Yvette Rosedale - Griffin Cover

Who would have thought that it would be difficult to portray a Griffin? After all, no one knows how the beast looked or moved—it's mythological. I thought this was going to be a piece of cake. Ha! Try donning the hindquarters of a lion costume, put seven-foot-high wings and the head of an eagle on your back, and hold on to two-and-a-half-foot-long inflexible front legs. This is what it takes to just put on the costume. Sounds, uh, easy?

OK, crouch and squat. This is how the Griffin sits onstage. There’s no need to go to the gym during a run of the Flute.

Now, to enter and exit the stage you have to hop. This, according to the director, makes the Griffin more interesting. But be careful, the head and wings can build up tremendous momentum. If the head gets ahead of you, it will pull you over onto your not-so-mythological face. Oh, and throughout the pageantry, you can't see a thing. There is a section of mesh through which to view the stage. Unfortunately, it is aligned with your nose, which means that you can only see your feet; this doesn't help the Griffin navigate to the small slot in the wings that constitutes an exit.

My first time onstage as the Griffin was during a piano dress rehearsal. I was so excited. This was my debut as the cover Griffin.

I got into the costume. I was nervous. When I told the ASM that I hadn't yet hopped in this thing, she looked at me calmly and said, "So hop." So I did. I didn't fall over. My fears were quelled.

"Griffin—Go." That was my cue, so I went. I was a little uncomfortable squatting, but I did it. I heard all subsequent cues and did my bit, with no major problems. Yippee! It was time to exit. I went, and I didn’t run into the giraffe, which was another small victory. I hopped to stage left. I couldn’t see anything. I kept going, thinking, "I wonder how many hops I need to take before I'm sufficiently offstage." Then I heard a man say, "Stop." "Hmmm . . . I wonder who he's talking to?" I heard a scream. It was high. It was loud. It was the prima donna! I had run into her. My operatic life passed before my eyes. I could see the headline: "First Time Onstage . . . Last Time Onstage. Mythological Creature Tramples Diva."

Well, I guess this is why they have rehearsals!

The Sound
and the Furry

Read the tales straight from the beasts' mouths:

Mike Harvey
Giraffe / Dragon

Priscilla Lore
Griffin

Yvette Rosedale
Griffin Cover

Jaye Hepburn
Salamander

Carolyn Waugh
Hedgehog

Lisa Gelling
Other Cover

Jeremy Joseph
Bear

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