Lifting the Curtain on Theatrical Effects

Imaginary Worlds

Eric Molinsky

Arts, Science Fiction, Fiction, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I’ve covered digital and practical effects in film and TV, but creating special effects for live theater is a whole other challenge. J&M Special Effects has been up to the task for 40 years. Their crew has worked on shows from Hadestown to Harry Potter and The Cursed Child to Disney musicals like Frozen and Aladdin. I get a behind-the-scenes tour of their Brooklyn warehouse, where failure is part of the process in figuring out how to make the magic work. I talk with partner and designer Jeremy Chernick, along with pyrotechnician Bohdan Bushell, about how theatrical effects have evolved with new technology -- and why they can sometimes be too good at their jobs in making the impossible seem possible. This episode is sponsored by Remi and ShipStation. Start your 60-day free trial at ShipStation.com and use the code IMAGINARY. Try Remi risk-free at shopremi.com/IMAGINARY and use the code IMAGINARY to get up to 50% off your nightguard at checkout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone. Before we start, I have exciting news.
0:04.0	Imaginary Worlds has been nominated for a Signal Award for Best Arts and Culture Podcast.
0:10.1	It's a prestigious award, and I'm really excited about it.
0:13.2	That also means the show is eligible to win a listener's choice award.
0:18.2	To make that happen, I would really appreciate if you could cast your ballot
0:23.0	for imaginary worlds at vote.orgnaward.com. I'll include a link in the show notes. The deadline is
0:33.4	October 9th. And awards are a great way to boost the awareness of the show. I sometimes get
0:39.6	messages from people saying they just discover an imaginary world, they binge the entire back
0:44.0	catalog, and they can't believe they didn't know about it until now. And I am sure there are
0:49.3	more people out there like that. So again, the link is vote.ar.com, and I will include a link in the show notes.
0:58.9	Thank you. You're listening to Imaginary Worlds, a show about how we create them, and why we suspend
1:04.3	or disbelieve. I'm Eric Malinsky. I've started every episode with that tagline for over 10 years.
1:11.4	But this episode really goes directly to the heart of those two questions.
1:16.4	How do we create them?
1:17.9	And why do we suspend or disbelieve?
1:20.3	Living in New York, people often recommend theater and casual conversation.
1:25.1	And until recently, I had never heard anybody recommend a live show
1:29.2	solely based on the special effects. That has changed with two plays, Harry Potter and the
1:35.7	cursed child and Stranger Things, the First Shadow. One of the biggest practical effects
1:41.6	companies in New York is called J&M Special Effects.
1:46.0	The company is 40 years old. They worked on shows from Phantom of the Opera and Cats to Hades Town and Disney musicals like Frozen, Aladdin, and Mary Poppins.
1:57.0	They also do effects for film, TV, and commercials.
	...

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