Posted: 8/27/19 at 2:58pm
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Posted: 8/27/19 at 4:25pm
I found these pictures of the As You Like it Set. It looks amazing.
http://www.victoriasadler.com/review-as-you-like-it-national-theatre-bold-if-flawed/
Posted: 8/27/19 at 4:46pm
The scene change into Hadestown at the end of Wait For Me is amazing.
Posted: 8/27/19 at 5:05pm
I loved the moment in Lifespan of a Fact when Cannavale says "He's in my house!" and the projection drops to show Radcliffe sleeping on a couch in the living room
Posted: 8/27/19 at 5:27pm
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Posted: 8/27/19 at 6:37pm
It might seem cliché', but the first time the mansion silently floated from the rafters onto the Minskoff stage in SUNSET BLVD. was breathtaking and awe inspiring. That anything that huge could move so swiftly and quietly left me speechless.
Posted: 8/27/19 at 6:45pm
I love the transition from "So Big/So Small" into the Finale scene in Dear Evan Hansen. The opening up of the back wall, the trees growing from the ground, with that epic playoff music...breathtaking. Also, I'll second the Hadestown "Wait For Me" scene change - DEH and Hadestown are the only two shows to make me cry at a technical element.
I also really like the transition from the fight scene to "Santa Fe" in Newsies. It's so seamless, and it's able to convey the tension as Crutchie is dragged away really well.
Posted: 8/27/19 at 6:48pm
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Posted: 8/27/19 at 7:25pm
I don't know if it can really be called a scene change, since it happened at the top of the show, but the way the set came apart and sort of exploded at the beginning of Signature's recent "Curse of the Starving Class" was pretty magnificent. It was also the best part of the production.
Posted: 8/27/19 at 8:33pm
Posted: 8/27/19 at 8:47pm
SouthernCakes said: "^iIs that in the Netflix’s one? I always hate when they record shows live because they very rarely show you the scene changes."
I saw the show both on Broadway and on Netflix. The Newsies filmers did a very good job of showing the scene changes - it also helps that the show itself did a great job with transitions between scenes. One of my other favorites is the transition to Pulitzer's office for the first time - the newsies themselves move his desk and chairs onto the stage, which is a great visual metaphor for their situation at the beginning of a show.
Posted: 8/27/19 at 9:10pm
Every time in Come From Away when they switch from the plane set-up to a scene in Gander (e.g. the Tim Horton's). It's incredible of how much they can do just with 12 chairs, in a matter of literal seconds.
Posted: 8/27/19 at 9:20pm
I thought of some more that I liked:
The Antipodes:
Kind of the opposite of usual. It took place in a writer's room over the course of weeks, but they deliberately do it so there is very little division between scenes, to blur the passage of time. The only way you could tell that time had passed was because of subtle shifts in physicality, and because the assistant who came in always had a different outfit.
The Band's Visit:
The light moving around the cafe, so that the shadow moves, and it imitates the sun moving across the sky to show that time is passing. Brilliant.
A Brief History of Women
This was a play at 59e59 last year. It was very low-tech, but extremely clever use of space to create multi-purpose set pieces that could quickly transform the room into something else.
Hand to God
The reveal of the messed-up classroom was always brilliant. I loved the way they deliberately left some silence at the beginning of the scene to give the audience time to notice and laugh at all the little things around the room.
She Loves Me
This isn't really a "scene change," but I saw this recent revival twice, and I always remember how everyone applauded when the curtain came up at the beginning of the show, simple because the set was so gorgeous to look at.
Collective Rage
Kind of similar to the one the OP mentioned. The scene changes would happen with some prop or piece of furniture just free-falling from the ceiling in a hilariously ungraceful way.
Into the Woods
Another one involving a forest: this was the concert they did at the Times Center back in the fall. They happened to be doing the show in an auditorium with a large floor-to-ceiling window instead of a back wall, and the window opened to a courtyard with trees. So they had the blinds down for the opening number, and when they finally go "into the woods" they just raised the blinds and revealed the tree-filled courtyard. It was a brilliant way to make use of their environment for a low-budget concert production.
An Octoroon
This is more of a stage-effect than a scene change, but I think it technically did mark the change from one scene to another....the front of the stage had large piles of cotton swabs, and the the back well of the stage fell down, and the wind-rush from the wall falling blew all of the cotton swabs into the audience in a missive and forceful "cotton explosion."
Also, yeah, the beginning of Curse of the Starving Class was stunning.
I'm sure I've also seen plenty of scene changes that were impressive more because of the way they were blocked, or scored, and delved into the emotions of a moment. But unfortunately those haven't stuck with me as much as the big flashy staging moments.
Posted: 8/27/19 at 10:05pm
Phantom's overture transition remains a highlight for me.
I'd also add the first reveal of the castle in Beauty and the Beast at the Palace was pretty spectacular.
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Posted: 8/28/19 at 3:10am
stoptheworld38 said: "Every time in Come From Away when they switch from the plane set-up to a scene in Gander (e.g. the Tim Horton's). It's incredible of how much they can do just with 12 chairs, in a matter of literal seconds."
While I didn't love the show as much as many others did, Come From Away was sharply directed, designed and performed. (And I only saw it on tour from the back of the mezzanine.) I found the transitions both easy to follow and cleverly done. For a small, intimate show, it played surprisingly well in a large theater.
Posted: 8/28/19 at 7:22am
How could I forget Higgins's house in the new My Fair Lady revival?
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