Team puts the magic in Magic halftime and more
While the Orlando Magic’s marketing team plans unique shows for every game, Wednesday night was special for several reasons — it was Chanukah Night as well as Aaron Gordon’s first game back in Orlando since his trade from the Magic to Denver last March. The crew knew they had to make the evening a little more distinctive.
Geoff Krohmer, senior director of Live Entertainment & Production for the Magic, noted there is always a tentative framework going into each night.
To begin the night, the marketing team coordinated a pregame show with rapper Hi-Rez and musical artist Jimmy Levy. Following the end of the first quarter was the lighting of a giant Chanukah menorah.
“We’re all connected via headsets throughout the game and we’re able to mitigate some of the chaos just by having a plan going in,” Krohmer said.
Three hours prior to every game, the marketing staff will do a full production meeting to go through the coordination of certain events that will happen throughout the game, said Krohmer.
These events include halftime performances, fan experiences and anything video production, which on Wednesday night, also included a video tribute to former Orlando Magic player Aaron Gordon.
“The meeting includes our floor producer, our video producer, our audio engineer, our video floor director, our video playback, led graphics, technical director, music coordinator, emcees and DJ,” Krohmer said.
The majority of the crew Krohmer oversees is part-time so having these pregame meetings
helps give the staff opportunity to ask questions and learn about how the show will be built out for that particular day, he explained.
On top of the pregame meeting and several coordinated events throughout the game, this particular night brought out the Orlando Magic co-ed hip-hop performance dance team, The 407, for the halftime show.
Jeanine Klem-Thomas, Entertainment Teams manager and Dance Team and Talent manager, said The 407 have not performed at halftime since March of 2020.
The dynamic group features dancers who have been on America’s Got Talent, World of Dance and more, according to the Orlando Magic entertainment website.
To stage an Orlando Magic game there are an abundance of moving parts, with more than 50 people working and coordinating on bringing direct entertainment to the fans, from producers all over the arena.
“Similar to the players on the court, you get to the point where you’re anticipating everybody’s moves and you know the direction you’re going,” said Krohmer, who has worked for the Magic for 16 years.
Most game days are long, Krohmer said. He sometimes starts at 10 a.m.10 p.m. on game days.
Krohmer said as the day goes on he and others will start to feed off the crowd a bit and really bring the show to life for the fans. The emphasis is strongly on the show truly turning into a give and take. As the fans explode with energy, that energy is then reflected by the marketing team.
“We want to bring the best experience to the fans and the way we do that is by reacting to the fans and reacting to the plan of the quarter,” Krohmer said.
On Wednesday night, the game atmosphere shifted into high intensity when the Orlando Magic took the lead in the fourth quarter and then went on to win the game, defeating the Denver Nuggets and spoiling the return of Aaron Gordon to Amway Center.