‘Wicked’ visits the Stranahan Theater

Crates, dollies and boxes full of the essentials for the magic of theatre flooded off the semitrucks into the loading door of the Stranahan Theatre in preparation for the opening night of Broadway's hit musical "Wicked." About 100 crew members unloaded floor pieces, drop cloths, hangs, set pieces, props, wardrobe and lights out of 14 semitrucks for this grand event.

The Production Stage Manager of the off-Broadway production of "Wicked," Bryan Landrine, was available to answer questions about the role of a PSM and the production. Landrine gradutated from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor's in Music.

"Anyone going into stage management [for a musical] should have a knowledge of music," Landrine said, "for if they work on a musical, the score may be used for cues, and they must know how to read the music."

Currently, Landrine is attending NYU to receive his Masters in Educational Theatre. Landrine intends to present theatre to children as a somewhat therapeutic device to help boost self esteem and social skills. He also travels and works as a Stage Manager and performer. This is Landrine's fifth tour; he has also worked in various Stage Managing positions in productions like "Mamma Mia!," "Spring Awakening," "Grey Gardens" and "Fosse."

Landrine's role in the production of "Wicked" is to maintain the artistic integrity of the original Broadway production as it travels across the country. This is in accordance with what the director called for in its original form. The cast and the crew do everything they can to make sure the set, costumes, sound and blocking are as close to if not exactly the same as the Broadway production.

However, the scale of other theatres compared to Broadway theatres is significantly smaller, which must be taken into account in the design, especially scenic design, of a show that travels.

As far as the Stranahan is concerned, "We have worked in smaller theatres where we had to make a few scenic strikes," Landrine said, "but we really didn't have to change much of anything here."

The production travels with its own lights and floor for the stage. The lighting instruments used are called intelligent hospital lights, which are able to emit over 250 colors and can function as a spotlight or for special effects as well. Building the entire set takes two and a half days while the strike, or dismantling, takes only nine hours.

"It's like when you put together a puzzle," Landrine said. "It takes a while to put it together, but only a couple minutes to tear it apart and put it back in the box."

The largest part of the set is the dragon that sits at the center of the proscenium that moves and lights up. This is the first piece to be delivered and constructed. They built two dragons and they leapfrog each other throughout the cities of the tour to make the construction process a little quicker.

The traveling production team also does not use the floor provided at the Stranahan stage for performance; instead they bring their own floor. One of the larger differences between the Broadway version of "Wicked" and the off-Broadway rendition is that the Broadway stage is the only large scale stage that is raked; all others are flat. The floor also has tracks on it to make the moving in and out of set pieces and scene changes swift and easy.

The jobs, advertisements, housing, space rental, paychecks and everything that comes along with traveling and performing is booked, paid for and organized by the Company Manager. For this production of "Wicked," that person is Erica Norgaard.

Norgaard travels with the show and has to be on site for everything that goes on: construction, strike, performance and preproduction. Norgaard admittedly has little personal time, which is compensated by all the various places she visits and the people she meets.

"Wicked" was written in 1995 by Gregory Maguire. It is commonly believed that "Wicked" is a sequel to "The Wizard of Oz," but "Wicked" is simply a different take on the lives of the witches of Oz, inspired by Frank Baum's stories of Oz from the early 1900s.

"Wicked" opened on Broadway in 2003 and in 2004 it won three Tony Awards for Best Actress, Best Scenic Design and Best Costume Design. A total of $14 million was invested into the production of "Wicked" and after 14 months, all of the money invested was recouped. Usually it takes successful shows two or three years to make its money back and, according to (put website), 80 percent of shows never do. Now, "Wicked" grosses about $1.2 million per week playing at sold out theatres.

—"Wicked" runs at the Stranahan Theatre until April 18. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster or at the Stranahan Theatre Box Office.

Two and a half hours prior to every show there is a lottery for discount tickets. The submitted names will be drawn and every winner will receive two tickets for $25.