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#51

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/16/06 at 7:43pm

- The Light in the Piazza
- Phantom of the Opera
- Whistle down the Wind
- All shook Up
- The Lion King
- Beauty and the Beast
- The house/nursery on Mary Poppins is quite impressive but I was somewhat disappointed with the rest of the sets.
#52

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/16/06 at 7:47pm

I agree with Wildcard: The sets and lighting for the Lincoln Center --Nicholas Hytner production of CAROUSEL (1993?) by Bob Crowley(Sets) and Paul Pyant(Lighting) were fabulous. It is important to recognize the contribution that lighting makes in a theatrical production. In the past, sets and lighting were often done by the same person, as in the case of the great Jo Mielziner, who designed some 300 productions from the 1920's to the 1970's, including the original productions of CAROUSEL(1945), GUYS & DOLLS(1950), THE KING AND I(1951) and GYPSY(1959).

Two examples of the importance of lighting in GYPSY are: (a) The strobe lighting sequence in the first act whereby the young members of Rose's crew are replaced by the older dancer-singers by having them dance in place while the strobe lights flicker, thus advancing the time of the show by several years. (b)In the second act: Louise's first time as a "stripper" whereby at first we see a lighted runway facing upstage through a scrim curtain as Louise would view it, then a sudden use of floodlight
blinding the audience as it would Louise the performer, then, as the floodlights are turned off, the action is turned 180 degrees around and we the audience become the audience in the burlesque house, watching Miss Gypsy Rose Lee. I haven't explained this as clearly as I would have liked to, but I hope you get the idea. Both lighting sequences were ingenious.

"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"

Updated On: 10/17/06 at 07:47 PM

#53

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/16/06 at 7:49pm

I just loved THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA's sets. I thought they were just so beautiful.
#54

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/16/06 at 8:09pm

Aida (Yum)
Wicked
#55

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/16/06 at 8:16pm

Edward Gorey's Dracula
John Lee Beatty's Talley's Folly
The original La Cage aux Folles
Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein
"Love Life. Live." Michael Bennett
#56

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/16/06 at 8:16pm

subUrbia at 2nd Stage
Grey Gardens (the whole house, with the front as the curtain)
Mary Poppins
#57

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:22pm

The Light in the Piazza was gorgeous and simple.
From photographs, I love the set of the original production of Chicago.
#58

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/16/06 at 10:30pm

Don't if it has been said...

but

FOLLIES 1971 baby. From all the photographs and talk, it looked and sounded AMAZING.

Plus the costumes were simply unbelievable.
#59

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/16/06 at 11:34pm

The ones I've seen, I give it to:
1. Miss Saigon, Broadway Production - Simple but dramatic.
2. Phantom of the Opera, Broadway and Las Vegas Productions - Dark and dramatic.
3. Sunset Blvd., LA and Broadway Productions only - Ornate and bombastic just like Norma.
4. Pacific Overtures, 2004 Broadway Revival at Studio 54 - Serene, simple, and beautiful.
5. The King and I, 1996 Broadway Revival only - Rich, ornate, majestic, colorful.
6. Flower Drum Song, 2002 Broadway Revival
7. Wicked, Broadway Production
8. The Wiz, The Reimagined 2006 La Jolla Production
9. Aida, Broadway Production
10. Lion King, Broadway Production

"I love acting. It is so much more real than life." Oscar Wilde
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Aldous Huxley

Updated On: 10/17/06 at 11:34 PM

#60

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/17/06 at 12:56am

What was so great about Wicked's set? I honestly wasn't impressed.
"Hey, you! You're the worst thing to happen to musical theatre since Andrew Lloyd Webber!" -Family Guy
#61

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/17/06 at 1:30am

I'm not a "phan", but POTO's set totally wowed me when I saw the show in April.

However, I think Cabaret has a pretty good set - then again, I'm a Cabaret nerd.
re: Best Sets
^ It's rather dark, but that's our set from Cabaret this summer at the Ogunquit Playhouse. I loved our doorwall, you can't really see it - but on either side there's news headlines from German and Jewish newspapers from the period.
"I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and dreamer of improbable dreams." - Doctor Who

"Yes, the brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over, men recognize that the human race has been harshly treated but it has moved forward." - Les Miserables

#62

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/17/06 at 2:11am

I don't see what is so special about WICKED's sets.

I thought FIDDLER deserved that Tony.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson
#63

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/17/06 at 2:33am

^ Agreed.
"Hey, you! You're the worst thing to happen to musical theatre since Andrew Lloyd Webber!" -Family Guy
#64

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/17/06 at 6:35am

Can't believe no one has mentioned Dreamgirls - at the time, the sets for Dreamgirls were considered a technical wonder.
#65

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/17/06 at 11:50am

"Can't believe no one has mentioned Dreamgirls - at the time, the sets for Dreamgirls were considered a technical wonder."

And, if I recall correctly, there weren't any computers automating the movement of the DREAMGIRLS scenery. Stage hands manually controlled the winches that moved the towers and other pieces of scenery. I remember reading a comment made by Michael Bennett that the stage crew for DREAMGIRLS were as important as the actors on the stage. He said something to the effect of if a stage hand was out sick it would potentially change the quality of the show.
#66

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/17/06 at 12:02pm

With DREAMGIRLS there were no sets. The big hoopla was the STAGING of the show and how the 4 light towers maneuvered themselves to create the 'sets' and atmosphere. This staging is what made the show so legendary and a head of it's time. Michael Bennett was able to create cinematic transitions and space with the barest essentials just by moving those light towers.

#67

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/17/06 at 8:41pm

Beauty and the Beast has some really spectacular sets, especially in Be Our Guest
#68

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/17/06 at 8:56pm

meet me in st. louis

reminded me of the radio city christmas spectacular at times
#69

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/17/06 at 8:57pm

From the pics I've seen, The Drowsy Chaperone looks awesome.
I have several names, one is Julian2. I am also The Opps Girl. But cross me, and I become Bitch Dooku!
#70

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/17/06 at 9:34pm

I've only seen Les Miserables on tour so I have to ask...what about the sets on Broadway were so great?

The big set pieces on the tour were just the two halves of the barricade that came in from the sides to form the full barricade and the gate. I believe they also manipulated the barricade set to make the sewer set? Overall though, i wasn't impressed. I did like how they'd spin the turntable to give you a perspective of what was happening on the other side, but I've definitely seen better sets.
#71

re: Best Sets

Posted: 10/17/06 at 9:39pm

What you saw on tour is basically what's on Broadway. I do like the set for the streets of Paris, and how all of that junk turns into the barricade...actually, I like that throughout the show you can see, on either side of the turntable, the junk that eventually folds into the barricade.

I tend to agree that it's not one of the best sets I've ever seen, but when I look back on my first time seeing the show I do remember being very impressed by how much thought seemed to go into the workings of the set. It's been so long since I've seen it...I'll just have to wait for the revival to judge again.
"If there is going to be a restoration fee, there should also be a Renaissance fee, a Middle Ages fee and a Dark Ages fee. Someone must have men in the back room making up names, euphemisms for profit." (Emanuel Azenberg)

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