The anticipation has been palpable surrounding the Nov. 22 release of “Wicked,” the live-action adaptation of the wildly popular Broadway musical that’s been in the works for roughly a dozen years. One could say the same for staff working behind the bar at one of the now ubiquitous theaters across the U.S. that offer alcohol service. A projected $100 to $125 million domestic opening weekend could mean a very busy three days.
“For a weekend like that, it’s almost like we’re prepping for catering,” says Brad Sorenson, executive chef of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, the Austin, Texas-born chain of dine-in movie theaters. At a given theater, some 150 to 330 people will be seated and served all in one go. Maybe 20 percent of them will order the Defying Gravi-Tea, an Elphaba-hued green tea cocktail with Irish whiskey, ginger syrup, lemon and mint; or Witch’s Brew, a Malibu rum-spiked soy milk horchata with orgeat and cinnamon served in a tulip glass. (Both cocktails are available nationally.) That will require staffing up to five from the usual three bartenders; batching enough cocktails to serve dozens at a time; and prepping enough garnishes so no one has to cut a lime wheel, “throwing a whole wrench in the situation,” Sorenson says. “When it first happens, when you’re new, it’s kinda terrifying, like seating an entire restaurant every 15 or 20 minutes.”
Credit: Alamo Drafthouse
Have I mentioned that “Wicked” clocks in at a plump two hours and 40 minutes? So those of us
