LightSeeker – Backstage Tour

I had the privilege of visiting the backstage of LightSeeker and we were taken on a tour which took us to the deepest, darkest part of Resorts World Sentosa!

It started off with us being ushered to the Green Room of the theatre and along the way we passed one of the dressing rooms, where I noticed a lady combing out any tangles in the wigs being used by Usha, in preparation for the next show.

Meeting the imps was next on the agenda and they were a friendly duo.

I just had to get a picture with Joshua Donovan (Min) and Andy Portelli (Jye)! LOL…

In addition, I found something interesting just outside the entrance to the Green Room…

There was a notice board with various bits of information:

I took a closer look at the list of cast members, plus the creative and stage management team:

Did you know that the show has 39 performers, 34 technicians (riggers) and 5 stage managers?

Located just across from the notice board was this Sign-In Sheet! Since there are 39 performers in the show, I guess this helps to keep track of their whereabouts but it looks like not everyone had signed in today!

We then headed to the stage area to have a look around. Most of their sets were made in South Africa and shipped to Singapore.

This is the set with the trampolines in one of the more memorable scenes with the two acrobats suspended over the audience:

Part of the backdrop used when the characters were on their way to the Chamber of Souls:

The centrepiece of the Conjuring Room scene (Left: how it looks backstage; Right: how it looks on stage with all the lighting in place):

 

We couldn’t fully explore the stage area as the crew was preparing for the next performance at 8pm (this backstage tour was after the matinee show) and we were trying not to get in their way so we didn’t stay long here.

When they were done, this is how the set for the opening Forest scene looks (partial view cos the screen curtain was half open):

We then headed over to the Training Room, where the performers rehearse…

When we got there, the cast was having a debrief so we had to be really quiet. This short meeting usually takes place after every show.

Here’s our tour guide, Wendi Teoh, who is the producer of the show. Vivienne Carlyle, who plays Usha, can be seen on the right of the photo but she was in the middle of a discussion so we didn’t get a chance to speak with her.

Trampolines of a smaller scale are used for training – these are similar to the ones used on stage.

 

As we were looking around the training room, something at the far wall caught my eye!

These are customized harnesses used by the cast, as well as a dummy nicknamed “Ruth”, which has the weight of an average person and is used when testing out new acrobatic stunts (i.e. to ensure the safety of the performers, a test run is first done with Ruth).

Next, we were told that we were going down to the deepest, darkest part of the resort! Gosh, it sounded exciting!!…

We got into a lift, which took us down to B4, where we had a look at the area which was beneath the stage. It was a little dark in there and several props can be seen around the premises. Apparently many of the resort’s staff do not know that this place exists!

We spotted the large crystal used in the Conjuring Room scene and learned that it is made of fibreglass.

 

This is the lift which brings performers up to the stage. If you’re in the theatre, this lift is located downstage and in the musical, this contraption was used by Usha, as well as the serpents in their human form, when they made their entrance on stage.

It was also interesting to see a spiral staircase leading all the way up to the stage level. This flight of stairs also takes you down to B5 (yes, B4 is not the lowest level!) which is not accessible by lift and this floor stores the hydraulic equipment used to operate the stage’s lift.

Found a Basement cue sheet for the show! ^_^

I stumbled upon the Emperor’s costume, as well as several other costumes on the other side of the floor.

  

So…what else is at B4? This sign at the lift lobby shows the floor directory.

Next stop was the Costume Maintenance room (i.e. sewing room) – it definitely looks like a tailor’s shop in here!

Several costumes, including those worn by Nova and Usha, could be found here.

  

There’s even a Laundry Room at the back and the washing machines were in operation when we were there. I can just imagine the amount of laundry which needs to be done with 39 performers!

We then made our way up one level to B3 where the Physiotherapy room is located. To respect the privacy of the cast member who was having treatment in there, we didn’t take any photos.

Next, we went back up to B2 (Stage Left) and toured the Hair and Make-Up room.

Gosh…it looks like a hair salon in here!

More costumes can be found here…

…as well as pictures of the characters from the show.

 

We then headed over to Wardrobe where all the costumes from the show are stored.

The costumes and other articles of clothing were arranged on racks and there were several rows of them.

We were excited to find The General’s headgear and costume, as well as Nova’s dress!

Here are some of the other costumes, including those used by The Dark Army.

  

An example of the headdress used for the imps.

There were just so many articles of clothing in this place and I must applaud whoever is doing the inventory here!

Back at the stage area, this next picture was taken from Stage Left, which is where the performers picked up their microphones from.

Most of the music in the show is pre-recorded, except for Nou’s singing parts which is accompanied live by a solo musician. Did you know that the performers have customized in-ear monitors so that they can hear the music?

That concludes our tour of the backstage. Many thanks to RWS for arranging this and also to Producer Wendi who showed us around!

Links to my reviews of the musical:

• Review of LightSeeker – An RWS Musical
• Re-Visiting LightSeeker The Musical (improved version)

 

Songs of the Sea – Part 1 (Behind-The-Scenes Tour)

There was a rare opportunity for Sentosa Islander members to go on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Songs of the Sea multimedia show at Sentosa so I jumped at the chance and registered for the event.

We were each handed a copy of the programme at the meet-up point. Oh gosh…they weren’t joking when they said that we were supposed to learn the dance from the show! I have 2 left feet so I’ll probably look silly later. (^o^)

As the shows are held in the evenings (7.40pm and 8.40pm daily), one rarely gets to see the set during daylight hours.

The open-air venue has a seating capacity of 2800 and there are 2 categories of tickets at different pricing (Premium Seats: S$15, Standard Seats: S$12). Regardless of category, it’s free seating so most people tend to arrive early to secure the best seats.

We started off with a briefing…

Next, we were introduced to the 7 cast members from the show and were taught the dances to 3 of the songs performed during the show.

Munnaeru Vaalibaa (evergreen Tamil song often sung at Singapore’s National Day events) – it starts with some Indian dance pose and the steps to this song were rather simple but you’ll need to remember whether it was supposed to be right hand up, left down or the other way around.

I don’t have photos for the dances from the next 2 songs as I was too busy feeling ridiculous whilst trying out the steps and at the same time laughing my head off! But anyway, here’s what we did…

It’s Me – this was a bit strange as we were told to imagine that our left leg was possessed and an invisible source was pulling it forward, but your hands are free to do any random movements (yes, those are the dance moves!). This was then followed by some Egyptian-like dance steps.

We Did It! – a freestyle dance, followed by pointing at Li, then shrugging and throwing your arms upwards (asking “who did it?”), pointing back at Li again (“he did it”), followed by a jump with your right fist in the air. The sequence was somewhat manageable until the music came on and it was really fast and so we ended up with a whole bunch of confused people. *smirk*

I really must applaud this group of energetic young people for their dedication to the show as rain or shine, the show still goes on! Guess the rain doesn’t dampen their spirits…

Posing with the cast (in case you’re wondering – the guy on my left portrays Li in the show):

The next item on the agenda was a visit to the control room and we discovered the crew here work in air-conditioned comfort. Now, this is the nerve centre for controlling all the visual effects, pyrotechnics, water jets, etc. and it’s housed in the little building located at 12 o’clock in the picture below.

Entance leading to the control room:

We were introduced to Shaun (on the right), a member of the crew who ensures that the shows run smoothly.

Checked out the extreme corner of the room – lots of manuals in the bookcase (and prickly heat powder in an air-conditioned room??).

Found a map of the show venue, which was attached to the whiteboard.

There were several gadgets and various buttons and switches which looked rather complicated and I was beginning to imagine an octopus seated at the desk, manipulating all the controls. We were told that the control panel is simple and intuitive, thus it’s easy to troubleshoot if there are any issues.

Zooming in…I spotted what looked like a cue sheet!

Two sets of each of the important control gadgets used for the show are found in the room, so that there is a backup of the equipment in the event of technical failure.

This blue board controls the lighting control and is nicknamed “the flying pig” (don’t ask me why!), but this is the only piece of equipment which doesn’t have a secondary set. Not to worry, there are backup controls on the PC for the lights. Did you know that there are 180 lights in total at the performance venue?

Lasers are used in the show and the lowest is 2.5 watts which is still 100-200 times brighter than a laser pointer. However, we were told it is still safe if the laser points to your eyes as continuous lasers are not used in the show. There was no demonstration of the lasers as it was bright daylight outside and we wouldn’t be able to see the laser beams anyway.

Four mist machines are used in the show and these operate with fresh water to prevent the equipment from being corroded.

There are also controls which check on the temperature, humidity levels and voltage.

Next, we moved on to the geysers and were shown the control panel which activates them.

Here is one of the five water geysers, which each have an atmospheric pressure of 10 bar.

There are also 69 water cannons, which weigh between 250 kg to half a ton and are operated with sea water. The big ones need about 4-5 men to winch up and checks are done every morning as these water cannons need regular maintenance due to the salt water.

Water screens are also used in the show and these need two 2.5m high water pumps to run, together with several water jets. A Christie® 20K projector, which has a light output of 20,000 lumens, is used for projections onto the water screen. Here’s how the water screen looks during the day, minus the projection.

The crew frequently need to keep track of the tides, as a high tide may cause the equipment to malfunction and a low tide could mean that the water jets may not have enough water to operate.

Now onto the more “dangerous” stuff…

There are 17 flame machines (12 on the kelong and 5 on the beach) which inject some excitement into the show. These are the buttons and switches which control them.

We were then given a brief demonstration of the flame machines.

Last but not least, this is the control panel for the fireworks but there was no demonstration of it as due to our country’s regulations, fireworks can only be discharged by approved companies, thus there are two pyrotechnicians from an outsourced company who are responsible for this segment of the show.

This gadget seems to be a detonator related to the fireworks but I can’t remember how it’s being used. Haha…

The Songs of the Sea show started in 2007 and when ECA2 (the company who created the show) handed over to them, they only guaranteed 90% of the time it should run fine. To-date, the show has only been closed for 3 days due to technical fault. If you do the math, 2 shows daily x 6 years x 365 days… that’s quite a good track record considering that it was only closed for 3 days!

On one occasion, the kelong caught fire due to strong wind conditions. Thus, they have 2 wind sensors to monitor the winds as during monsoon seasons, the wind speed is about 50km/hr and there was one morning when it reached 67km/hr, so thankfully it didn’t happen during the show! Anyway, in the event of fire, the water cannons and water jets can double up as fire extinguishers! ^_^

By this time, it was about 7pm and this segment of the programme had overrun, so we quickly headed over to Tastes of Asia for dinner.

We were given a choice of Laksa or Chicken Rice and I chose the latter. The chicken could have been smoother but overall it tasted quite nice and I especially liked the achar (i.e. pickles).

After dinner, we were ushered to watch the 7:40pm show. For more details about the show, check out my other post on Songs of the Sea – Part 2 (The Show).

It was an eye-opener with regards what goes on behind-the-scenes of this show and it was also nice to be able to take some daytime shots of the kelong and the cast. Many thanks to Sentosa for organising this!

The Addams Family Musical in Singapore – Part 2 (Backstage Tour)

As mentioned in my previous post, we had the opportunity to meet the entire cast onstage about 15mins before the start of the show, with strict instructions not to touch anything as everything on the stage had already been preset for the show. We were then hurriedly ushered offstage and back to the main auditorium as the show was about to begin.

After the curtain call, we made another trip backstage for a tour of the set. This backstage tour was as part of “The Addams Family Facebook Fans/Bloggers Special” event organized by the Communications team of Resorts World Sentosa (RWS).

We were divided into about 4 or 5 groups and were told that each group would have a “guide” to show us around.

A door opened and out came Shaun Rice, who portrays Uncle Fester in the musical. He still had some makeup on but had already changed out of his stage attire. I took a picture with him before he led the first group off on their tour.

I was assigned to be in the fourth group and had to wait patiently for our “guide” to arrive. The previous group had already left with Dan Olson (Lurch) and we didn’t know who to expect to lead our group as it depended on who was the next person who appeared through the doorway…

In the meantime, I was looking around and saw this TV screen in the “Quick Change” room (also the Production Office), which shows what’s happening both on and off stage.

The guide for our group finally showed up and I was pleasantly surprised that it was Jesse Sharp!! Wow…backstage tour with Gomez!! The cat got my tongue for a while… ^_^

Photo Credit: Resorts World Sentosa

We had a wander onto the stage…

Here’s a closer look at the set…

Depending on the angle and the correct lighting, the set and props can look more 3D. If you look at this picture below, it’s hard to tell but the gravestone is actually a piece of flat board.

The head of the Addams family divulged that he really liked the Festive Grand theatre as it has a lot of depth and a huge space backstage as compared to the theatres in the US. Hmm…really? I was surprised to hear that.

If you have watched the musical, you may have noticed two TV screens placed at the front on each side of the stage – these aren’t prompters but they are actually used for the cast to watch the conductor as there isn’t any orchestral pit in this theatre and the musicians are located backstage. Wow…so they have no assistance whatsoever in the event that they forget their lines/lyrics!!

The cast and company do not rehearse much as they are already performing 8 shows a week so there isn’t any need for further rehearsals unless there is a change to one of the cast members or if the dance choreographer thinks that something isn’t quite right. For the show in Singapore, there was a change in the cast for the role of Pugsley, as the boy who acted in the US tour couldn’t travel to Singapore. Thus, they had several rehearsals two weeks before the show for the newest member of the cast to be familiarised with everything.

I went over to meet Dan Olson, who plays Lurch, and found him to be really really TALL!!

Grandma Addams (Amanda Bruton) then showed up minus makeup and costume. Gosh…what a difference! Here’s a picture of Shaun Rice (Uncle Fester) and Amanda Bruton (Grandma):

Took a picture with two of the Ancestors – the lady on my left is Elizabeth Hake but I’m not sure who the guy is especially under all that makeup! I spotted them patronising that fast food chain with the golden arches after our backstage tour. Guess it’s comfort food? 😉

Now let’s have a look at the props… oh lookie here – what’s that hiding behind the staircase?

It’s Cousin Itt!!

Some of the costumes used in the show…

The same costumes taken from a different angle and a clearer view of Uncle Fester’s costume and “legs” used during that black light scene in which he sang a love song to the moon (“The Moon and Me”).

Pugsley’s costume used in the scene when he was carrying his pet.

 

These trees were used by the Ancestors in the Central Park scene where the Beinekes were trying to find their way to the Addams’ house.

Grandma’s apothecary cart – see if you can spot the bottle of Acrimonium!

Bed used in the scene where Pugsley thinks there is a monster under the bed… Do you see one?

There were just too many props backstage and I wasn’t able to photograph everything! In the following picture, we can see the moon and stars used in “The Moon and Me”, the duck which Wednesday shot, the rocket used by Fester to fly to the Moon, the chalice used in the “Full Disclosure” game, etc…

Part of Gomez’s collection of exotic torture devices, which was demonstrated to Mal Beineke in one of the scenes.

This was the gate in the graveyard which the Ancestors exited from when they were summoned back to the land of the living.

Tables from the dining scene when the traditional Addams family game “Full Disclosure” was played, as well as the lever (on the right of the photo) which Wednesday used as part of the contraption for torturing Pugsley in “Pulled”.

 
Photo Source: Resorts World Sentosa

A close-up of one of the dining tables:

It was a brief but interesting tour of the backstage of The Addams Family Musical. Many thanks to RWS for organising this!

For more details about the musical, check out The Addams Family Musical in Singapore – Part 1 (The Show)