# How have you "melted the witch"?



## Rockey (Jan 22, 2009)

Another Oz question... for those of you who have done the Wizard of Oz... how have you melted the witch at the end? 
I know that there are a lot of options with smoke, trap doors, etc. But I'm wondering specifically what other people have used and if anyone had any ingenious ideas that looked spectacular.
Thanks in advance!


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## WestlakeTech (Jan 22, 2009)

Trap door and fog machine, just like you said. I'd advise drilling some holes in front of the trapdoor though, so the smoke can rise before the door is opened. Most of the audience will figure out it's a trapdoor, but they shouldn't see it, and that was our biggest issue two years ago. (Guys and Dolls this year will be so much easier. ;-)


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## lieperjp (Jan 22, 2009)

Since neither of the two stages I have done Oz on had a built in trapdoor, we built platforms. At my high school they built one with a fairly large sized hole in it, painted it black, and covered the hole with a black cloth. Then when the witch melted, she would step into the hole covered by black cloth, and her cloak/costume would disguise the hole as she went down. 

Here at my college we built a sliding trap door into the set for the witches castle, when the time came a member of the stage crew would slide the trapdoor out from underneath and she would go under. 

In both cases the costume was large enough to cover the hole in the stage. However, here we used a bit of the canned fog. At my high school we did not use any fog that I can remember.


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## theatretechguy (Jan 22, 2009)

For our production the entire "witches lair" was a large square rolling platform with stairs on the side going up. The "trap" was always open and was actually a "slide". Because of the angle, the audience never saw the trap and at the right moment, smoke was brought in and the witch knelt down and basically slid down the slide, out of sight. The unit is rolled off at the end of the scene, witch still inside.


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## kiwitechgirl (Jan 23, 2009)

We had a truck which was the witch's throne room, with her throne at the centre of it. The seat of the throne was built with hinges at the front and he;d up by bolts at the back; when Dorothy threw the water at her, she fell back onto the seat, which was unbolted at the back by two crew who were behind the truck, and it then tilted down. The witch slid butt first down the seat, which was by then at about a 45 degree angle, and disappeared behind the truck, leaving her hat behind. This was, of course, helped with a lot of smoke and strobing! This is the only picture I have of the truck, it's not particularly helpful but is better than nothing!


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## gafftaper (Jan 23, 2009)

I built a platform about 3' tall. With a 2'x2' trapdoor in the middle. The trap door opened down and toward the front of the stage. On the left and right side of the hole under the stage I built ladders. 

At the start of the scene the witch straddled the hole. A crowd of soldiers was gathered around the witch at the moment the water (large blue and green glitter) was thrown. Two technicians opened the trap and shot some smoke out. The witch proceeded to climb down the ladders, one foot on each side, smoke coming up around her. Under the stage, a technician was guiding each foot step so she could do this smoothly and confidently. She had a large black cape made just for this scene that came off easily and spread around the hole. As she went down the ladders, she took off the hat and the soldiers gathered around made sure that as the door was closed the trap was covered with the cape and hat. It took a little practice to get it right but it looked really good in the end.


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## cdub260 (Jan 23, 2009)

kiwitechgirl said:


> We had a truck...



Am I not recognizing this because it's one of those south of the equator terms or is it because I haven't built a set in nearly a decade?

Is it what I think of as a wagon?


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## gafftaper (Jan 24, 2009)

Yeah CB... another one of those regional dialect things. I think it's a wagon.


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## gafftaper (Jan 24, 2009)

Hughesie translated: 
A "truck" is Aussie for "wagon". 
A "trolley" is Aussie for a "wagon" with a handle on one end for pushing and pulling.


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## derekleffew (Jan 24, 2009)

Not just Aussie, but most non-US English-speaking countries.


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## NickJones (Jan 26, 2009)

Hydrochloric acid may work.......


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## Grog12 (Jan 26, 2009)

NickJones said:


> Hydrochloric acid may work.......




**** you Nick that was my joke.

Grr....

How bout just throwing some water on her? It worked in the movie!


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## ScottT (Jan 26, 2009)

No no no no no, not even close to being strong enough. Go with a <deleted>. And if you add it to <deleted> you get an exothermic reaction (BIG, BIG Boom!)

Disclaimer: Don't try that at home kids

  

EDIT: Dangerous chemicals are dangerous. Good point Derek.


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## jwl868 (Jan 27, 2009)

NickJones said:


> Hydrochloric acid may work.......



There appears to be work available in Mexico City...

'Stewmaker' stirs horror in Mexico - Washington Post- msnbc.com

Joe


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## Rockey (Feb 3, 2009)

Thank you everyone for your help. I love the acid idea, but I have no qualms with this actress, and I'd hate to ruin a perfectly good costume. 
Anyway, I'd been planning on the wagon with a trap door idea, but making it appear smooth enough was a concern. I guess the main thing here is to rehearse it like crazy.
Thanks again all!


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## icewolf08 (Feb 7, 2009)

This is a similar effect to one used in "The Foreigner." YOu need to "melt" a person as opposed to just drop them through a trap. So, what we did for "The Foreigner" should work for your witch. We had a costume double that was built bigger and with a weighted hem. Once the actor stepped on the trap we lowered it just enough to be able to start to blow air up with fans and balloon the costume. Then we lowered the trap and actor and the costume sat there and as we moved the fans away it collapsed. Worked really well.


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## erosing (Feb 7, 2009)

So is it just me, or does the thread title sound like some sort of sexual reference? 

Also, are we allowed to say sexual? Or is that considered explicit?


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## theatretechguy (Feb 8, 2009)

Yeah, I totally thought that after I replied to this thread. 

"Oh... and he totally melted my witch last night!!!"


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## Dionysus (Feb 9, 2009)

Ahh yes. Easy-peasy.

Quite similar to many of the others allready posted.

We had a trapdoor that opens down (held closed by a coffin lock (rotolock)), with 4 people under the stage to help lower the witch as her dress collapsed down to the deck (larger than the trap or course). Fog was shot though a tube up infront and around of the trap at the moment of the witch getting wet.
The space was very short under the stage so the 4 people had some difficulty making sure that the witch did not bump her head.

It was very effective seeing the witch slowly 'melt down'. By the time she reached the deck, the fog was thick enough for her to 'dislodge' herself from her overdress.


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## NickJones (Feb 21, 2009)

ScottT said:


> No no no no no, not even close to being strong enough. Go with a <deleted>. And if you add it to <deleted> you get an exothermic reaction (BIG, BIG Boom!)
> 
> Disclaimer: Don't try that at home kids
> 
> ...



AWWWWWWW
NO FUN!
Im gunna have to go back to the Anarchist's Cookbook for dangerous things made from household products....
Nick


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## wavemaster447 (Jul 29, 2009)

I've done it with a trapdoor with a mini-trapdoor cut in it. The actor stood over the trapdoor and a techie reached through the mini-trapdoor and secured the bottom of the witche's dress to the stage right around the door. (to hold it in place) He then opened the full trapdoor and reached up with a stick to hold the Witche's dress up (from the top back) while she slipped out of the bottem of the dress out of the trapdoor. (slightly obscured by fog). The techie then lowered teh stick/dress through the mini-door to create a melting effect. Nobody I talked to noticed the method we used - they guessed it was a trapdoor but they thought it was weird how the witch "melted" from inside the dress.

oh, and note. The actress should probably wear something substantial under the dress, since there will be a techie reaching up it, and she has to go around with out a dress until she gets something else on... (I think ours wore a leotard)


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## dramatech (Jul 29, 2009)

We did the wagon with a platform on it, with part of the platform a smaller platform inserted into the larger one. The smaller platform was on four vertical tracks made from water pipe. The bottom of the platform was attached by cables to a hydraulic cylinder like the ones used in an engine lift. When the witch had water thrown onto her, she was lowered by a tech under the set piece, opening the valve on the hydraulic cylinder. The valve had a limiter on it so that it could only be opened enough to make the descent smooth. Of course there was the fog and cape staying on the platform to conceal the descent. We also used the same device on the Foreigner, but this time it was lowered into the covered orchestra pit.


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## JoelEBear (Jul 30, 2009)

You could do that shadow play business like in Wicked.
Like have the Witch step behind a white curtain, back light it and have her pretend to melt and once you think the audience is satisfied with the effect, kill the light, have the witch run off stage but leaver her hat, cloak, and broomstick.


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## derekleffew (Jul 30, 2009)

Great idea, JoelEBear. This could also solve the "How do I make Peter Pan fly?" dilemma (I'm thinking puppets on long sticks or wires).http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/members/joelebear.html


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## philhaney (Jul 30, 2009)

gafftaper said:


> Hughesie translated:
> A "truck" is Aussie for "wagon".
> A "trolley" is Aussie for a "wagon" with a handle on one end for pushing and pulling.




derekleffew said:


> Not just Aussie, but most non-US English-speaking countries.



Hence the "Sweets Lady" in the Harry Potter movies who comes by with the cart loaded with candy and says, "Anything off the trolley, dears?"

To stay on topic: When we did this for "The Forigner" part of the set was a platform about 3' above the deck. During act one, the door in the floor to the basement was a wood door (1" ply, I think) flush with the platform. During intermission we removed the door and replaced it with a scissor lift painted to look like the door (it also was flush to the platform and the "door hole" was designed to fit right around it). the actor came in dressed in a sheet that covered the lift and we just slowly lowered him. It was SO cool.


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