By Edward Karam
11 Jun 2011

	George Wendt in Elf
	photo by Joan Marcus

Santa's Ride

A similarly iconic set piece — Santa's seven-foot long, 600-pound sleigh — was created by designer David Rockwell for only 20 seconds of flying time in Elf, the Christmastime musical. The result was a product of collaboration among director, designer and writers. "In early conversations with [director] Casey Nicholaw," Rockwell says, "we talked about projections, miniatures, and the joy of actually seeing George Wendt [as Santa Claus] flying in the sleigh."

But what about Dasher and Dancer, et al.? "So much of the show was predicated on the belief in Santa that we proposed a sleigh that didn't have reindeer — more of a sculpted sleigh," says the designer. "The writers liked idea of sleigh stripped of its reindeer by PETA activities, so it was powered only by the spirit of Christmas." The result had workable headlights, silver hood ornaments, and an illuminated red nose for the sculpted head of a reindeer at the front.

The magic of flight was created mechanically, of course, but with an extra dose of ingenuity. "The back of the sleigh was attached to a counterweighted hydraulic telescoping arm," explains Rockwell. "It acts like a lever that lifts the sleigh up 14 feet in the air at the same time that it's moving six feet toward the audience. So that, in effect, had the sleigh taking off while it was moving toward the audience with Santa in it. We also put the sleigh at a 90-degree angle off to the side from center stage, so it was moving up and out, and moving at a diagonal.

"Typically," he explains, "when an actor is flown like that and raised above the stage, it's done with cables, and it moves left and right. We wanted the action to feel more emotional, so moving toward the audience on this arm was the way we pursued it." The hydraulic arm was encased in a black velvet sleeve, and, as the sleigh moved downstage, the headlights — Natasha Katz was the lighting designer — beaming at the audience helped disguise the contrivance.

In fact, "treading the boards" has rarely meant "feet off the ground" so frequently as this season. Actors took to the air — with controversial, ground-breaking (as it were) stunts in Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark, which delayed its opening. They flew upward on wires in Brief Encounter, as well as the long-running Billy Elliot, and they descended on them in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Priscilla. In How to Succeed the descent was practical: the characters on wires are washing windows.

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