Giraffe - Mike Harvey

It was so easy to be animals without costumes. During our first rehearsals, Matt Costello, the back of the giraffe, and I trotted out in tandem, front and rear of the creature moving in perfect unison. We turned our heads when we heard Papageno's offstage panpipe, looked sad when we heard that ”Pamina bleibt davon” (Pamina does not hear), and then trotted offstage, pausing in rapture when Charles Castronovo hit his high note. It was cute; it was easy. And then the Wardrobe Department dragged out the costumes.

Being inside the giraffe is like being zipped up inside a sofa. Wardrobe gives us little towels and first-aid ice packs to cool us off and to keep us from panicking, because once we are inside the beast, it is impossible to get out of it without the wardrobe team. We are allowed to stay in the costume for only ten minutes at a time, so dressers click a timer the moment our leg zippers are fastened.
When we struggled into the costume for the first time, we quickly realized that we couldn’t see where we were going and we couldn’t breathe. Nevertheless, we still had to haul the sofa onstage and act cute.

From the wings, Kathleen Edwards leads us to our pre-set stage-left mark. She talks to us like the moth-eaten old nag we are. "Here we go, two steps forward. One step to the left. No! Left! That's good. Good. Now wait here." I hope we’ll get a carrot, or maybe a lump of sugar, if we are a really, really clever giraffe.

I am in the front end of the costume, and all I can make out through my tiny peep hole is the floor trap at center stage. I decide to aim for that when we hear our cue. It's getting hot. I hear not a peep out of Matt, who, on his first outing as a Super, is Mr. Cool Professional. Kathleen finally says the magic word, "Go!" and we trot into Tamino's magical forest. I can't see a thing. The music sounds heavily upholstered. I twist the crank that moves the giraffe head, hoping it looks whimsical and adorable. It's getting hotter. I pat my brow with the ice pack and envision Garbo during the last reel of Camille. Matt, are you back there?

Then I hear ”Vielleicht, sah er Paminem schon!” (Perhaps Pamina has been found!) and it's time to leave, stage right. We pause to admire Charles before we plunge into the black hole that is the wings. Lee, a master giraffe wrangler, heads us off at the pass. "Keep moving. A little left, straight ahead, two more steps. Now, stop and spread 'em." I've never been so happy to hear those words. We stand still as the snaps pop and the zips rip open. The sofa is raised and we drop down and out into a cool blast of air. It's over! I'm sure that the applause is for us.

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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