Behind the Scenes of Disney on Ice: Toy Story 3
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With the entrance of the Green Army Men and the first big ensemble number of the show, we are all transformed from standard human-size to toy-size as the set is revealed: colorful, towering shelves of toys that make you want to run down to the ice and start climbing them immediately. From then on out, everything you see in sets and props are super-sized, the way a toy would experience them.

Keeping that toy-size scale is equally as important for costumes. �If I have a zipper that shows then I need a really big zipper, because you have to remember I�m trying to take people and size the human down to a toy.� Lane said. �And on a toy the zippers are always a little oversized, the buttons are always a little too big. We also created all the wigs for the characters out of fabric and yarns and big chunky stuff so everyone would appear more doll-like than human.�

Throughout the show the design change they made to the set is used to great advantage. Characters flow in and out as though they�ve lived there all along. One of the most amusing ways for some toys to enter was also one of Stewart�s favorites to design.

�We have a barrel of monkeys, and I like the barrel of monkeys! Really, fun, you know? That was one of my favorite things to play around with. Anyway, you�ll see it. And I just had a lot of fun with the whole thing, it was a really fun experience.� he said.

Another change that happened during the collaboration process was in Act II, when we find ourselves at Sunnyside Daycare, where the toys have been donated. Ready to be loved by new children, the toys are not quite ready for what they find when the kids arrive.

�When the toys are all scattered around at the day care center it took us a long time to figure out how we were going to present the toddlers.� Stewart said. �At one time they were just going to be sound and there was going to be almost a mime dance that was going to go through, and shadows or something. And then we said �Wait a minute, what if we made giant puppets of toddlers that came out? That would be a cool way to do it.� So that was another thing that changed for us through the process of our meetings and conversations.�

Having the toddlers actually there and moving across the rink adds a great element of danger for our toy friends.

�They�re giant puppets on sleds and they have operators underneath and they move, in a kind of a frightening sort of way.� Stewart said.

Step 5: Add Pixie Sawdust And Elbow Grease

Once the overall designs are complete, it�s time to literally begin putting it together. Enter another host of elves to aid in the process.

�The actual construction of the scenery is a delightful process here because they have the best craftspeople ever.� said Stewart. �Rick Papineau, who is in charge of the shop, is just fantastic. And they can create anything that you can imagine. It�s a wonderful experience.�

While constructing the set, they also have to take travel into consideration. �The main thing about the set that�s unique is that it has to set up very, very quickly. And fit into trucks.� Stewart said. So the scale of everything, for as big as it is, it folds up into little pieces really quickly and breaks down. You set it up in a day. It sets up in the morning and then you do the show in the night. It sets up really fast.� The production sets up in 10 hours, and strikes in less than half that time to fit into 9 trucks. Wow.

While sets are being built, costumes are also being constructed. It is imperative that, while adhering to the designs, they can stand up to a lengthy and grueling time out on the road.

�Every piece of fabric I find is given a test.� Lane said. �We see if we can put our fingernail through it, or a key, to see how it frays out on the ends. Everything is pre-washed before we use it to make sure that it is colorfast.�

�Woody�s Roundup Gang was the hardest number in the show,� he continued, �because I had about 8000 different fabric choices in it. And to achieve the look of what I�d created in the paper dolls we got very specific about finding a plaid that looked just like the plaid we had, and things like that.�

Remember those paper doll designs? Well, not everything can be printed on fabric, as the process is extremely expensive, and, yes, even Disney does have limits.

�They like me, they�re very good to me, but they�re like �Yeah, Mr. Lane, you�re gonna have to pull back just a leeetle tiny bit�. he laughed. �And you know there were a couple times when we couldn�t find what we wanted so we went and bought ribbons and laid it all out on the fabric and then had stitchers sew it down into plaid for us.�

�Also, because I used a lot of scrapbooking supplies in the creation of them, - they had these wonderful scissors that cut with all these crazy little edges, and all these punches that punch things out, like eyelets, or lace edges - to get the scale of that effect, we ended up having custom dyes made, and then they punched it out in ultra suede. So instead of trying to re-create really big scale green eyelets, we die-cut ultra suede in the eyelet pattern and thereby ended up with you know, giant green eyelets, that were all ultra suede. It had a very graphic, paper quality to it when you looked at it.� No small task, as there are 360 individual costume pieces used to make up the 96 sets of costumes for the show.

If you�re creating a show for one specific venue, you would rely largely on the theatrical mechanics of that space - a fly system, specific lighting rails, etc. When touring large arenas, you have to build those structures to come with you. A fly grid, for instance.

�Everything is supported in the arenas.� Stewart said. �The show comes in and a grid goes up. Anything that is flown- for example, Woody on his kite, is contained within our grid. So we�re independent. And then basically all of the scenery in the show is ground supported, or deck scenery - ice scenery, I guess you would say. In this kind of a situation everything has to be on a traveler track or on the deck in order to move. It can go up, but it has to - our little jail cells drop down from our grid but they�re on a roller mechanism. So it�s just a little different. I would say what�s the biggest difference in an arena versus a theatre is the way the audience wraps around 3 sides of it. You know, the lines of sight and the experience of the audience is different because in the theatre you�re always kind of looking toward the proscenium. But in the arena you work as if you�re working on a thrust stage. Diagonals become very important in the movement, the ice becomes a very important element, so that�s why we use a lot of color and projections on the surface of the ice as well.�

Those atmospheric projections, courtesy of Stewart and lighting designer Alexander Reardon, take the show to yet another level. One place they use this to great effect is Woody�s daring kite escape attempt from Sunnyside Day Care.

�Through the innovation of the projection that we use on the ice, from an audience perspective it looks like you�re flying in the air with Woody.� Siruno told us. �So everything goes into scale, and it�s rotating and moving, so it looks like you�re hundreds of feet up in the air.�

Step 6: Test Moving Parts

Ready for rehearsals is Gig Siruno, who has either performed in or served as Performance Director on at least twelve shows.

�I certainly am part of the Feld family,� Siruno said, �and I love what I do, and this show. I�ve been so blessed to work with such a tremendously talented cast, skaters from 9 different countries, and telling a great story.�

Siruno, whose favorite childhood toy was his Lite Brite, which was recently re-discovered while going through some things at a visit to his parent�s house, starts early in the process, working closely with choreographer Cindy Stuart, and then the skaters.

�I was sent to LA to learn some of the choreographed steps that Cindy had already had in place,� he said, �so then when we would go down to rehearsals in Florida, I was able to help facilitate the rehearsal process and get the skaters up to speed �we have about a 6 week rehearsal process for a new show and the schedule�s pretty fine-tuned.� A total of 240 rehearsal hours is put in by the skaters. �And my responsibility is to pretty much soak up all the information that�s handed to me from the creative team and to make sure that we maintain that integrity throughout the tour. Whether it be 8 months on the road, or like last year, I want to say we started rehearsals in July and we closed out tour in Puerto Rico in June.�

Once the choreography is learned, the show will go into tech, where all the elements will finally come together in person to work out any bugs and fine-tune the show.