The show must go on, but how exactly?

Lights, microphones, actors, sets, props, wigs and make-up. How does it all come together? And, more importantly, who is responsible for everything? Today, I will be highlighting most of the people and departments that keep everything in a musical theater production up and running. Most of these departments can be found in every production, but there will be more or fewer depending on what the show in question needs. In this particular post, I will be taking my current workplace, Frozen the musical, as an example.

Those who are onstage

The cast

To most people the most obvious and visible part of a musical theater production is its cast. We rehearse together, perform together and are, for lack of a better term, the face of the show. Within the cast are lots of different positions to be filled like first casts, covers, alternates and swings. I will be dedicating a separate post going into all of those details at a later time. Each cast contains a couple of so-called ‘captains’. After a show is put on its feet, they are responsible for keeping up the quality of the show. This means watching the show from the audience, giving notes and hosting cleaning rehearsals. A couple of ‘captain’ positions I have had the pleasure of working with in shows I have done:

• Dance Captains—they are responsible for everything that regards movement and choreography. They rehearse new cast members and are also responsible for writing split- and cutshows if they occur

• Fight Captains—they are responsible for all staged falls and fights. Generally, there is a dedicated “fight call” before every show (unless the cast on a double show remains the same) to rehearse the fights and falls one more time to make sure everything is safe and no one gets hurt

• Vocal Captains—they are responsible for making sure the singing of the ensemble stays clean and sharp.

• Puppet Captain–a Frozen specific position, but the Puppet Captain is responsible for relaying information about the puppets, what we can and cannot do, how we should handle the puppet and the actor whilst they are in the puppet and on top of that they play a huge part in teaching and rehearsing new people who come into contact with the puppet (have a sip of water for every time I used the word ‘puppet’ in that explanation)

Being a Dance Captain (DC) is incredibly hard work and a lot of responsibility. It is a workload on top of—for many DC’s—being a swing. A lot of extra hours creep in to ensuring the quality of the show does not wager over time. It is a great credit to have on your resume, but you must be prepared for the extra work.

Those who are backstage

The resident director

After the show has premiered and the original (usually international) creative team left the building, the running of the show is left in the resident director’s hands. They are the main contact person for the cast for everything: from holidays and rehearsals to if anything would happen during the show (think of unsafe situations like wet and slippery floors, people backstage being too loud during quiet scenes, etc.) Like the DC, the resident director is responsible for upkeeping the quality of the show. They will also watch the show from time to time to take notes on acting and scene blocking and relay information from other departments to the actors on stage. They rehearse new cast members into their roles and scenes and are–in my opinion–the glue that keeps everything together and running smoothly. 

Stage Management

Stage Management is a general term for a broad field of positions that all have to do with the practice of organisation and coordination of a theatrical production. If anything runs amok during a performance, stage management is who you’ll want to inform. They take record of injuries during working hours for insurance purposes, chase you down so you get to your rehearsal in time and open the door to your dressing room when it was locked by mistake. They print and adjust the rehearsal schedules and cut plans and will bring you an ice pack if you need one. These are the more mundane tasks performed outside of the show. When the curtain goes up, however, they go into full swing. Just like us actors have specific ‘tracks’ (or paths) we follow during a show, the people backstage have the same thing. They have a specific route they walk every night with specific tasks they have to perform. One of those tracks for Stage Management is called the ‘Floater’. The Floater is basically the right-hand-man and the second pair of eyes for the Caller. They are backstage during the show and are responsible for making sure any moving set parts do not collide with the cast, they hold open the flaps to the wing so everything can pass and cue whenever something or someone is ready to move to their next position to the Caller. They make sure everyone is safe and the show can run as usual. 

Technicians, Prop Masters and the Puppet Team

This is a general term used for everyone who works backstage during the show that is not part of Stage Management. They take care of props, move set pieces around and make sure that moving set pieces are in their right position before and after their travel on and off stage. Where the Floater is responsible for the cast on stage, the Page Master has a similar responsibility in regards to the moving parts and sets. Their job is to keep an eye on pieces moving up and down or in and out and to call a halt if something goes awry. If a prop breaks, you will bring it to the technicians who will either guide you to the Prop Master or take it there themselves. 

The job of the Prop Master is in the name; they make sure all of the props used in the show are in good shape, are handled with care and are fixed if they were to ever break. A big rule in theater is; you never touch a prop that isn’t yours! And if you do, be sure the Prop Masters will have their eye on you!

This last category is very Frozen specific, and also speaks for itself; the Puppet Team is responsible for–in our case–the Olaf and Sven puppets. They fix them if anything breaks, they make sure they stay clean and pristine and are there during the show to assist the actor when getting into the puppet.  

Dressers and costume department

What is a musical without beautiful costumes? The costume department of a show is responsible for fittings, tailoring and reworking existing costumes so they fit the corresponding actor to a T. They make adjustments and reparations if anything rips (and trust me, I will find a way to rip a costume…) and sometimes get the liberty from the original costume designer to play around with the design a bit, but they are not with us backstage during showtime. This is where the dressers come into view. Every costume change–quickchange or not–is possible thanks to an incredible team of dressers. Like everyone backstage, they all have their own track (usually referred to as ‘parts’ in this case) and usually a dresser knows multiple parts at that. They rotate every show (sometimes a dresser will dress the same part on a double show day but even there they might split it to two people) and work shifts during the day to prepare the costumes for the show to come. They take care of tiny rips or loose seams which they usually sew by hand, take care of the cast’s laundry and pre-set whatever they can for the next show after everyone else has usually already gone home. They work long days and long hours and, in my opinion, do not get enough credit for everything they do for us!   

Hair and Make-up

Most shows will make use of wigs for a universal look and to hide microphones, and to look good under the harsh stage lights we all wear a lick of make-up. Hair and make-up are here to help us with that! Every show comes with a certain design when it is first made. This is true for costumes, but also for hair and make-up. The in-house team will receive clear instructions from the original creatives on what the specific style for hair and make-up is for the show, usually accompanied by a book with reference pictures, and the in-house team will teach the actors coming in how to achieve the desired look and provide products for them. Sometimes the actors will also get their make-up done by the hair and make-up team, in my experience it differs from show to show and from actor to actor. Some people prefer to do their own make-up because they have the skill or they like to do it, others prefer the help from someone who better knows what they’re doing. The same goes for wigs, though it is more customary for someone from the hair and make-up team to prep your hair and put on the wig for you.

The process of getting and making the wigs is an interesting one. Once a performer is cast, they get their ‘bubble’ taken. This is an exact measurement of their head so that the people who make the wig have an exact reference of your headshape and hairline. A new wig is then knotted based on this. A piece of lace is sewn together to match the shape of the bubble, then someone takes a tiny hook and knots small amounts of hair into the lace to make a wig, kind of like crochet. This can be done in the theater itself, but it is often outsourced to other locations because it involves a large number of wigs that need to be made relatively quickly. After the wigs are made (usually from 100% human hair) they are washed, treated (if they for example need to hold a specific hair texture like a curl or a wave) and styled to fit the performer. It is also common to, for example in a cast change, exchange wigs from people leaving the cast to new people joining the cast if the head sizes match up. 

After every show, the wigs are restyled by the hair and make-up team for the next performance. Usually when a performer is on holiday or otherwise off for a longer time, the hairstyle of the wig will be completely undone, washed, treated and styled again to be in mint condition for when it makes its next stage appearance. 

Those who are in the auditorium

Sound

Those who work behind the sound desk have an incredibly difficult job. They have a huge sound mixing desk with many different sliders and channels that correspond to every single microphone on stage and every person in the orchestra. It is their responsibility to–live during the show–make sure everything and everyone sounds balanced. 

During the initial tech period of a new production a sound design is made, this is the base line for every show, but as we know in live theater, no two shows are the same! Every time a swing, cover, or subplayer in the orchestra is on, adjustments need to be made during a show. The person at the sound desk also makes sure everyone’s mic is turned on when they have a line (or are playing if we’re talking about the orchestra), and turned off when they should not be heard. Very stressful, if you ask me! 

The right hand man to the sound designer in the auditorium is the person sitting backstage in the radio room. Together, they pre-set and check every single microphone cable and mic-pack before the show. The person in the radio room will check the microphone again when the actor has it on their head to see if there is any interference or if it needs a position change and is the first responder if anything breaks.

Lighting

The lighting department can also be split into multiple locations. There’s the person at the lighting desk during the show and people that operate the following spots. After the lighting design is finished during the initial tech period of the show, the lighting technicians check the lights and run the system before every show and during the show they make sure the right lights are on in the right scenes. This does not only go for the big overhead stage lights or the big strips on the sides, but also what is happening on the LED walls at the back (during Frozen). 

Do not be fooled by the simplicity of the job description of someone operating a following spot: just follow this person during this scene! You have to brave an incredible height every time and operate a very heavy light whilst trying to keep up with someone’s movement in real time. Directing a spotlight to the exact place to ensure that the actors are illuminated correctly is a very precise job.

Caller

Being the Caller of a show is–in my opinion–one of the most stressful jobs in all of theater. Without them, there is no show. If they make a mistake, there is a show stop. The entire flow of the show rests on the Caller’s shoulders, and I have mad respect for them. 

They are basically the driving force of the performance. Callers write what we call a ‘cue sheet’ or ‘run sheet’. This is a detailed timeline of every technical and musical cue (a trigger for an action at a certain time, for example a word the actor says, or a movement they make, or a certain chord in the music) in the show and it is vital that the Caller ensures that all tech follows it precisely. They are in contact with every other department during the show and constantly give individual cues. They have a big book in which they have the script and the sheet music in which they write the cues they have to give to which department, with which name and at what time in the performance. 

Learning to ‘call a show’ as we say, is a long and stressful process. But these people are the real motor behind everything you see on stage. 

Orchestra

Finally, the orchestra! What is a musical without 71.429% of the word!? Music! It is what drives the story forward, elicits emotion and gives you goosebumps. Unfortunately, since most big productions started looking for myriad ways to save money, the sizes of orchestras have shrunk significantly, having to make room for a key-comp with lots of different instruments on it instead. Nothing beats the sound and synergy of a live orchestra with the cast on stage. At the head of the orchestra is the conductor. Sometimes they also play an instrument during the show, but in the most classic way they merely focus on conducting both the musicians and the actors. There is one musical director, and a couple (usually two or three) conductors who can take over. In Frozen, for example, we have four conductors total. In the orchestra itself there are people that are, for lack of a better term, ‘first cast’ in their instrument, and then there are a few what we call ‘subs’ for the musicians whenever they are sick or on holiday as well. The ever-changing combination of musicians and actors make for an enchanting and different experience every show, and I really hope big orchestras make their return to musical theater soon!

In conclusion

As is hopefully clear from all of the different positions I have mentioned in this post, it takes a village to make sure a show runs smoothly. So, do we all work together? Absolutely! Do we all know each other? We don’t, unfortunately. For example, I have never met the people that sit behind the following spots, our paths simply never cross. I don’t know everybody from the orchestra, since they spend their time in the pit and I am on the stage. I spend the most time backstage with my cast, the people from the technical departments, stage management and the dressers, and even then I don’t know everybody that closely because of the way all of our tracks backstage are. For example, only a few dressers know the ‘Anna’ part, so I don’t even know all of them that intimately! I find it a shame, and I try my best to connect with everyone, but the list goes on! 

I hope after reading this, you have a better idea of what (and most importantly, whom) it takes to keep a theater production running, and that you see that there is a place in the theater for everyone. 

I’ll see you next time!

Liefs,
Lyssa 💕

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