Before the witches fly and the emerald lights glow, the return of “Wicked,” presented by Broadway Dallas, begins with the grind of engines, steel and careful choreography behind the scenes.
Outside Music Hall at Fair Park, 13 semi-trucks line up as crews unload what will become one of Broadway’s biggest touring productions. Inside, it’s a carefully timed operation that transforms an empty stage into Oz in just a few days.
“We start Monday morning at 8 a.m.,” said Broadway touring company manager Steve Quinn. “We have a show by 7:30 Wednesday.”
The effort is about 30 hours of work stretched across two and a half days. That turnaround relies on a small traveling company that expands quickly with local labor. The tour carries 65 people on the road. In Dallas, roughly 85 local additional stagehands join the load-in, many from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Once the show opens, that number drops to a few dozen local crew members running each performance.
What they’re building is massive.
High above the stage, crews assemble what’s known as the “air show,” a network of lighting, trusses and flying scenery that will lift actors and set pieces into the air. On the ground, the “floor show” follows with the stage deck itself, where the story unfolds. By the next day, wardrobe, hair and makeup teams move in, unpacking more than 100 wigs — nearly all of them made from real human hair — and hundreds of costumes.
This creative ecosystem stretches well beyond Texas. The cast and crew come from across the country, while each tour stop fills in with local musicians, dressers and technicians. In Dallas, many of those workers are familiar with the show.
“A lot of them have theater background, but there are several that are straight construction type people,” Quinn said. “Some of our carpenters got interested in theater and turned their construction knowledge into stagehand knowledge.”
The orchestra is just one example. Six musicians travel with the production, joined by nine local players in Dallas. Costume teams also rely on local dressers to execute some of the show’s fastest changes, including moments where actors swap wigs, shoes and full outfits in under a minute.
One of the most complex sequences happens during the transition to the Emerald City.
“Everything is moving,” Quinn said. “Actors are running like crazy... they’ll do a complete change of wig costume, shoes in 45 seconds, which is astounding.”
While audiences see seamless spectacles, the mechanics behind it are constantly evolving. This touring version of Wicked no longer uses traditional trap doors, instead relying on staging techniques that create similar illusions without built-in stage lifts.
Even so, the scale remains enormous. Quinn has worked on other large productions, including “The Phantom of the Opera,” and says Wicked is about third of the size of giants like “The Lion King” and “Hamilton.”
“They each have their own complications,” he said. “This one is big.”
More than two decades after its Broadway debut, “Wicked” continues to draw audiences across the country. The touring production was capitalized at $10 million in 2009 and recouped its costs in less than a year, a rare benchmark in the industry.
The show’s six-week run is longer than most tour stops. For the company, that means a chance to settle in.
“We’re excited to be here in Dallas,” Quinn said. “And you know, kind of enjoy the local flavor, as we like to say.”
By opening night, the trucks are gone, the scaffolding disappears and the work becomes invisible.
Details:
“Wicked” at Broadway Dallas Music Hall at Fair Park. May 6-June 14. Ticket starts at $50
