Before Dorothy and Toto came skipping down the Yellow Brick road, there was the story of two unlikely friends, the green and mean Wicked Witch of the West, and the beautiful, dazzling Good Witch, Glinda.
Described as “one of the most successful shows in Broadway history,” by the New York Times,
Wicked is the untold story of the witches of Oz.
The musical will captivate your imagination with its costumes, characters, and an enormous but cool life-like dragon; as well as many other special effects.
However, before the Wicked Witch is painted green, and the flying monkeys soar from curtain to curtain, there’s another crew of folks who grace the stage.
This particular crew is the
Wicked production team, who work together to build the Land of Oz.
What goes into building such an elaborate set? Production Stage Manager, Peter Van Dyke says it takes approximately 100 crew workers, and 2 and 1/2 days of intense labor to construct the
Wicked set.
Although there are many difficult aspects to set building and design, Van Dyke describes “fitting into the geography of each theater” as one of the most intense parts of the load-in process.
At ASU Gammage, the crew worked vigorously, treading up and down the twisted loading dock, determined to get the stage set for the musical.
Sounds like an intense process? It is! When you go to watch the production of
Wicked, you’ll understand why.
So don’t miss out on the music and fun of one of Broadway's classics.
You have to catch the show between July 1st - July 26th, because if you arrive at ASU Gammage a day later, you just might catch the crew taking the Land of Oz from the stage and loading it back onto the trucks, and on to the next city!
You can find more information on the production of
Wicked on the
ASU Gammage website.
