Since its premiere in 2003, Tony-Award winning Broadway and West End sensation, Wicked has swiftly become one of the most-seen musicals in the world, and has broken box-office records everywhere.
With sets desgned by Eugene Lee and costumes by Susan Hilferty, Wicked goes all out, design-wise.
In a musical that quickly shifts from am upper-class borading school, to a Munchkin croft, to a blazing Emerald City, the set utilises some fantastic features that all you to be transported into the magical realms of Oz.
Drawing from the orginal novel, Eugene sets the show in a huge clockwork arena, dominated by an intimidating steam-punk dragon, strung up above the proscenium arch. Using clockwork and steam-punk elements as a motif, a huge clock-face serves as the backdrop, towers of cogs, brickwork, and iron bridges drop, slide and spin thier way around the stage.
The show begins, as many people know, with the citizens of Oz singing of the death of the Wicked Witch of the West, in the rather epic song, 'No One Mourns The Wicked.'
Below you can see Eugene Lee's original sketch for the set in this scene (sorry about the seam down the middle!) and the peice of set in action.
When lit from behind, the backdrop gives the sense of being inside a giant clocktower, and the scrim-like nature of the set allows it to be used for projections (as can be seen in the picture above.)
A fantastic quality (if not shakey) video of this can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_IF4muWz0g
An interesting peice of set used by Eugene, are these curious, ''towers'' that wheel themselves on and off the stage at moments in the show. Hiding lighting and mechanics, the towers can be seen left, in Eugene's sketches. As many a person who has been fortunate enough to see the show can tell you, the most memorable moment in the show is undoubtably the first-act finale, 'Defying Gravity', in which Elphaba, the misundertsood young Wicked Witch, soars high above the stage, surrounded by smoke, and
fragments of green-blue light, cloacked in a huge cape. As the diagram below shows, this incredible sight is created by a well-placed hydraulic lift, cloacked by meatres of black fabric, in which the actress can move back, have herself clipped in by remote computer, and swiftly glide up above the stage, belting out the show stopping 'Defying Gravity'
The incredible scene can be seen here, in a slightly abridged version, in the casts performance at the 2004 Tony Award Ceremony.
Sroll down for an awesome picture of Defying Gravity in action!
Enjoy the videos, and have a great night!
The Editor
Wicked can be seen at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, London, and at the Gershwin Theatre, New York, as well as numerous other international and touring productions. For more information, go here: http://www.wickedthemusical.com/#
