Dressed for success

Stromboli the showman arrives with his touring theatre. Photo by Maarten Holl.
Stromboli the showman arrives with his touring theatre. Photo by Maarten Holl.
A polished ballet production sweeps you away with its seeming ease and charm, but behind the scenes it takes a lot of work. Charmian Smith, enchanted by the opening night of Pinocchio and Verdi Variations in Wellington, talks to a couple of the people who make it happen.

There's always something magic about going to the ballet, and those who go to the Royal New Zealand Ballet's coming Tutus on Tour shows are in for a treat.

Whether it's the lights, the athleticism of the dancers, or the sumptuous costumes and sets, there's an enchantment that holds the audience spellbound.

Even hardy farmers dragged to the show by their wives are astounded and come and talk to the performers and crew afterwards, according to Drew Lees, the ballet's production manager.

A double bill of Verdi Variations, a classical ballet with amusing twists showing rivalry between the dancers, and the tale of Pinocchio, the naughty puppet who wants to be a real boy, opened in Wellington recently and is touring the country for six weeks.

Lees says he loves the two-yearly Tutus on Tour that takes the magic of ballet to small as well as larger centres.

They play in venues from theatres to school halls, but thankfully there are no fruit packing sheds or milking sheds this time, though they have played in them in the past, he said with a laugh.

This year the tour is bigger than ever, with both a traditional ballet and a narrated ballet, Pinocchio, which boasts elaborate costumes, sets and props.

Unfortunately, it has meant leaving out a couple of towns with very small venues, he says.

In Dunedin, with the Regent Theatre being renovated, the ballet will perform in the Town Hall.

It will be a mammoth task to turn it into a theatre - the stage will be extended six metres and reach to the balcony at the sides.

Because the parquet floor is laid on concrete, that is hard to dance on, a sprung dance floor will be laid on top.

The ballet's versatile new self-climbing truss system will form a box-like frame from which hang lights, backdrop, drapery and masking curtains.

Because they can't use backcloths to set the scene, they are using projections and the truss takes the projector too.

A new wireless DMX system for controlling lights means power cables don't need to run from the stage to the lighting control out front.

The system allows the crew of four to unpack the large truck and set up in six hours.

Because the company divides in two, one half touring the North Island and the other the South, it needs two of all the set pieces and sometimes four of each costume as there are two casts in each group.

This makes preparations almost as comprehensive as the full-scale productions they tour to the main centres twice a year, he says.

The ballet did not bring its sumptuous main productions to Dunedin last year, and we will also miss this year's production of Petrouchka in May and June because of the Regent Theatre renovations.

However, we will see The Sleeping Beauty at the end of the year and for the first time in many years we will get a full show instead of a cut-down version, made possible by new counterweights in the Regent.

"I can't wait for [the Regent] to be back. Our biggest issue, apart from the counterweights being quite unsafe, was the off-stage storage, but with the combination of how they are redeveloping the prompt side area, getting rid of some dressing rooms and bringing the old dock level with the stage, there will be a completely empty stage and better storage facilities for all our gear," Lees says.

The new flat access for trucks to the stage makes it easy to unload.

The old, steep drive caused accidents in the past, and trucks even had to be hauled out.

Each touring group has four crew members - stage manager, lighting operator, stage technician and wardrobe, so dancers have to help other dancers with quick changes and taking set pieces on and off stage.

The company's wardrobe manager Andrew Pfeiffer and his team of four have been busy making two, and in some cases four of each of the elaborate, colourful Pinocchio costumes.

"I could really have done with another week," he says on opening night, but deadlines have to be met.

They were slow to get started, as they couldn't do any fitting until the dancers returned from tour in December.

The elaborate harness the coachman wears above his own head to make him a giant only arrived a couple of weeks before the show opened so they couldn't get on with the costume that goes over it until that was fitted, he says.

Stromboli the showman had difficulty keeping his large, colourful cloak on one shoulder as he turned and danced, but Pfeiffer says during the dress rehearsal he suddenly realised how to anchor it, and had his fingers crossed it stayed in place on opening night - which it did, swirling dramatically as Stromboli controlled his puppets and impressed the villagers - and the audience.

See it

The Royal New Zealand Ballet's Tutus on Tour show Pinocchio and Verdi Variations will perform in Oamaru on March 17, Dunedin March 19 and 20, Invercargill on March 23, Gore on March 24, Te Anau on March 25, Queenstown on March 26, Wanaka March 27, Alexandra March 29, Twizel March 30, and Timaru March 31.

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