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L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O
18
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November 14 - December 13, 2015
shops respond in a few weeks with itemized
cost and time estimates to build the show.
Smallwood and assistant technical
director Scott Wolfson go over the bid packets,
scrutinizing every item for potential “value
engineering,” as they call it. If a design is still
over budget, they’ll go back to the designer
and ask for some cuts and compromises –
Styrofoam instead of a pricier material, for
instance. (Rarely, the designer and director
may be asked to reconceive the whole show, if
it’s too far off budget.)
Eventually they settle on a scene shop
and budget, which can take about three
months, between other projects the technical
department is managing – like the current
season’s productions! The sets for this season’s
Figaro
and
Wozzeck
and 2013’s
Elektra
and
Rusalka
were built at Bay Productions in
Cardiff, Wales;
Bel Canto
was built nearby at
Ravenswood Studio in Lincolnwood (which
also built the new orchestra shell designed
by Jeanne Gang for Lyric’s 60th Anniversary
Gala Concert). “Some shows are more about
engineering and scale, like
Wozzeck
and
Elektra
,” Smallwood explains. “Bay excels at
these big, textural sets that have a lot of depth
and layers and carving and buildup on them.
We chose to keep
Bel Canto
here because
it’s a world premiere and we wanted to keep
a closer eye on it. They did a great job with
the engineering.” Sometimes, he adds, an
engineering subcontractor may be brought in
to approve a set “for what we want it to do,
especially with people flying and set elements
overhead.”
Set construction takes five to six months,
depending on the size and complexity of the
show. “Generally for every show there are three
shop visits, starting with a kickoff meeting in
December or January with the designer at the
shop, to meet the people who will engineer and
draw all the units, as well as the painters who
will finish the units,” Smallwood says. “We
can discuss any finer details that weren’t so
evident in the bid package or email exchanges.
The second visit, in April or May, is a midway
check-in to see how the structure is coming
along, so we can make sure it’ll work onstage,
work for the show, work for the changeovers.
For example, with
Figaro
we discovered all
the statue platforms were built backwards!
We could get those redone before shipping.
We’ll also see some large-scale samples for the
designer to approve before the set is painted.
At the third visit in early June we’ll see things
90% finished, so we can give tweaking notes
before it goes into a container and is shipped,
making sure everyone is happy with it. We
expect shows to be delivered by mid-July for
summer tech rehearsals.”
“Sometimes parts of the set are built
by secondary companies that came up with
a really good price for that stair unit,” notes
production manager April Busch. “There’s a
lot of jigsaw puzzling going on!” Lyric’s new
production of
The Sound of Music
(designed
by Michael Yeargan, whose
Nabucco
returns
to Lyric this season) came from hither and
yon; the walls came from Ravenswood locally,
and the deck (the set’s base) came from
Bay overseas. Multiple contractors can make
the matching of paint treatments tricky, but
Lyric’s got a guy – charge artist Brian Traynor
– who handles scenic paint touchups to unify
the scenery’s look.
But first, it’s got to get here. “We need
an hour from Ravenswood, two or three days
MICHAEL BROSILOW
ROBERT KUSEL
MICHAEL BROSILOW
If staging rehearsals reveal that additional props
are required, Lyric’s props department provides, buys,
or builds them to ensure a smooth performance
(as in
The Marriage of Figaro
, pictured here).
How to get giant set pieces like the pier
in
Carousel
and the Countess’s bed in
The Marriage of Figaro
on and off the stage is one
of theater’s fascinating secrets.