The Dragon - Mike Harvey

There was a discussion about the dragon costume before I was allowed to get into or under it. Wardrobe discussed whether or not they should add foam to the interior so that the old beast would rest on the shoulders of the Super handler rather than on his head. Finally, I got under it and the Prop team lowered away.

Being inside is like being in the driver's seat of a crazy machine designed by Hieronymus Bosch. In spite of the foam, most of the weight is borne on the head. There is a bit of mesh that affords a distorted view of a one-foot-square area, four feet straight ahead. The old beast's lolling head and gaping maw rests way out in front of the Super on creaky casters. Inside the neck is a large, heavy CO2 fire extinguisher that emits scary bursts of dragon snot.

At the first stage rehearsal, I was asked to ride the trap without the dragon suit while it was lowered below the stage. I was given the go-ahead to step on the two-foot-square plywood panel, and at the cue, down I went. I was astonished to find a team of stagehands below, lowering this contraption by hand with a rope and pulley. There were no electronically controlled elevators in sight. The trap is a platform lowered hand-over-hand by a group of guys who have your life, or at least your brittle bones, in their capable hands.

The dragon is a very special creature in that he is part costume, a scaly rubber padded suit and Godzilla feet, and part prop, the large body construction that includes the head, wings, and tail. The Wardrobe Department is responsible for the padded suit and feet, the Prop Department takes care of the body, and the Electrical Department is responsible for the fire extinguisher inside the body. So there's a real feeling of an Apollo mission coming together while we wait for the overture to finish, the curtain to rise, and ASM to cue the entrance.
To complicate matters, Tamino shoots a real arrow at the offstage dragon, so it was decided at the last minute that everybody backstage should avoid puncture wounds by standing behind a curtain, well away from the dragon’s empty prop body. This leaves barely enough time for Props to rush in, hoist the dragon, and remove the brace; Electrical to reach in and pull the pin on the CO2; Props to lower the beast onto Godzilla's shoulders; the assistant to yell "Go!"; and the dragon to lumber onstage toward Tamino.

Where the hell is the trap? It's dark and I can't see a thing. I try to remember to pull the trigger for smoke at the right times and to paw the ground menacingly, but my main goal is to hit the trap. If I don’t, I’ll be stuck onstage under Puff for thirty-seven minutes. I make my way stage left, spewing as I go, and I see a slight variation in the floor—I hope it's the trap. I can hear someone say offstage, "He's on," as the Queen of the Night’s lovely ladies run at me shaking spears. Then down I go, after one last pull on the smoke handle, into a warm seething pit of steam-enhanced dry ice vapor that feels like the Great Dismal Swamp. I’m in total oblivion; I can't see anything at all. The stagehand assigned to spot me calls out, "Where is he?" I stagger out of the gloom as the smoke clears, and I can see that the trap has already risen. Stray dragon parts have not followed me into the hole.

Mission accomplished.

Dead dragon photo by Larry Merkle, San Francisco Opera

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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