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Backstage Pass: A Behind The Scenes Look at WICKED

Check out exclusive photos of costumes from the backstage tour of WICKED Manila!

Welcome to The Emerald City! If you think you know the story of the Wicked Witch of the West, think again… Set in a spectacular and colorful fantasy world of wizards, witches, magic and spells, Wicked tells the story of an unlikely but profound friendship between a popular blonde girl called Glinda and a misunderstood, green-skinned girl named Elphaba. 

At a media call, friends from the media were toured backstage to see the wardrobe to the Manila production of WICKED. The Broadway and West End musical phenomenon which tells the magical untold story of the Witches of Oz has returned to the Philippine shores. The show opened on February 2, 2017 and will run until March 12, 2017 at The Theatre at Solaire. 

The multi record-breaking original Broadway production is a book by Winnie Holzman and is based on the acclaimed novel by Gregory Maguire. As you can see in the snippets from their performance above, you'll notice how impressive every detail on their wearables down to their sets are. We will take you to the backstage of what they call the wardrobe village, which is the hub of the show off-stage, where you will see the costumes created by Susan Hilferty, hair and wig designs by Tom Watson and more. 

There are 60 masks including Monkies, Doctor, Dillamond and the Midwife which are molded to the head of the performer for a perfect fit. So when a member of a cast is employed on the show, one of the first things they have to do is to get the mold made. Masks then take four weeks to make in a prosthetics studio in London.
There are 6 touring wardrobe staff, 6 in the wigs department and they need the help of 12 local dressers because otherwise, the show wouldn't be possible. 
During rehearsals, they had 20 costume makers; 7 alteration assistants; 5 hat makers; 6 embroiders and beaders; 2 jewellers; 3 knitters; 5 show makers; 2 win makers; 12 local and 6 touring staff which is a total of 68 people. 
There are 350 costumes and 1,818 costume items which include the jewelry, hats, etc. There are also 155 pairs of shoes and the average cost is £550 per pair, approximately 34,117 in Philippine Peso.
Per week, they use 7 liters of washing liquid, 7 liters of conditioner and 1 liter of vodka to maintain the costumes. On a one show day, there are 10 loads of washing while on a matinee day, there are 14 loads of washing to be done.
For the wigs, it takes the department of 6, 5 hours a day to wash, set and maintain. There is a total of 147 wigs which were designed by Tom Watson. One wig takes four months to make from start to finish.
For the production, they make sure they have a lot of spares even for the smallest item — that includes every nuts and bolts and screw.
Glinda's Engagement dress is based on Dior and her bubble dress which is photographed above is based on Chanel. This bubble dress needs to be maintained every week which takes 16 hours since it's the most intricate wardrobe in the production, and also the most expensive one. It has 40 individual petals and thousands of individually handsewn sequins as well, so it is imminent that some of them fall off on stage. 

WICKED opens February 2, 2016 at The Theatre at Solaire, Solaire Resort & Casino Entertainment City, Parañaque 1 Asean Avenue, Paranaque. Ticket prices are as follows: Emerald – P7,000 / A Reserve – P5,800 / B Reserve – P4,500 / C Reserve – P3,350 / D Reserve P1,750. Buy your tickets online here.

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