Shanghai load in

We started load in at 11PM on Wednesday night. All of our stuff - or at least the stuff that was legally allowed to fly - arrived on trucks, stacked on pallets, racheted together and wrapped in plastic.

A guy with a forklift helped immensely...

We had tons of labor and needed everyone to unload the pallets, unwrap everything and then push it all indoors into various areas. Our wig assistant, a little cutie from El Salvador, directed traffic using 6 Chinese words - left, right, straight ahead, thank you - and lots of hand gestures.

And the space is GAR-GAN-TUAN. Huge. Enormous. Even Ginormous. This is the view from the loading dock.
The wings are so big that while a show is running, they build sets in the wings for the next show and then just swap them out.

Plus, if you look at the floor in this picture you can see two revolves built into the deck. And they revolve in opposite directions, of course...

Space is not a problem.

After an hour and a half on Wednesday night all the pallets were dumped so we went home and came back at 9AM for the rest of load in. As of last night at 9:30PM, most of the crew was still there 12 hours later. Fortunately we didn't have a show.

What is a problem is communication. We have translators, who are all wonderful but don't all speak wonderful English. Plus it's infinitely arduous since everything has to be instructed, then repeated, then translated, then questions asked, then translated, then things clarified, then answers translated, etc. Everyone's working hard but it's taking forever.

The heat is the other major issue. It's SO hot. And humid. And smoggy. Wigs don't hold curl, hairspray and paint don't dry, costumes are still damp after an hour in an industrial dryer... Everything just takes longer.

We train our crews and have our first performance tonight. I can't even imagine how it will go.

Shanghai is an amazing city though. I'll post pictures later this week.