At each scene change the giant Christmas Tree would grow a few more feet, until by the end of the ballet the star on top was barely visible below the proscenium arch, a little bit of stage magic the public usually didn't see happening. The bulk of the tree fully decorated was below the stage with the top 6 or 7 feet above the floor. Very beautiful in operation as the tree was slowly pulled upward by the offstage fly system.
For a stagehand though Nutcracker takes on a more painful connotation. In some venues the steup is very easy. A painted backdrop, extra long for the height of the tree, slowly unfolds as the pipe is taken upward. Depending on the quality of artwork these can be very beautiful. Easy to set and reset between performances. At other venues a real tree is used, 20 to 25' high. In this case the show is known by the crew as nutbuster. Not an attractive but, certainly a very fitting appelation for the time and stress getting these monsters to fly.
I think it was 1979. I was a seasoned Nutcracker crewmember, but that year I had decided to forego the setup because I was involved in another play on the campus of El Camino College. A late night phone call "Tag can you come over to the main auditorium as soon as you can" Unusual for me to receive a phone call from the stage manager at midnight. Usually I would get the call at 8 am because I was late for a setup call. That night was a lot different.
In most modern theatres of a certain size there is a counter-weight fly system. This means that anything that needs to move in a quick scene change can be flown out of sight or onto the stage. Each piece to be flown including: set pieces, backdrops, performers or Christmas Trees needs to be counter balanced at the fly rail off stage. So each piece is connected to the fly rail by pipes, chains, long lengths of aircraft cable and pulleys. The arbor of the system contains the counter balance weights usually rectangles of iron weighing 25 lbs. How many 25 lb weights does it take to counter a 25 ft Christmas Tree weigh? I don't know, but it is a lot.
Apparent from, the water dripping from the loft and the tree tilted at a crazy angle through the broken stage floor, that either a cable had snapped or a piece of rigging hardware couldn't hold the weight of the tree. When it gave way, the tree slammed back down through the stage floor. The arbor loaded with hundreds of pounds of weight, suddenly free of its counter weight went into free fall, crashing into the flyrail where a few stagehands had just been. The now free cable wildly whipping through the other battens, cables and pulleys almost took a stagehand out as it fell through the offstage arbors. The batten the tree was on now without its counter weight took off toward the fly grid above the stage. The pipe slammed through the sprinkler system on the way up to the grid unleashing a torrent of dirty water onto the stage and all of the stage drape. In a word, catastrophe. Luckily no one was injured. Turned out the damage wasn't as great as it could have been. None of the set drape had been flown, so only the stage drape owned by the school was soaked. It did cost a bit to have those cleaned. The stage floor was cracked and splintered around the open trap doors. These were fairly easily fixed. The fly system had very little damage. Some bent steel and shredded cable to be replaced. All in all it could have been much worse. Fortunately we still had a week before the performance and nothing else in that theater until the opening performance. We worked our asses off to make repairs and reset the tree, the other set pieces and drapery. Nutbuster went on as scheduled. After all " the show must...
What a treat, Tag! Thanks for the look behind the scenes, too.
ReplyDeleteI love the music from the Nutcracker. In college, I saw and heard 24 performances of it because I was part of the snowflake scene with the humming women's voices (a bit 'much' that year, but now, 40 years later, my love of the whole experience has returned).
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it Limes. Kass, I feel the same way. I worked backstage for this at least a dozen times most recently 8 years in a row from 1997-2004. I've never seen it from the audience perspective except on TV.
ReplyDeleteLate breaking thoughts... my late, beloved stepmother's family were great theater and dance aficionados. Her dad was the mayor up in Big Bear Lake and when a new city hall was built, he influenced whomever he needed to influence to include a world-class theater there - just small. I'd seen live performances in the U.K., but never at home in the U.S. I remember the first time I took Amber to The Nutcracker there. Ex had a fit. He felt we needed to wait another year to take her. She was too young and she'd be disruptive. Uh-uh. That 2-year-old sat on my lap in the front row and ate it up. She never made a sound. She never tood her black eyes off the stage. She's never missed a live performance of it at holiday time since that first time in 1992.
ReplyDeleteat the risk of sounding like a total scrooge-ette:
ReplyDeletei acquired 3 stepdaughters when they were very young. they ALL danced. for years. i have seen "the nutcracker" so many times, in so many forms, for so many years, i start twitching at the mere mention of the name. i love the music, and i love ballet. tag, thanks for the clip. but - never again.
Art, like travel leads to a fuller, more varied lifestyle. I'm happy that you have been able to expose your children to this and that they have taken to the experience. I understand being satiated by this. Fortunately It's only once a year for most.
ReplyDeleteLimes suggested I read your blog today. Why? Last night I had the very good fortune to get to experience The Nutcracker in person for the first time ever. It was a delight. Thanks for a peek backstage.
ReplyDeleteYou are certainly welcome Doozyanner. I'm happy you enjoyed the experience. Nutcracker when done well is a good story well presented. I have only seen it from the wings, with the smell of grease paint, sweat and musty costumes. I still love it.
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