Wicked Stuttgart Tour..

I am still speechless over the tour today.
Get your act together Wicked Australia, because this tour was an insider's dream! Over an hour and we got to see EVERYTHING!
(don't get me wrong.. i still appreciate the tours i went on in melbourne and sydney.. they were amazing and personalised to me.. but this tour was so much better than what wicked organise with qantas and people pay for those and get 20 mins of not much!)

Sadly it was all in german, and i found out afterwards i could have heard it all in english too if i liked, but i thought of that before the tour started and i didn't want the poor girl to have to repeate herself just for me. But i was able to pick up on what she was saying sometimes.. i was learning german without knowing it! but if you ask me how to say something.. i'm still totally lost haha

Arrived at the theatre after spending a lazy morning at the hostel to avoid the rain. The theatre is very modern, located in a complex called SI-Centrum. Apart from many themed restaraunts and shops, this complex also houses hotels, a casino, a cinema complex and two theatres - the apollo theatre (home to we will rock you) and the palladium theatre (home to wicked). After picking up my pass, i wandered around for a bit until it was time for my tour.
I ended up jumping onto one of the public tours they were running which was fine by me.. I was just glad to be going on a tour.

We started the tour off on the stage and learnt about everything based in that area, including tracks, lights, smoke machines and sets. She also highlighted the bubble and the trap doors and their uses. Even though i was trying really hard to listen to her and try to understand what she was telling everyone, i was off in my own world looking at everything above the stage comparing it to back home. From what i could tell.. their stage depth is the same size as ours (their bridge is in a very similar location), but i think their height and set outside of the theatre space is smaller.. the dragon seemed to be very low.
After viewing the stage area, we moved into the wings to look at the props. I got to have a pretty good look at the back of the wardrobe and didn't realise how much electrical work there was in it.. something i never looked closely at when i did my sydney and melbourne tour. Also looked at the wizards head closely.. i even got to play with the grimmerie which was fun. No one else in my tour wanted to touch it.. so i held onto it for as long as i could :-P
Everything prop wise is in german which i thought was great.. including morrible's class list, the emerald city magazine and the wizomania tickets. Everything was set out on shelves and labelled, including the floor.. to mark out where dressers need to stand with specific character costumes and where set pieces need to be in order to prepare for the next scene.

After viewing the props, we moved towards the back of the stage and entered one of the 2 costume tents they have set up backstage (one is stage left near where the props are stored, the other is behind the back curtain). This is where some of the costumes (particualy quick changes) are stored for easy access. She was also saying that before shows they usually bring costumes from the costume room down to the tents depending which cast members are on. We got to have a play with the flathead costumes (they had 4 heads but only 3 bases from what i could see) which was fun.. make their eyebrows move and have a go at making the monkey wings flap.

Before exploring other areas, she took us down under the stage which was really cool. The access staircase was next to the costume tent we went into. The staircase led to under the stage and houses the smoke machines, trap doors and access to the orchestra pit. There was even a mirror set up for make up touch ups (especially with elphaba) which was funny as. You could actually see the stage and the set tracks from down there which i thought was odd.. since most theatres i have visited have permanent stages which are covered over with show specific stages. This theatre looked like it had no permanent stage.. just metal work to build a stage onto. The ladder leading to the elphie trapdoor was a woodern staircase with a metal step towards the top.. so much safer than the ladder they had in melb.. haha
And the moving trapdoor.. super easy access. I think Jemma would be so jealous of Willemijn for the fact that her elphie run/dash would only take 5 seconds to complete.. she could walk to the trapdoor and still make it in time! :-P

As we walked off the staging area to visit more of the theatre, we passed the brooms and wand (also passed the other props and set pieces like the beds, flying machine, etc). Of course i snuck a quick hold of both.. who wouldn't ;-) (i actually got away with a lot on the tour.. yay for being a production student haha)

After exiting the stage area, we walked up many flights of stairs to enter the costume floor. On the way up, i noticed the staircase was painted with murals. Cats had originally played in this theatre, so they left behind a piece of the show.. 3 staircases full of murals of the show, including paw prints and images of cast members in costume. They were amazing paintings. And on the costuming floor, there was a giant painting of the beauty and the beast logo which was pretty neat. The costuming floor consisted of the tailors room, fitting room and various costume storage room. We visited the tailoring room and saw them repairing some costumes (including shoes). The girl mentioned that a lot of the more elaborate costumes are sent to London to be repaired (ie. glinda's bubble dress).. but any small detail they would try to repair inhouse. As we left the room and walked to one of the costume storage areas, we walked past a table of hats just maintained. They were all the hats from the emerald city and 3 elphaba witch hats (3 of the 4 elphaba hats worn by the 4 girls).. because we were walking past, i only got to touch them.


We walked past the fitting room and she explained that that was where all new members and/or current members needing a new costume piece or new set of costumes would go and 'be fitted' for the items. It contained a lot of computers, costume images, tape measures, calico fabric, pins and scissors. She then went on to say as most of the cast were moving with the show, they weren't in the process of having to fit for new costumes.


We walked into one of the costuming rooms which housed all the female costumes, including the leads which i thought was odd. But then again, the dressing rooms of the girls was on a totally different floor.. so i guess it is easier to have everything on the one level.
One side had 2 racks worth of 4 sets of elphaba costumes (that was the first thing i noticed.. the 4 sets, as most other companies only have 3), 3 sets (i think) of glinda costumes, 2 sets (i think) of nessa and morrible costumes and all the ensemble costumes clearly labelled into artist's name and scene in which costume features. It was interesting seeing all the Act 2 elphie dresses together as they were all different. One thing i did notice was that the green under-garment (which is netting) they wear to save on painting their entire body green was a gradient of green from the neck (light green) all through the body section (dark green) to the end of the arms (light green again). Also one of the girls ( i think the first understudy) had 2 school dresses made where everyone else i think just had the one. Then moved on to looking at the Glinda outfits and the first difference i spotted was the belt. The safety belt in the german costume is more noticeable than back home. And her dress doesn't have zip access, it's all hooks which was interesting. They keep Lucy's bottom half of the dress (yes.. the Glinda here is called Lucy too) on a metal structure to prevent it getting crushed.. it simulates the hoop worn. The bodice was being touched up that day.. but by the look of the other bodices i could see.. the neck piece is made from a different fabric to ours. It's more clear/plastic like. And her dress has more sparkles! I think our Lucy is being jibbed! haha
After looking through all the ensemble outfits (we got to walk around the room for ages looking at the pieces.. and yes, i did hunt out my fav ensemble pieces.. including the dress ellen wears that i am making) we moved out of the room, said goodbye to those working in the tailoring room and went up a floor to the wig department.
Oh yes.. and Omi.. with the detailing on the top of the dress.. i know it varies depending on the country, but here in Stuttgart, the white ribbon weaving is achieved with eyelets, the bow around the neck is a thin black ribbon, there is slight black detailing on the white ruffled shirt bit.. and the buttons here are white fabric buttons with black thread sewn onto them like a star shape in a way.. starts in the middle of the button and makes a line/star point out to the outside of the button.. i'll draw it and send it to you later :-P

The wig department was pretty much a salon! Hair washing sinks, salon chairs.. and the occasional warmer/heater/oven ;-)
She mentioned to us (still have no idea how i understood this as it was all in german) that all the cast in the show have casts of their heads taken and sent to Bali to have wigs made specifically for them. And they then store these wigs on wig storage heads that they try to shape as close as possible to the real thing. Some contained rollers to keep the curls in tact, others were already shaped or platted for the show. It was obvious to work out the elphaba wigs not just because they were labelled or because they were obvious (due to the hairstyling) but they were the only wigs to have green netting with hair attached. But it was fun to see the various elphaba wigs all done in specific ways.

After seeing all the wigs, we headed back down to the theatre level. We didn't get to see the change rooms because they were on a different floor.. but we ran out of time to see them which was a bummer.. but because the costumes aren't stored in the room like they were back home, i didn't mind not seeing them. But the girl mentioned to me at the end of the tour (in english too thank god) that the dressing rooms are pretty plain as everyone is taking down stuff to prepare for the move, so that made it better to have not seen it. We passed the cafe, the production managers floor, the stage managers floor, the costuming floor, the dressing room floor and headed out into the theatre where we got to watch the crew complete a technical run.

Wow is all i can say! To see them test out the bubble, the flying monkey wires, the lighting and sound, the wizard head, the sets and backdrop, the tracks and set movements was amazing. And yes.. they have flying monkeys over the audience!! I was so jealous!! If stuttgart can do it in a small(ish) theatre.. i don't see why we can't! They squeeze the monkey rails just behind the big banister in the foyer.. i think we should try ;-) I know it can't be done.. but still! haha.. a girl can only wish :-P

After the tech run, the tour was over :-(
But i had a blast and now cannot wait to see the show new years eve after gaining a new perspective :-D

Hope you all enjoyed my step by step rundown of the tour.. sadly no photos because they're cracking down on it towards the end of the run, but i know there are some photos out there, so when i find them i will add them onto here so that you can see what i am talking about :-)

(i think that was all from the tour.. but if i remember more, i will be sure to add it onto the essay i have already constructed here.. haha)