Where's the Giant Black hat in Wicked? — Page 2

Oh that!

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I don't think there's any wiring in this witch hat. In fact, I'm sure of it. The "point" is held by an attached wire from above that is released. The brim is only stiff because the actors are holding it, stretched out. It's made of a very light, flexible fabric. Once it's released from above, they quickly "ball" it up and it is yanked through the trap door below by a stage hand.

I think they could have done everything on the tour except for the trap door, and could have easily just thrown the balled-up fabric off-stage to get rid of it from view during the opening number.

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I always thought the hat was meant to simulate her "melting" then the singing comes in...."Good Neeeewwwwwwsssss...."

I learned from a reliable source that when scheduling theatres for the tour, trap doors were a potential consideration - the placement of the trap doors in the many theatres would affect some of the staging.

Hence that *could* (not sure, just guessing here) be the reason the staging was altered for the tour (having her fly in for No Good Deed, the hat...) so the staging would perhaps be consistent throughout the tour - imagine having to reblock to accomodate the trap door placement in every tour city? Dunno - just a theory based on that earlier tidbit of info.

EDIT: I have not seen Wicked on tour yet, so I'm not sure if they are using trap doors at all. if they are, then that blows my theory, I suppose.

Updated On: 10/12/05 at 03:54 PM

Peach, I think you're right. The hat is to simulate the melting, so it wouldn't make sense* for it to just be pulled off the stage (in lieu of a trap door).

There was some sort of trap door in Chicago, but perhaps it didn't have hydraulics? It was used at the very end, but there was no hat or rising out of it for "No Good Deed."

**And now I'm waiting for the comments that say things like "Of all that the things that don't make sense about 'Wicked,' THAT'S what you're focusing on?"

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Updated On: 10/12/05 at 04:04 PM

Penny4Eyes---you're right, as far as the NYC (Broadway) production. It's always been there.

The hat was cut when I saw the show in Los Angeles, despite the availability of a trap door. They had one and used it. It was slightly off center (stage left), but they utilized it sparingly.

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First time I saw Wicked was the tour...then three days later I saw it in NYC and was pretty much all oh my god over the hat, lol.

I also realised...is that why the overture is truncated in the tour? To make up for the lack of hat?

The "overture" (if you can call it that) wasn't truncated when the tour played Los Angeles. It played in full, even though there was no hat on stage. There wasn't any applause when the curtain rose, however, since there was nothing visual on stage to merit it... except for the huddled chorus in a "freeze" pose in the center. The music played just as it does on Broadway, then the lights suddenly came up to full and the chorus sprang to life singing "Good news..." etc.

It worked fine. I just missed having the hat, though.

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Yeah, I saw the show in Chicago and thought for sure they'd have the Hat in it, since it was a sitdown and suppose to be a replica of Broadway. They used the trap door during NO GOOD DEED although it wasn't in the Center of the stage, but i'm sure they could have made one or something if they needed it. I wish I could have seen it now, it sounds cool. Although, I pictured it being bigger.

JHartnow---Thank you for your insight!!!

This is actually makes sense as to why the giant hat has been cut on the road and in Chicago. Not because of money, and not because of a creative rethinking to remove it.

It has everything to do with the fan blowing air up from below to "round" out the hat up to its point suspended from above. Without the air filling it out, it would just be a point of material (probably looking like a skinny swag of cloth) leading down to the brim that the actors are holding out around them in a circle. An unsuccessful image attempt, to be sure.

They need the air coming up from the trap door area directly below it to "flesh it out." If they can't replicate this blown air technically, they can't tour the hat and have it look like a hat. Since some theatres have trap doors, others don't, and some have them in the wrong position on the stage floor, it can't be used.

Now I get it.

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The Pantages DID have the air effect, Popular. I saw it there, too. But other theatres around the country may likely not have a centralized trap door in the position on the stage where in needs to be for fans to "inflate" the cone of her giant hat. They DIDN'T have Elphaba rise out of the floor at the beginning of No Good Deed, but they DID pump the air up around her (but she was a little further upstage for that moment, as I recall). They also weren't able to have her "melt" by being lowered down the trap door as well. This could be because of Idina's accident. They perhaps decided it was too risky after that. Or it could be a hydrolics issue... but for whatever reason, her "surprise" trap door at the end, was off to the side stage left, instead of centralized.

Different theatres will have different limitations with wing space, fly space, trap doors, procenium size. I see the logistics from city to city as a big reason for cutting the hat.

If they really didn't like having it in their show, the producers would have cut in in New York as well.

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This thread makes me smile.

:P