1987 Into the Woods – Stage Setup Before Prologue
1987 Into the Woods – Stage Setup Before Prologue
Josh Tyra
Swing Joined: 5/22/23
#11987 Into the Woods – Stage Setup Before Prologue
Posted: 5/27/23 at 7:33pm
If you were lucky enough to see the original Broadway production of Into the Woods (1987–1989) at the Martin Beck (now the Al Hirschfield) Theatre, I'm hoping you might be willing to assuage my curiosity about one element of the original staging. What was visible on stage when the audience entered the theater? Was it the false proscenium with the three "houses" in it? Or was there a curtain in front of that? I've always wondered how long the Prologue actors had to hold their frozen positions before the Narrator came out. On the PBS broadcast, the first shot of the stage has everyone already in place, so you don't see when or how they got there... whether a curtain lifted revealing them, or whether they walked out in full view of the audience, etc. Thanks to anyone who is willing to share this information!
Updated On: 5/27/23 at 07:33 PM
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#21987 Into the Woods – Stage Setup Before Prologue
Posted: 5/28/23 at 12:18am
Good golly, I saw it but all that sticks in my mind is a large scroll with something like "Once upon a time..." written in an Olde English font. Maybe it was a scrim and the houses were behind it. That may explain why the TV production was a bit different. It's not easy to photograph or film what's behind scrim
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#31987 Into the Woods – Stage Setup Before Prologue
Posted: 5/28/23 at 12:44am
If I had to take an educated design/direction guess, I'd assume there was a scrim/curtain when you entered that went up in the dark right before the downbeat where the actors are frozen.
#41987 Into the Woods – Stage Setup Before Prologue
Posted: 5/29/23 at 10:00pm
The curtain was in three sections, each section told the very beginning of each story. It would get so far and then it would stop with a .... It was very inventive and left me imagining what would happen once the show started. I saw a preview performance and was very impressed. When I saw it the second time, I didn't realize that a certain major character in the show needed to be sacrificed. It shocked me and also made me very happy!...
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#51987 Into the Woods – Stage Setup Before Prologue
Posted: 5/29/23 at 10:11pm
Thanks for clearing up my very foggy memory!
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
Josh Tyra
Swing Joined: 5/22/23
#61987 Into the Woods – Stage Setup Before Prologue
Posted: 5/30/23 at 9:35pm
Thank you for sharing, that's very interesting to know!
