Rikki Tikki Tavi: Final Dress
The set is complete! Final dress went off without a hitch, the costumes look lovely with my scenery, everyone is happy with how it turned out... now we just relax and wait for the kids to show up tomorrow morning. Here's a little of what they'll see:
The human characters are masked actors, to give them a level of reality different from the animals. Everyone in the show except Rikki plays at least two characters and some as many as four. The actors don't really leave stage when they aren't in character, but perch to the side and become observers.
Rikki exploring her new home after being adopted by the humans.
One of the dance sequences, the ladies on the floor are fledgling birds learning to fly, and thus becoming endangered by the various snakes in the show.
One of many fight sequences, the final one in fact: Rikki vs. Nagana. The fights are a mix of
dance, ballet, and kung fu moves. The snakes use tantos to represent their fangs.
All in all I feel really good about this design. The process went smoothly, there were no major hangups, I only had to do one really long night (last night) and most everything came out the way I had originally envisioned. (Compare the photos the original sketch.) The only major difference is the rugs, but they were cut early on by the fight choreographer who was afraid of the actors tripping. I had hoped to have a rug in the area behind the arch on the left anyway, but I could never find one cheap enough (re:free.) I came in $20 over budget (3%.) I may in fact end up being under budget if the production manager follows my advice and raises a fuss about the paint. I had ordered 3 gallons of the tan, and after finishing the first can was shocked to see that the second can was a completely different color. The third can was different than either of those. The green that I used for the floor was the same story. 2 gallons, 2 different colors even though they were mixed by the same person on the same day. We shouldn't have to pay for that. (Not full price at least!)
Plus... it looks great.
The human characters are masked actors, to give them a level of reality different from the animals. Everyone in the show except Rikki plays at least two characters and some as many as four. The actors don't really leave stage when they aren't in character, but perch to the side and become observers.
Rikki exploring her new home after being adopted by the humans.
One of the dance sequences, the ladies on the floor are fledgling birds learning to fly, and thus becoming endangered by the various snakes in the show.
One of many fight sequences, the final one in fact: Rikki vs. Nagana. The fights are a mix ofdance, ballet, and kung fu moves. The snakes use tantos to represent their fangs.
All in all I feel really good about this design. The process went smoothly, there were no major hangups, I only had to do one really long night (last night) and most everything came out the way I had originally envisioned. (Compare the photos the original sketch.) The only major difference is the rugs, but they were cut early on by the fight choreographer who was afraid of the actors tripping. I had hoped to have a rug in the area behind the arch on the left anyway, but I could never find one cheap enough (re:free.) I came in $20 over budget (3%.) I may in fact end up being under budget if the production manager follows my advice and raises a fuss about the paint. I had ordered 3 gallons of the tan, and after finishing the first can was shocked to see that the second can was a completely different color. The third can was different than either of those. The green that I used for the floor was the same story. 2 gallons, 2 different colors even though they were mixed by the same person on the same day. We shouldn't have to pay for that. (Not full price at least!)
Plus... it looks great.
It has been so cool watching this go up! Thanks for the behind-the-scenes look at how it all comes together.