The War of the Roses
An episodic 10 part mini drama in the life of Broadway props and the people who love them. The following thread is real, edited to protect, but published to entertain. From: (irate tour guy) To: (my supervisor) Today I received an invoice for one new heavy duty Red Rose Bouquet that (name withheld) ordered. I am well aware of the fact that specialty items take time and are therefore more expensive than you would expect. This invoice is for $875.00. That is insulting and a joke. How do they have the nerve to send that bill - let alone to a client who already spends a lot of money with them. Am I crazy? Are they crazy? Should I go in to the prop building business - cause I know I can build that bouquet for under $100. Anyway, before I simply pay th
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With communication, a reasonable budget and a little drying time, all things are possible.
The best part of serving a handmade industry means spending the bulk of your time doing what you love, creating and collaborating. Given the luxury of time, the project starts with research, evolves during development, and final adjustments get done during tech. On the flip side, some jobs go down so quickly you barely have time to even sharpen the pencil before it's flying out the door. The secret to hitting the bull's-eye in all scenarios is good communication. When I was very young, I was hired to make a huge car stereo for an electronics shop. I spent weeks building an 8' long, 3-dimensional car stereo out of wood, plexi and metal that was perfect, or so I thought. When I proudly delivered the finished piece for installation, the owners face showed his concern and discomfor
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Death by Pottery
In the tragic drama, The Ballad of Yachiyo, a broken piece of Japanese pottery serves as the method of self destruction. The challenge: A piece of pottery is smashed against the floor and a broken shard is used to commit suicide. The solution: A mold was made of an authentic piece of Japanese pottery used in the production. A rubber replica of the bowl was created. A hollow rubber pottery shard was sculpted and cast to hold stage blood. When rubber bowl is violently smashed against the floor, a shard is then picked up and drawn across the wrist - depositing the crimson line of life.
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A Greasy Bag
Fake grease Challenge: The actor needed to clutch a greasy brown bag of cookies to his chest without getting grease on the costume. Solution: Making the fake grease on this brown bag = shellac to the rescue! The hardest part was painting just the right amount on the inside of the bag to soak through, then finding a spot on the clothesline to hang 100 bags for drying.
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A blanket of hay
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row] [caption id="attachment_838" align="alignleft" width="428"] Hay blanket for Young Frankenstein, Broadway[/caption] How to make a simple pile of hay The challenge: Ulla pops out from under the pile of hay. As they cavorted, the hay had to stay in the cart. It had to be hypo-allergenic. It had to be fire retardant. It could not attract vermin. It needed to look and behave like real hay. The Solution: Successive rows of strung and knotted raffia strands, a strong organic fiber with no intrinsic food value, were stitched onto a fortified blanket of burlap and jute. The all natural piece was then thoroughly flame retarded. It was as comfortable to perform in as any "hay" could be
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