FINESSING THE ROCK

The past few days have been an endless refrain of, 'Oh God, how much longer is this going to take?", sprinkled with the occasional, "Wow....that's beautiful", as well as the odd, rare, "Ah...it all makes sense now".

We started adding all the technical elements to the show on Friday. By the end of the following Thursday, we had worked through the entire show (Sunday off). That's six, ten-hour tech days. For anyone who is used to having two tech days and a couple of run thrus before a first audience, that may seem like luxury, but this show is full of so many different elements that have to be coordinated between so many different people and departments that even the most hyper-active wedding planner would be tearing their hair out. ACT I of course takes longer because we have six different children, 3 boys and 3 girls, who alternate playing the Young Simba & Young Nala. That means that any scene they're in has to be done at least three times to give each one of them the feel of the scene.

Also, we've started flying. And when you fly, you might as well fly with the best, Foy. Our resident Foy-boy is Cowboy Dave who is easy to spot in Singapore with his huge, fluffy, white beard, hair to match and ever-present blue jeans. Dave exudes exactly the kind of Zen-like country-boy calm that you want from someone who is in charge of harnesses and tiny cables that carry you 2 or 3 stories into the air. He's all about safety, repetition, technique and, above all, making sure that whomever is being flown feels comfortable.

I've wanted to fly in a show for years and while I admit that it's pretty exciting, I've gotta say that it wasn't the adrenaline rush I thought it would be. Perhaps because I have so little time to focus on the actual sensation as I am continually processing information from several different sources-
"Keep your head straight or your mask will get tangled in the wires"
"Listen for your music cues"
"Try to relax and just let your lines flow" (while you're walking backward along a one-foot wide platform that's three stories high)
"Try to look like you're falling off, without actually falling off"
"If your feet don't leave the platform at the same time, you'll spin in the air. That's not what we want."

I would love to show you pictures of me hanging in the middle of the empty stage but that is impossible. Picture taking, now that we're in the theatre, is strictly forbidden and I'm not interested in getting a 'Please Remove' order from Disney legal. However, to try to illuminate just how many elements can be involved, I will attempt to talk through a very small segment, (let's say about 12 minutes) of the show. This scene, well actually 1 and 1/2 scenes, gears us up to the climax of ACT I.

THE STAMPEDE/EULOGY
-Scar-wall drop flies in (with music underscore)
-Ensemble members create a brief shadow-puppet show on the Scar wall from back stage. (This means that they operate the puppets themselves as well as the lights that create the shadows.) The shadows show giraffes walking through the Savannah.
-Enter cheetah-lady from down stage right.
-Enter giraffe-boy from down stage left.
-Cheetah and giraffe pass at center stage. Cheetah turns, now in hunting mode and follows giraffe off right.
-Shadow puppets re-appear, this time showing Scar leading Young Simba on a walk.
-Shadows fade
-Enter real Scar & Young Simba down stage left(music out)
-During the ensuing small scene, crew scrambles, behind the Scar drop, to set "The Gorge" for the stampede scene. On word cue from Scar, Scar-wall flies out revealing The Gorge.
-Young Simba sits on ledge
-Scar exits down left, leg one, and races to leg two where he steps onto an elevator platform and is clipped into a safety harness. Elevator platform ascends, raising Scar unseen behind Gorge drop.
-Stampede begins. This is a 3-stage process involving a painted drop on a roller and puppets of two different sizes on rotating arms. (Think perspective) This also includes chemical smoke to simulate dust as well as music underscore, live off-stage vocals and sound effects.
-Down stage right, large elevated platform rolls on carrying Mufasa and Zazu. (They are looking down into the gorge)
-Enter female wildebeest dancers (wildebabes)
-Enter male wildebeest dancers (like the females, but bigger)
-Stage crew sneaks through dancing beasts and clips fly wire to Young Simba's flying harness.
-Simba flies up to large 'branch' that has been hinged in from stage right wing. He hangs there.
-Down stage truck rolls off right
-Enter Mufasa, fighting off stampeding beasts.
-Simba 'drops' into his arms. Mufasa releases Simba's fly line and tosses the boy off stage.
-Mufasa makes his way to the wall of the gorge and has his fly line attached by stage crew. He then 'climbs' the wall of the gorge.
-Scar appears above Mufasa, having previously been elevated up behind the wall of the gorge. Scar grabs Mufasa, lifts him, then tosses him down into the stampede.
-Mufasa falls, Scar disappears and is lowered back down.
-Re-enter Simba, looking for Mufasa
-Re-enter Scar, discovering Simba. Short scene. Everyone exits except dead Mufasa
-Rafiki enters
-Lionesses enter
-Gorge flies out. Platforms that wildebabes were dancing on dis-assemble and move offstage.
-Once stage is cleared, Pride Rock, a huge, automated, curving stair case, glides onto the stage, carrying Scar as he climbs to the top of it, ascending the throne.

And that's just one small scene...

You might think it's tedious reading it. Imagine doing it six times in a row. Or better yet, imagine starting to do it then stopping because fly lines didn't come in on time, or because Pride Rock didn't move fast enough, or because the singers couldn't hear the music, or because an actor didn't make it to the stage in time or any number of reasons to stop and try it again...and again....and again...


-