding behind I believe. 

[BWWMatt]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 1:47pm

Elphaba's Broom isn't a bad band name. 

[Tag]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 1:59pm

And obviously the tall towers. The shorter towers for defying gravity get brought on by crew hiding behind I believe. 

I seem to remember there being only one set of towers on the current tour?  Maybe not?
The 1st National also had little rolling platforms that came on from each side (in place of the proscenium sides at the Gershwin), but those aren't in the current 2nd National (ie. Morrible doesn't appear on one for Defying Gravity, it's a voiceover).

[Valentina3]

Posted: 5/11/17 at 2:12pm

MattTamanini said: "Elphaba's Broom isn't a bad band name. "

Agreed. I'd pay to see them.