Elphaba's broom
Elphaba's broom
Taylor Welch
Swing Joined: 5/11/17
#1Elphaba's broom
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
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/25/05
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#3Elphaba's broom
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
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/5/11
#4Elphaba's broom
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.
#5Elphaba's broom
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
Swing Joined: 5/11/17
#6Elphaba's broom
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
Swing Joined: 5/11/17
#7Elphaba's broom
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
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/28/13
Taylor Welch
Swing Joined: 5/11/17
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
Taylor Welch
Swing Joined: 5/11/17
#11Elphaba's broom
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
#12Elphaba's broom
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.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#14Elphaba's broom
Posted: 5/11/17 at 12:54pm
And I'm assuming the OP means his/her first professional production?
#15Elphaba's broom
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.
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
Taylor Welch
Swing Joined: 5/11/17
#17Elphaba's broom
Posted: 5/11/17 at 1:30pm
Yes its my first professional production, those were the words i was looking for
Taylor Welch
Swing Joined: 5/11/17
#18Elphaba's broom
Posted: 5/11/17 at 1:32pm
Not that i saw, maybe i missed it but they definitely went off by themselves
#19Elphaba's broom
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.
Tag
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/19/05
#21Elphaba's broom
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).
#22Elphaba's broom
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.
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