Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

[esparza 333]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 7:14pm

Whether it is a set change or a special effect or anything visual share it.

Mine is definitely the set change in Pippin after Corner of the Sky when Ben Vereen makes a red cloth disappear and it is sticking out of the stage and then it pulls out to create the huge arch of the palace. It is really breathtaking.

[sing_dance_love]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 8:40pm

Whatever issues Phantom might have, I do remember being blown away by the staging in the title number. Them going up and down those moving ramps and then down the stage to the gondola and the candleabras. I mean, it's just really cool.

My favorite, off the top of my head, is Clara's hat being carried away by the wind in The Light In The Piazza. It just sets the tone for the show for me. Sweetly magical.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 11:08pm

Super simple but totally brilliant: the transition from the young children to their adult counterparts in Gypsy. It got me every time.

[esparza 333]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 11:10pm

O Givesmevoice are you talking about the strobe light effect. I agree thats is brilliant.

[Kad]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 11:10pm

Dot's dress opening up, and then remaining there, in the original production of Sunday in the Park with George

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 11:17pm

O Givesmevoice are you talking about the strobe light effect. I agree thats is brilliant.

Yes! It's one of my favorite moments of theatre magic.

[morosco]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 11:20pm

Effie's "I Am Changing" from DREAMGIRLS.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/9/10 at 11:36pm

I agree with givesmevoice. Pure old fashioned stagecraft trumps all the bells and whistles nowadays.

However, it terms of bells and whistles, I loved when Norma's mansion levitated over the New Year's Party in Sunset Boulevard creating a split screen effect.

I also was moved by the snow fall effect in "In The Next Room or The Vibrator Play." The snow gently falling on the trees as the couple made love and the house disappeared took my breath away.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 12:11am

My favrorites would have to be:
The Prologue and Transformation scenes in Beauty and the Beast.
Defying Gravity in Wicked. This is the only part of the show I like. When she flies it is a breathtaking effect.
Pretty much everything in the Phantom of the Opera is pretty much a given for me. The first moment when the Phantom appears in the mirror and when he vanishes from the chair at the end are my favorites.
I was also blown away by the flying car in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The effect was stunning.

[wdwfreak]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 12:15am

Mary Poppins flying out into the audience

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 12:18am

^ I completely forget about that. That final scene was breathtaking.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 12:21am

+Mary Poppins flying out into the audience, and props coming out of the carpet bag.
+The chandelier in Las Vegas' Phantom.

Would someone elaborate on what Kad said about Dot's dress in the original SITPWG? I have not seen it and can't think of something in the other productions I've seen that sound like it.

[A Director]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 12:25am

A wonderful group of actors. They provide all the stage magic one needs.

[Tag]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 12:29am

In the original SITPWG Dot's dress would open up down the centre and she would step out of it (wearing undergarments). The open dress would stay in position onstage (upright) and she would go back into the dress and it would close over her. It's kind of hard to explain.

[iflip4musicals]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 12:32am

I agree with Gypsy and In the Next Room, both wonderful bits of stage magic.

[swinther]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 12:46am

The Guthrie's production of Glass Menagerie (1988, I think) included a moment where the entire set appeared to turn into glass. It was a magical moment in an otherwise dismal production. Polly Holliday as Amanda? Kiss my grits!




The Flog

[My Oh My]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 1:14am

Being fascinated by stagecraft, it's impossible to choose just one, so here are some of my faves in two categories.

Bells & Whistles:

(In no particular order)

-Miss Saigon: "Fall of Saigon." I'd say this was the most stunningly realistic stage effect I've ever seen. I was sitting front row center first time I saw the show (1st national tour, L.A.) and was already expecting it to look impressive but nothing would've prepared me for that damn helicopter. Needless to say, my jaw dropped. Not only did it look completely real, but the visual matched with that score made for a real heart-stopping combination.

- The Phantom of the Opera: Overture. Come on, who doesn't like the opening of this show? It still thrills after so many years.

- Mary Poppins: I was obsessed with the film as a kid and am not ashamed to admit I destroyed many a Barbie doll from my sister's collection, trying to do her up to look like Ms. Poppins. At any rate, the show was a real treat and I couldn't help but feel a bit emotional as she flew over my noggin and out into the audience, an image that mesmerized me on film as a kid and seeing it live was a bit...MAGICAL, to say the least.

Simple, effective, and timeless:

- Les Miserables: The revolve, the revolve, the revolve. It gives the show a much needed seamlessness and is used to great effect during the fall of the barricades and the act one finale. I've never understood why this aspect of the show is always said to be overly technical when turntables have been a part of live theatre for many, many years. By the time it was used in Les Mis, it was far from innovative. What made it notable was the manner it which it was used and the way it helped tell the story and did far more than merely spin the cast around, lol.

- Evita: It's hard to believe the original Hal Prince production was considered "high tech" in its time and was even criticized for supposedly being gimmicky, LOL. It is such a cleverly staged production and the very simple, abstract ways in which Hal stages scenes such as the opening Requiem, using nothing more than a symbolic set of lights that form a pattern on the stage deck, is truly brilliant. Another favorite staging device in this show is the effective change of perspective seen at the end of "Dont Cry For Me Argentina." It's stunning to see Eva slowly turn while frozen in that iconic pose as the music swells and the image of the Casa Rosada behind her fades into an image of the thousands that make up her adoring public. I wish they'd dump the awful London revival staging and use the original instead for the upcoming Broadway revival.

- Sunset Boulevard: Opening scene showing a cool underwater perspective of Joe's body floating in Norma's pool. Incredibly simple to stage but drew "ooha and awws" from the audience.

Updated On: 7/10/10 at 01:14 AM

[twinbelters]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 1:28am

Any and all Audrey Two effects but mainly, oddly, Seymour carrying the plant and working the puppet while interacting with actors. Fools me every time. The girls are also a wonderful effect.

[singtopher]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 1:32am

I remember being absolutely dumbfounded by Mrs. Potts carrying Chip across stage on a tray.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 4:12am

In INTO THE WOODS, when the three houses fly out at the beginning, revealing the 'woods' for the first time, resplendent with smoke and fog and eerie lighting. So simple, yet so theatrical.

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 4:18am

I did love Moya Angela's onstage quick change in the Dreamgirls tour.

Also in Next to Normal at the top of Act II as Diana "looks down at her own body." When I first saw the dummy i actually assumed it was Ripples

[MariusPontmercy]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 8:17am

In terms of the really high-tech ones, the house in the Stephen Daldry production of An Inspector Calls has to be the winner. Wow! Also, everything involving the horses in War Horse, but most of all the transformation from the foal into the adult horse. And the final tableau in Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, also at the National Theatre - with the zig-zag walkway seemingly going on forever. It was actually quite shocking (in a good way).

But a lot of the most "magical" moments for me come from the performances rather than the staging. Ian McKellen hoisting himself up on to the stage at the start of both acts of Waiting for Godot was every bit as striking an "image" as the ones I mentioned above. And sometimes it's even simpler than that (going a little off-topic here) - Richard Griffiths has a wonderful ability to suddenly grab the audience's attention and hold it, as he did in the "Drummer Hodge" scene that closed the first act of The History Boys as well as several other moments in that play, and then again near the end of The Habit of Art when he recited one of Auden's poems.

It was ages ago that I saw him do this, but the first time I saw Douglas Hodge play Albin in La Cage aux Folles, for all his theatrical campery the most moving moment was when he came out of his dressing room just before "I Am What I Am", that moment of heartbroken silence when I'd been expecting him to be furious. I've seen him and other Albins since and none have done this quite as effectively as he did in that first performance (though I'm sure it was partly because I genuinely didn't know how he was going to react that time). Updated On: 7/10/10 at 08:17 AM

[Katarina2]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 10:22am

~Possible "Wicked" and "Mary Poppins" Spoilers~


For me, I always love when Elphaba "defies gravity" in "Wicked." Even though I've seen the show multiple times, the scene always gives me goosebumps and takes me back to when I first saw the show. Also, I love when Mary Poppins flies in "Mary Poppins." Another favorite is when Bert tap dances around the entire stage during "Step in Time." So magical...

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 10:47am

I haven't seen Beauty and the Beast in a very long time, but I remember being so enthralled by the Transformation scene.

In terms of simplicity, I've also always loved the transition from the children to the adults in Gypsy.

[zerose]

Posted: 7/10/10 at 11:23am

Kelsey Grammer's hair in La Cage