"I will accept your proposition on one condition, you set those monkeys free."

Elphaba to the Wizard of Oz

They are scary, those Wicked flying monkeys. Spiky scalps, red-black skin with translucent featherless wings erect as they scatter along the vines of the giant Clock of the Time Dragon. They are fierce in their loyalty to Elphaba for granting them their freedom. Even still, we have a bias against them.

Flying monkeys have assumed an infamous place in popular culture. For generations worldwide, they have come to represent an iconic source of evil or fear. Seemingly well-adjusted adults are overcome by powerful childhood sense memories and avert their eyes when the monkeys appear on the Wicked stage. It is remarkable how the perfect storm of masks and makeup, costumes, lighting, effects and choreography can evoke such a collective visceral response. It is equally amazing how by the curtain call that fear has morphed into genuine compassion for the monkeys and their plight.

Their distinctive look came from the fertile imagination of Wicked’s Tony Award-winning costume designer Susan Hilferty. “The design for the monkeys was a long journey,” Susan admits. “I probably did over 100 different designs of where I was going to go with the monkeys. At one point, I saw them as armed, sort of like armadillos where the armor was part of their skin. There were a couple of moments when they were helmeted, and then I was looking into a kind of tribal look where their bodies were marked.”

At one point Susan’s monkey designs were brightly colored and she started playing with blue hands and blue feet. “I had the sense that the blue was really right and the wing color really came from that. Bat wing pictures were the impulse for the shape of the wings and how they would work. I did want them to be scary and I wanted something that had more muscle to it than feathers — bat wings are scary but so beautiful. They seemed to make sense because they literally were grown out of the skeleton of the monkeys.”

The monkey suits start as white unitards and are painted to reflect the detailed muscular structure of monkeys. The intention is for the body suit to blend at the neckline into the skin color of the actor and segue way into the painted monkey mask. “Where the monkeys are now is a kind of essentializing all of the other thoughts,” Susan explains. “My sketches kept trying to refine and find what I wanted the monkeys to be.”

The main monkey, Chistery, is the Wizards’s servant and Susan wanted him be recognized as a servant. “ I looked at classic livery that you would find in any court, how you would dress a servant. So actually that is the impulse for what Chistery is wearing.”

Behind the Masks

Sketches of the monkey masks were included in Susan’s original costume sketches. According to Joe Dulude II, the makeup designer and makeup supervisor for all the Wicked productions,  “the sketches were then sent to W.M. Creations in Los Angeles and the owner, Oscar-winning makeup artist Matthew Mungle, and his team started sculpting out the masks in clay to interpret what she had sketched. Over time Susan, Matthew, Lloyd, who is the person at WM in charge of all the Wicked productions, and I have made changes and corrections and have seen what has and hasn't worked and adjusted them accordingly. Through trial and error, I came up with a different style of painting that gave them a little more dimension.”  

Since the masks are made of latex, the actors do perspire quite a bit in them. In fact, the actor who plays Chistery has a mask for each act. After every wear, they are thoroughly cleaned with a solution of 90 percent alcohol. Joe or one of his makeup artists perform regular maintenance and repair on the numerous masks in the show looking for anything that could be a sign of wear or damage. There is a rough hewn to the masks that is intentional but anytime they see the latex coming through, they need to paint over it.

Monkey masks are on and off so many times during the show that there have been mask disasters. “We have had a few instances where in the middle of a show an actor has pulled on a mask from the wrong points and has literally ripped his mask apart,” Joe explains.” We always carry a few backup and emergency masks just in case of such a situation and that gives us time to repair the torn mask.” (For more Monkey Masks images and info, click here)

Winging It

The design for the monkey wings is based on Susan’s sketches but the mechanics are by Michael Curry Design in Oregon. The “growing wings” that push out Chistery's back when Elphaba gives the monkeys the power of flight proved initially to be problematic. They had to be triggered by the actor and slowly revealed as if growing out from within his coat.

“The mechanism is supposed to feel magical but it was much larger, to me it seemed like the size of a small Volkswagen, like an ironing board down his back,” Susan remembers.  “So it was not only hard to hide but I had to design a coat that was much larger to hide it all and because of its structure, we weren’t really able to hide the openings in the coat where the wings came through.”

During the London production, the wings were produced by Rob Allsop who downsized the growing wings backpack and simplified the mechanics. Per Susan, “Once we were able to refine the wings, we were able to refine the coat, make it much smaller," "And then, we devised a clever way to close up the opening of the coat that then basically allowed the wings to come out as they needed to come out but not with a big gapping hole.”

Monkey wing mishaps do occur and are largely due to a break in the steel rods in the outer edge of the wing. For the San Francisco production, the monkey wings are maintained by wardrobe dresser Mario Urena. He regularly evaluates all the wings, checking for wear and tear, and then he makes the necessary repairs. (For more Monkey Wings images and info, click here)

Monkey Moves

The men and women who play the monkeys are members of the ensemble and do perform various other roles in the show. “They have to be chameleons,“ insists Associate Choreographer Corinne McFadden Herrera. “We look at so many different things when we are casting the show. You need someone who has solid training, as a dancer, but they must be strong and really fearless. You absolutely cannot be afraid of heights to fly or climb the cage. Sometimes you just don’t know how it’s going to pan out until they get up there and climb around on the set.”

According to Corrine, they did "a great deal of research to create how the monkeys would move from a choreography standpoint but still feel truly animalistic. And, it’s very hard on their bodies. It's not an easy thing to do eight shows a week.”

San Francisco Production Stage Manager David Lober explains that the monkey flying effect was originally designed by ZFX Flying Illusions. "Their flying system is maintained by the Wicked road crew but ZFX does come in to check out their system on a regular schedule.”

Here’s how the monkeys do it:  they wear harnesses attached to steel cables that run to a traveler track. There are two operators per monkey to control the flights — one for the side to side movement and the other controls up and down. With projection and lighting effects to enhance the flight, Tony Meola’s screechy monkey sounds and Kenneth Posner’s superb lighting design, all you experience is the monkeys in their eerie, frantic flight.

In the six years since Wicked had its world premiere in San Francisco, the monkeys have climbed and soared before 16 million people worldwide, effortlessly — in those sturdy padded body suits zipped over snug harnesses attached to wing backpacks, peering though full latex masks while executing choreographed monkey movements high above the stage.

It’s so much more than just monkey business.

Click here to read Monkey Tracks from the actors’ perspectives.

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