Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup: Wizard of Oz

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Wizard of Oz - Balloon Getaway

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
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Topic: Wizard of Oz - Balloon Getaway

Posted By: kytheatrechic
Subject: Wizard of Oz - Balloon Getaway
Date Posted: 7/08/08 at 11:44pm

I'm beginning to slightly freak out. Our tech week begins in 4 days and we've yet to figure out the best way to attack the balloon ascent of the Wizard. Obstacles - no fly space, small wing space, very tall (and not so nimble) actor as Wizard.

Ideas? So far, I'm considering the use of a lift (aka cherry picker) or using an old theatre trick of drawing attention away from that area of the stage with lighting and blocking.

All other ideas welcome! I'm desperate!

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All the world's a stage, some of us just have better seats.

Replies:

Posted By: robin1365
Date Posted: 7/09/08 at 12:18am

We're also doing the RSC version - opening in a couple of weeks. We're in a similar situation with the balloon - no flyspace, little wing space, etc. So, we're going to have OZ up on top of a wagon that will look like the basket. We'll have another wagon in front of this that we will roll away to make it look like the balloon is moving back - not up. Our Ozians will basically gather around as he exits upstage. Now the trick is getting the wagon built to see if it really works!

This is a challenging show to stage in a small theater. My question is what are you doing for Toto? We decided not to use a real dog and we staged it so it should work. We ordered the Toto in a basket online but it's just simply too fake. I'm worried that it's going to look cheesy now - but it's too late to incorporate a real dog. Any ideas?

Posted By: avgsuperheroine
Date Posted: 7/11/08 at 12:55am

Yes, I think that's what we did too, moved him upstage and off instead of up. We also have no flyspace and about a 3 or 4 foot deep wing on that side of the stage. I think it worked out just fine, too.

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Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 7/11/08 at 9:38am

I would think a basket with the lines TO the balloon, but not actually showing the balloon itself, and simply rolling the basket offstage should suffice ... with everybody on stage following the "ascent" of the balloon with their eyes and heads (the same way people "watch" a tennis tournament with no real tennis players in sight).

Posted By: mary051756
Date Posted: 7/16/08 at 7:47am

We just did this show and we used a rolling basket and just had the Wizard "roll" off SL into the hall (we have no wing!). For Toto, we found a 4 year old who wanted to crawl around on their knees for a long period of time, and put her in a dog costume. She was a big hit, and you could get away with just using her in Kansas and not have Toto come out of the hosue in Oz at all.

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“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” EMERSON

Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 7/16/08 at 11:52am

god, i hope your not talking "about to start" tech WEEK? Hopefully you still have some time. Do you have any kind of curtain/arch? What we did was use a genie lift, covered the lift basket to look like a ballon basket. attached pooled black cloth to the bottom so it rose when the basket did covering the mechanism. then we had a ballon (in our case made of wood), counter weighted via rope to a celiing hook and attached by ropes to the basket. When the basket rose the ballons counter weight carried it up. Munchkins and OZ folks made a huge amount of noise with their goodbyes to cover the lift noise, and the whole thing ended when the lift rose above the arch. Curtain shift for the next part of the scene and we were done.... Know this wouldn't work for all venues, but sometimes you can take a piece of an idea and fit it in... Good luck

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Marty W

"Till next we trod the boards.."

Posted By: vickifrank
Date Posted: 7/22/08 at 11:04am

Did you consider playing the scene in a shadow projection of the balloon lifting off? This is a simple way...the basket is partially visible in the wings, and a staircase to get into the basket is next to it. The back wall is a sky and the crowd is gathered around the departing Dorothy. You play the good byes, then Dorothy and Wiz get into the balloon by the stairs. The wind picks up the tie lines break and the wagon on balloon slip to the side offstage quickly, while the shadow projection or video even get projected on the back wall showing the balloon swining back into sight higher off the ground then getting smaller and smaller (you can shrink and grow with a shadow projection)...and slowly the sky fades into the Kansas background whatever that is while music rises to cresendo--then cut to black and new scene while transistion music plays.

To really look like the balloon swayed to the side while the wind picked it up, you can move the ropes tying it to look like the wind is taking the balloon portion before the balloon rips the basket in a lurch to the side--and of course have Dorothy and Wiz look up terrified.

By the way I staged this years ago, and while adjusting the ropes for the takeoff (which was in our case straight up) with our own very tall Wiz, the ropes slipped on one side and dumped poor wiz out of the basket . Fortunately the guy only fell 2 feet (we only flew the basket 4 feet up) and was a former football star with blown knees. He took it in stride and laughed that he'd done far worse to himself on the gridiron 20 years before. Tall guys--even athletes fall hard and when they fall it scares the sh_t out of you. That height magnifies the fall.

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Posted By: musicmom1212
Date Posted: 8/21/08 at 10:48pm

My daughter's JH used a large 72" helium balloon. The basket, made from a large box and covered with a bamboo shade, was bottomless and had a black piece of cloth glued to the bottom edge in the front. There were handles on the inside of the basket. When the Wizard flew off, he raised the basket and walked sideways off stage. The black material dropped down as he raised up and blended right into the stage. The balloon lasted two and a half days before it started to sag a little.

The gasp from the audience when they saw a huge helium balloon was thrilling to hear!

Cathy

Costume and Prop Mom

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Cathy