3/2/2024 0 Comments Grease lightning live castThe Frosty Palace set needed all custom-made booths. ![]() We start with limited stock, and then need to customize. If you add period decor, you have a problem on your hands. We worked within a very limited color range in each set. To that end, Production Designer David Korins had very specific ideas about the color choices. We were creating a world that was part reality, and part theatrical. The trickiest creative aspect of this show was straddling the line between theatre and reality. Frankly, being creative isn't even the half of it. The reality is we are simultaneously traffic cops, accountants, managers, psychotherapists and parents. People think Set Decorators just run around picking out pretty things, swilling expensive coffee drinks and pointing at people. ![]() I am incredulously asking, "How the hell did you two people break this? You're both the size of 10-year-olds!" Cut to me in the Line Producer's office handing over a PO and a Loss and Damage invoice saying sternly, "This is why we can't have nice things." I am standing with two dancers, a frantic producer and a sad piece of broken furniture in the center of the proceedings. Picture it: Hollywood rehearsal hall, the recent past. ![]() You would be shocked at the amount of force a 100-pound dancer can exert by landing on or jumping off of a table or chair. Sometimes I have to compromise and make the best of my choices. I can tell just by looking at a lot of items if they meet this standard or not. About 3 weeks before the broadcast, we had the balance of the chairs wrapped and voila! Perfect. They do a lot of cars, so why not a chair? We did a test chair, wrapping the seat and back in the proper shade of red, and after weeks of rehearsal the process proved to be dancer-proof. Suzanne and Sino Tuor have helped me before by wrapping the oddest things imaginable with colored film. Our gym was studded by the honey wood tones of a sea of collapsible bleachers, and the tables were of a similar color value. The next step was changing the color of the wood. I got the thumbs up on the chairs from our dazzling choreographer Zach Woodlee. Similar chairs with wood seats and backs. The sea of broken furniture and props left behind in the wake of the lovely dancers at DANCING WITH THE STARS could fill a 40' drop box. I think it was about 2 days before the first chair seat cracked. My favorites were a basic ‘50s school desk chair. We had a number of these issues, and I think the cafeteria chairs sum it up. Some of that is trial and error-a piece may be perfect looking, but is it sturdy enough to endure weeks of rehearsal? Are there enough multiples out there, and in period style? They needed furniture! There were chairs, tables and other items that were integral parts of the choreography. Our cast was rehearsing long before our sets were done. One of the things that set this show apart from other live events and shows I have worked on was the lengthy rehearsal time. In hindsight, I am most oddly grateful for 2 simple things - a loaner bike provided by my stellar Assistant Set Decorator Effney Gardea, another SDSA member, and the fact the WB lot is about 12 minutes from my house. Working on 3 different interior stages, and number of exteriors all over the Warner Bros. The particular challenges we faced as a company had more to do with logistics and timing than anything else. Being the small town this is, there were many other familiar faces on the crew in all departments: camera, grip, hair, stage management, sound. We were both new LA transplants when we met. He shopped for me on BABYLON 5 when he was fresh off the boat. Supervising Art Director Joe Celli is someone I have known for 20 years, and our history is a terabyte hard drive. We have conquered countless Argentine Tangos, Cha Chas and Paso Dobles together. TV Director Alex Rudzinski I know well from 7 seasons in the glitter-filled trenches of DANCING WITH THE STARS. He is a seasoned pro and one of the nicest and saltiest guys ever. Producer Greg Sills and I have worked many awards shows together, including GUY'S CHOICE AWARDS and KID'S CHOICE AWARDS. Lucky for me, I knew a lot of the key players and already had a rapport with many of them. It was part live theatre, part dance show, part multi-camera, and a 100% entirely new combination of all of those elements and more. At the outset, the mantra we repeated to ourselves was, "We are doing a new thing." Everyone involved had done similar shows, but this combined elements of many disparate genres. Some of the classmates may be the same, some of the locations may even be the same, but the work takes you down a few new roads and will always leave you changed. You always feel you are heading out to the first day at a new school. Info and insights from Set Decorator Jason Howard SDSA into the making of the remarkable, Emmy-nominated television event GREASE: LIVE!Īs every experienced Set Decorator knows, every show you decide to take on is a unique adventure.
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