Setting the stage
Behind the scenes at the Rialto can be production unto itself
March 26, 2006
The prelude to the curtain's rise at a Broadway musical at the Rialto
Square Theatre is much like the production that will ensue.
A lot of people arrive at the theater shortly after sunrise with parts
to play so that the evening's performers can arrive at a space that's
ready for the voodoo they do so well.
Once everything's in place, few, if any, of the paying patrons will
have any sense of the fluidity of the dance of preparations performed
behind and in front of the curtain to ensure that it will rise on time.
The four truckloads of equipment was the most ever to back up to the theater's stage door, and Salamone, a local union crew, "42nd Street's" road crew and a continually refilled coffee pot came ready to make lights, sound and action happen on cue.
From 8 a.m. Saturday until early Sunday morning, about 71 people unloaded, set up and reloaded four tractor-trailer trucks that contained all the parts necessary for the performance of the acclaimed Broadway musical.
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Local 124, had 54 union workers on hand to assist the musical's road crew of 13 with electrical, carpentry, sound, lights, wardrobe, wigs, props and any and all unforeseen emergencies. (About an hour before show time, the lead actor had an urgent request for a pizza that cast and crew were scrambling to expedite.)
The Feb. 21 musical "Oklahoma," Salamone said, came closest to "42nd Street" in the number of people needed to set up, with about 40 local union workers brought in to help set up that show.
After the trucks were unloaded, the miles of cables, sound and light boards, costumes, lights, props and even the troupe's own tap-dance flooring were arrayed on and around the theater's 29-foot deep and 52-foot wide stage area, and the setup began in earnest.
Size does matter
The size of the stage is among the first things that a traveling production company and Rialto personnel have to discuss before a show can be booked for the theater, Salamone said.
Ideally, the "42nd Street" crew would have preferred more wing space (the area to the side of the performance space) and a larger stage, but the crew's production manager, Matt Jameson, said, "we have to make it fit."
Jameson said there are elements of the show that can be adjusted or left out to fit any given venue.
When the trucks arrived at the Rialto, it was quickly determined that a huge staircase used in most "42nd Street" shows would not fit through the stage door.
The staircase stayed in the truck, as did some of the props, curtains and lights that space would not allow.
As work on the stage got under way, the head wardrobe person, Heather Yerrick, stood before an attentive crew of 12 union people she instructed on how the 13 wardrobe cases containing more than 1,000 pieces of clothing, shoes, hats and coats would first be inventoried, checked for needed repairs and for items needing ironing or cleaning.
There was room in the theater for only 11 of the wardrobe cases. This meant juggling clothing around to fit the cases, which were arrayed along the back wall of the stage. The remainder stayed in the truck.
"I get to come up with a different way to do a show every day," Yerrick said of her duties to prepare the costumes.
While the theater has three floors of dressing rooms on either side of the stage, most of the costume changes happen in front of the lighted costume cases at stage rear. The cases are arranged according to the performance's acts, and all the costume pieces are numbered for each performer.
Laundry baskets are placed in front of the wardrobe cases to allow actors to fly out of their outfits for the changes the crew awaits to assist with during the show.
For a traveling crew, laundry and dry cleaning are daily issues, and most venues, like the Rialto, have washing and drying machines. Yerrick said clothes that need it are sent out once a week for dry cleaning.
Making do
The troupe's faux-wood floor (there were varying descriptions of its composition from the crew) was among the first orders of business as curtains were being hung and tested for raising and dropping marks that are placed on the 65-foot ropes that flymen tug and pull on during the show.
Not all of "42nd Street's" light trusses (a sort of railing with dozens of lights) could be used in the Rialto either because of space. The show's own curtains were lined with lights that were tested and at least one burned bulb was replaced.
Once the speakers were put on either side of the stage (a speaker array for "42nd Street" that usually hangs from the ceiling in front of the stage could not be hung) and the lights were in place, workers tested the computer-controlled devices (lights and sound) on what was a show of their own.
As recorded music was played to test levels, lights danced from in front, behind and above the stage to ensure they would illuminate on cue and on the right spots.
"You could run the lights for this show," head electrician Bryan Davies told this reporter of the ease of overseeing the lights during a show because they are all programmed and played by computer. Davies can, however, override the computer to manipulate the lights as needed during a performance.
The sound and lights' setup is work most anyone would marvel at. While performers do have wireless microphones for voice and tapping-feet amplification (wireless microphones are strapped to dancers' feet) there are dozens of wires connected to lights, speakers, power units and computers that must be connected precisely to the sound and light boards that eliminate audience seats because of the space they occupy on the theater's floor.
Head sound engineer Jason Dallin looked like a man playing two huge electric keyboards as he tested the Rialto for sound dispersal.
"If the sound booms in a particular venue, I have to adjust for that," Dallin said. "But I can't do anything about the acoustics of any place. I can only add (more volume) to make it sound like it's a bigger space, if need be."
As activity whirred on and about the stage for hours, hair supervisor Megan Merritt, quietly and alone, combed wigs on dummy heads amid the performer-autographed walls in a room below the stage. Two workers had helped her earlier to lay out, comb and apply spray to the dozens of 1930s-era styled wigs of every hair-color hue for men and women.
The wigs, like the costumes, are changed stage rear, so they have to be ready for performers, with all hairs neatly in place.
"All these wigs were worn last night, so all I have to do is restyle the synthetic hair," Merritt said.
Most of the wigs were from the Broadway production, and there are backups for bad-hair days.
By 3 p.m., most of the setup was done and some crew headed for a nap.
Other crew and union workers were still checking and rechecking various details, and Salamone was already meeting with union business agent Lorin Lynch about the next show.
"For me, if the production crew is happy and able to realize their artistic vision, then it's been a good show," Salamone said.
Theater abuzz
About two hours before show time is when the theater was again abuzz with stage and house activity. Members of the 11-piece orchestra began trickling in, as did the actors, road crew and union members who would assist in every aspect of the performance.
"We played these tunes so many times there's little need to practice, except for the musician's own practice of their instruments," musical director David Jenkins said as the band tuned up and whipped through several show numbers.
The movable orchestra pit, which stayed below stage level, proved challenging for the brass and woodwinds, keyboards and drums. The timpanis, Jenkins said, barely fit next to the drummer's kit.
As the band played, actors were trickling onto the stage to practice tap steps and to check the sound of the wireless microphones that were strapped near their ankles.
Some female actors sat on the stage applying makeup, while still others were checking out costumes, shoes and hats. The lead actors and a few others had dressing rooms that were designated on the call board that production principals put notes on to update cast and crew about details that need attention. If someone's taken ill, for example, a backup dancer will be told about it on the board that's posted near the stage door.
The size of the Rialto stage necessitated some repositioning of dancers on the stage, which dance captains Kevin and Carrie Leary explained to them in a huddle before the show.
"We walk the stage and make sure that everything's in place" for the show, Carrie Leary said. "I love to share the show with people."
The Learys are a young married couple who met as dancers during another show. The traveling can be hard, they both agreed, but a summer hiatus gives them time to relax.
A half-hour before show time, reporter and photographer were told they could not remain backstage to see the crew and cast in action. From the audience, however, it was clear that everything was going well from the time the curtain went up until the trucks were again packed and the troupe headed to Michigan.
One of the glaring omissions to the work of putting on the show was the absence of food. The company could have requested catering, but Salamone said they did not want it. The actors, who stayed at a hotel, get a food allowance, and the 13-member crew that sleeps in their own motor coach must do their own scouting for sustenance.
"I wish I could be a fly on the wall to see all the activity that happens back stage during a show," Young said. "We have to make it fit and work."
