Behind-the-Scenes of Wicked the Musical

The time has come for the Wicked Witch to fly into Orange County to bring the story of Wicked to life on stage at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Wicked the Musical. We are so excited to bring our children to see the musical and arrived a day early to watch the staff transform the stage for the upcoming production. It was a once in a lifetime experience to see the hard work of the backstage staff and details of the stage design that makes the show one of the best Broadway productions.

At the front of the stage is the famous dragon. During the performance, the dragon’s eyes will be lit with red LED bulbs. The wingspan on the dragon is the same as a Cessna 172; it is that huge! There will be a lot of steam floating over the audience during the production. They use 250 pounds of dry ice per show on Broadway, and will use approximately 200 pounds per show at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

The one thing that we noticed while backstage was all the wires and cables. They use 8-10 miles of cable in the electronics department on Broadway and 4-5 miles of cable at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. It takes 1,000 feet of steel cable to retrain the flying monkey wings during the first year of the Broadway run. What about electricity? It will take enough power for the production that would supply approximately twelve houses. If you include the sound and animation department, then it would total eighteen houses.

While we didn’t get a chance to see the costumes while backstage, the show has 90 wigs, using 70 during any given show. All of the wigs are made of human hair and made individually for each actor using their own hairline in the front. Plus, there are 179 different types and finishes of leather used in shoes, gloves, hats and costume trim.

Don’t miss bringing your children to see Wicked the Musical at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts starting today until March 6th. The timing of the show is: Act I: 90 minutes, Intermission: 15 minutes, and Act II: 60 minutes. If you have younger children then we recommend bringing them to a daytime performance. Tickets are available online or at the box office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa.

We were invited backstage as a guest of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts