What are some non-flying options for Wizard?

[NHStech]

I doubt we have the money for bringing in a flying company, and flying someone off our counterweight system is not an option, so, have any of you done Wizard without flying Glenda, the balloon, a flying monkey, and the wicked witch, and if so, what did you do? My director made the assumption we could do some flying off our system, as he has done it before (BEFORE I was TD), and since it is kind of late in the game (our production is the first of March), and it is looking we cannot hire a professional company, he feels kind of hung out to dry. I need some alternatives. Help!
As a side note, no need to talk about the dangers of flying someone off our counterweight system. I understand it is not an option for me to lift one person one inch off the ground with my fly system and am in complete agreement with that premise.

 

[visagegyc]

Do a search here (just "wizard" brought up a lot of stuff). There was a pretty extensive discussion within the last two weeks that had a lot of detailed reasons why NOT to fly someone, as well as a few alternative suggestions.

 

[wolf825]

Since you are smartly aware of the issues about not flying people and are looking for alternatives--here are some alternate ideas:

Why not do a video projection of these things on a backdrop or cyc? Black/blue out the stage, run the projection and then fade out and bring up lights to have the live action continue on the ground... Similarly, you could get a moving light with a gobo of each and use that instead...could even start it out in the audience and they 'fly' to the stage..add some sound effects while the images are projected...and then lights-up and actors take over... have to let the audience use some parts of their imagination here.

Just a couple of ideas to get the ideas rolling....

-w

 

[JChenault]

Getting back to the original question of alternatives to flying. We did a production of Wizard of Oz last year and here is what we did.

For Glinda - we used a moving light that tracked across the backdrop or proscenium. When the light got to the ground, Glinda stepped out. Ideally I would have put a rotating gobo or or something in the spot, but in this production was unable to. The idea is that Glinda is a bubble when in the air, and turns into a person on the ground.

For the flying monkeys ( assuming you mean when they attack Dorothy and friends) we used a lot of low shin busters with patterns and to make it dark and spooky. The monkeys came in jumping and cavorting and attacked. The idea was that they landed just offstage and were 'bouncing' under their own power as they entered.

Not sure where you are thinking of the Witch. I assume it is the apple orchard. Basically we just did a substantial light change, and she came on. We would have liked to do some pyro or smoke - but did not. The idea was to create a dramatic entrance for her that was quite different from the rest of the scene.

The Balloon - At the beginning of the scene have a large rope that is going offstage which is 'holding' down the offstage balloon. When the balloon escapes, the rope goes up and out. Once it is out, you can have a miniature model balloon travel across the backdrop as it escapes in the distance. The idea is that the balloon is just offstage. If you want to see it go up, and have a counterweight system, a balloon profile that shows the edge of the balloon cut off by the proscenium ( IE the basket is positioned off stage, and you see a glimpse of the balloon just onstage) might also work nicely. You could simply fly out the balloon at the right time as the actors deliver their lines from offstage.

Interestingly enough - we never considered flying someone for the production. We knew that we cannot safely or effectively do it in our theatre for the amount of money we wanted to spend. That limitation is just something we work with like almost no wing space, small stage footprint, not enough dimmers, etc. For me the essential point is that Wizard is not about flying. ( Just like Miss Saigon is not about a helicopter). There are quite reasonable alternatives to flying actors in this show without having to do major artistic conceptual leaps.

Good luck with your production.

 

[shiben]

I think creative tracking of wagons combined with moving drops and fun spotlight effects would do the trick. In some other post I came up with a decent sequence for that particular effect, but am too busy/tired right now to find it again. Another thing you can do, especially for the witch, and when there are flying monkeys, is put some followspots in the wings, maybe on a scaff tower if you can safely build one, and put gobo rotators and some fun colors in them. With the monkeys, I agree with shin busters, maybe with some haze and some rotting gobos and whatnot. If you have like 4 sidelight followspots with scrollers and gobos that you can change, you can do most any effects you really need to instead of flying people. This is one area where "fix it with light" actually works. Also for what its worth, shinbusters can make dancers look like they are floating on a void, might work for you too?

 

[JBrennan]

Its been many years since I worked on Wizard of Oz but Ditto to a lot of what JChenault said.

We did the light trick for Glinda and I seem to recall fog from holes in the floor where she "landed" and appeared.

Did not worry about the moneys or the wicked witch, then entered and exited from off stage.

And for the balloon I think we had a basket on casters with a welded balloon frame above. The balloon part was only two dimensional. It flew in, was unhooked from the baton by an actor and was pushed up stage left and off by the crowd as the wizard "flew" away the crowd chased after him.

 

[FatherMurphy]

A local HS here did Wizard a couple years ago, and one of the director's thoughts was to have flying monkeys rappel down from the catwalk over the audience. After I shot that idea down for her, talk moved to lowering life-size monkey dolls off the catwalks (over aisles only, of course), and having kids dressed as monkeys grab them as they landed, and use them as puppets adding to the monkeys swarming onto the stage.

There's been a number of flying-without-flying threads here, with lots of answers put forward, including ballet lifts, fog, puppets of various types, gobos, followspots, teeter-totters, misdirection, events offstage, and lots more. It all comes down to budget, desire, and the needs of the script, and the only wrong answers are the ones the audience can't believe in.

 

[Frank]

We just saw the national production of Oz and they did no flying, no balloon, no bubble, "zip, zilch, nada" (that's a line from Laughter on the 23rd Floor BTW). Glinda and the witch simply entered, the monkees hopped around a lot. When it came time for the wizard to go back to Oz, the doorman came on and told him that there was a problem with the balloon and it was no longer available for use or something (it was pretty lame...) and the wizard exited SL.

Our group is doing Oz this summer and we're talking about having a balloon basket (with no bottom) for the Wizard to stand in and exit offstage in while saying lines.

 

[chausman]

Well, when we did it, we did the simple. Especially since that space doesn't have any sort of fly system that we could use for effects. (Just electrics on winches) We did mostly the "walk-on, walk-off" but we added some extra stuff to make it more believable.

• For Glinda, we used one of our follow-spots, and started as small as possible on the upper SR corner and then as it "floated" down they would open the iris up to make it look look the bubble would grow. When the "bubble" made it to the ground on SL, it should have been full sized, Glinda walks in, and then fade the spot.
• For the witch, she would appear on the roof of a miniature "house" flat that had a ladder she just walked/got pushed up so she appeared quickly.
• For the wizard, we had a rope that was attached to the top of a staircase just offstage.( Not for the show, just an old theater that has TINY offstage wings) we had a person on the stairs who would jerk on the rope like a ballon was straining against it, while the guard would walk on, say his lines, and then the wizard would disappear behind a curtain.

 

[MarshallPope]

I am not familiar with Wizard, but. I've seen The Wiz done this way for the basket, and I assume it is similar enough to be adapted.

Right before the scene with the balloon, a large wagon was brought out with a ~3' platform as kind of a monument-y "landing pad." The wizard stepped behind the basket flat, which was flown suspended from a balloon flat. When it was time for the balloon to leave, the wizard simply ducked below behind the platform and the balloon and basket flew out.