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DVC Member since '93; One Hour from WDW
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2010
Theres no kitchen sink in Iceploration, the new ice-skating show at Busch Gardens in Tampa, but it wouldnt be that surprising.
The production features a dozen ice skaters (including one that takes flight), life-size elephant puppets, cheetah costuming, a Siberian lynx and other live animals, acrobats on trampolines, a three-story tree, a virtual snowstorm and high-tech video mapping to tell a round-the-world story in about half an hour.
Its about three hours of show in 30 minutes, creative director Scott Swenson says. Iceploration debuts at the theme park Thursday.
The plot centers on an 11-year-old boy who communicates mainly through his electronic devices, and his grandfather, who encourages him to come out of his room and journey to the four corners of the earth. Swenson says.
The global nature of Iceploration is achieved through ever-morphing staging created by technique known as video mapping, which projects images onto different surfaces inside the parks Moroccan Palace Theater.
By taking video content that has been produced specifically for the show, we are able to change the entire look of the proscenium or the legs or the backdrop. Or were able to project onto painted media and make it move and come to life. Swenson says Its incorporating some rather high-tech video processes into a live theater experience.
The stage changes along with the changes in shows locations. Guests and skaters make stops at the Serengeti, the Great Barrier Reef, the Arctic and a rain forest.
The African scene features a life-size momma elephant puppet controlled by two puppeteers, who are inside the puppet, wearing low stilts with cleats to maintain balance on the icy stage. Skaters in this segment represent a baby elephant, gazelles and a cheetah.
Iceploration presents a nontraditional use of puppets in the barrier-reef scene.
Weve filled these puppets with helium so that have a sort of a neutral buoyancy, and theyre basically guided around the stage so it looks like theyre floating or swimming in the water, Swenson says. The scene also uses black light for an otherworldly effect.
For the arctic segment, a group of skaters perform high-energy choreography to form a snowstorm. The boy and his grandfather later arrive by dog sled pulled by four huskies.
In the rain forest, acrobats in monkey costumes are part of a huge production number, Swenson says.
The female soloist skater sports a dragonfly costume.
Not only does she skate in this costume, she also takes does a cable flight, where she actually leaves the ice and comes back multiple times throughout the number, Swenson says.
The costumes were created by designer Gregg Barnes, who won a Tony Award for his work on the Broadway production of The Drowsy Chaperone in 2006.
He developed all the costume designs and was actually on property to oversee their construction as well, Swenson says.
Busch Gardens has a tradition of ice shows. This one has been three years in the making.
We have done ice shoes in the past, and they have been very, very popular with our guests, Swenson says. But this is the ice show for the new millennium. Were taking it to a whole new dimension.
The production features a dozen ice skaters (including one that takes flight), life-size elephant puppets, cheetah costuming, a Siberian lynx and other live animals, acrobats on trampolines, a three-story tree, a virtual snowstorm and high-tech video mapping to tell a round-the-world story in about half an hour.
Its about three hours of show in 30 minutes, creative director Scott Swenson says. Iceploration debuts at the theme park Thursday.
The plot centers on an 11-year-old boy who communicates mainly through his electronic devices, and his grandfather, who encourages him to come out of his room and journey to the four corners of the earth. Swenson says.
The global nature of Iceploration is achieved through ever-morphing staging created by technique known as video mapping, which projects images onto different surfaces inside the parks Moroccan Palace Theater.
By taking video content that has been produced specifically for the show, we are able to change the entire look of the proscenium or the legs or the backdrop. Or were able to project onto painted media and make it move and come to life. Swenson says Its incorporating some rather high-tech video processes into a live theater experience.
The stage changes along with the changes in shows locations. Guests and skaters make stops at the Serengeti, the Great Barrier Reef, the Arctic and a rain forest.
The African scene features a life-size momma elephant puppet controlled by two puppeteers, who are inside the puppet, wearing low stilts with cleats to maintain balance on the icy stage. Skaters in this segment represent a baby elephant, gazelles and a cheetah.
Iceploration presents a nontraditional use of puppets in the barrier-reef scene.
Weve filled these puppets with helium so that have a sort of a neutral buoyancy, and theyre basically guided around the stage so it looks like theyre floating or swimming in the water, Swenson says. The scene also uses black light for an otherworldly effect.
For the arctic segment, a group of skaters perform high-energy choreography to form a snowstorm. The boy and his grandfather later arrive by dog sled pulled by four huskies.
In the rain forest, acrobats in monkey costumes are part of a huge production number, Swenson says.
The female soloist skater sports a dragonfly costume.
Not only does she skate in this costume, she also takes does a cable flight, where she actually leaves the ice and comes back multiple times throughout the number, Swenson says.
The costumes were created by designer Gregg Barnes, who won a Tony Award for his work on the Broadway production of The Drowsy Chaperone in 2006.
He developed all the costume designs and was actually on property to oversee their construction as well, Swenson says.
Busch Gardens has a tradition of ice shows. This one has been three years in the making.
We have done ice shoes in the past, and they have been very, very popular with our guests, Swenson says. But this is the ice show for the new millennium. Were taking it to a whole new dimension.
