Meet Brandi Fucci, one of Riverdance’s Fantastic Backstage Talent

May 16, 2016

This week as we settle in to Boston, I wanted to introduce to you some of the amazing talent that works behind the curtain. A lot of work goes into Riverdance to make it the production that you see every night and most of it happens behind the scenes. We have an amazing crew with us and today I caught up with Brandi Fucci from our lighting department.

 

Brandi originally hails from Albequerque New Mexico but currently resides in Denver Colorado which she calls home. She has been a part of our crew since September of 2015 but is no stranger to the touring lifestyle. Brandi has been touring for the past three years and has been working in the industry for eleven. While Brandi has worked on a lot of different productions she said she enjoys working on  dance shows the most and she really likes Riverdance as it is slightly more laid back than some of the other shows she’s been with.

On our tour Brandi mans one of the follow spots. This means that she is up in the rafters or at the highest point in the house directing one of the spotlights towards the performers onstage. Depending on the theatre this could mean sitting in a booth or even sitting on a ladder next to the spotlight. She has been in plenty of different types of booths and it’s always fun to discover what each venue has in store. When asked if she minded being so removed from the rest of the cast and crew for the duration of the show Brandi said that it’s nice to have her own perch and vantage point of the stage. It’s like being in her own clubhouse!

In fact, in Costa Mesa at Brandi’s favorite venue, the spot booth is actually like a real club house. It has comfy couches, its own bathroom, a dart board, a hammock and even a refrigerator! When we were in that city we hardly saw Brandi at all because any chance she got she was hanging out in her own awesome club house, the spot booth.

 

While Brandi always works hard, she is no stranger to having fun on tour. Sometimes we need a bit of silly fun to pick up our spirits when we’re on the road so much and missing home. Brandi is great at initiating it and you can always count on her to be involved when something cool is going on. She is an avid tie day Friday and onesie Sunday fan. These are when the crew dress up with ties on Fridays and wear onesie pajamas to work on Sundays. Brandi also travels with her favorite companion Michelangelo, a giant blow up Ninja Turtle, who greets us in random spots backstage in each theatre. We always find it funny to see Michelangelo around the theatre!

 

So there you have it, an introduction to Brandi Fucci one of our incredible crew members. This tour wouldn’t be the same with out her; she really ‘lights’ up our day! (hehe ..sorry!)