Best staging

[Unknown User]

Best staging#0

Posted: 8/1/04 at 8:19pm

you might've seen a show that was horrible, but the staging blew your mind. Or maybe you loved the show. What are your examples of great staging, sets, lights, etc...?

Wicked
Assassins
Starlight Express
Frogs
CAts
Caroline or Change
Seussical
Jumpers
Fiddler on the Roof

[Mattio98]

re: Best staging#1

Posted: 8/1/04 at 8:21pm

Assassins and Fiddler were both standouts in my mind. Nine was great too.

[GovernorSlaton]

re: Best staging#2

Posted: 8/1/04 at 8:25pm

Assassins had great lighting and staging. It makes me wonder how Joe Mantello could have done such brilliant work for Assassins, and not-so-brilliant work for Wicked, in one season.

[Unknown User]

re: Best staging#3

Posted: 8/1/04 at 8:30pm

Wicked was pretty good. ASsassins shot it (no pun intended) to death it was so much better but Wicked was good

[Elphaba984]

re: Best staging#4

Posted: 8/1/04 at 8:34pm

boy from oz
wicked
avenue q
dance of the vampires (costume/makeup point of view)
hairspray

"You can't stop someone who wants to be an artist. If they're going to do it, they're going to do it... Work as hard as you can on the things you can work on. Until it seems like there is no possible chance you're going to succeed, don't give up." ~ANDREW ASNES avatar: me and jason gillman... in the pouring rain.

[Unknown User]

re: Best staging#5

Posted: 8/1/04 at 8:36pm

forgot about Hairspray... OOHH: Gypsy (revival with Bernedette) and Cabaret

[Thoroughly Modern Cara]

re: Best staging#6

Posted: 8/1/04 at 8:46pm

I agree with BFO. I think the lighting was phenomenal! It gave so much character to a fairly minimal set.

[Mamie]

re: Best staging#7

Posted: 8/1/04 at 8:55pm

It wasn't a musical, but I thought the lighting and sets for "The Invention of Love" were incredible. You were supposed to be seeing this world through the mind of this old man (who was either asleep and dreaming, or dying) and that was the dreamy feeling I got when watching it. When he remembered times in his youth at Oxford, the sets and lights were warm and friendly and welcoming. When he was the dying older man, they were darker and somber.

I couldn't believe it when MacDevitt's work on INVENTION wasn't even nominated while Kaczorowski's won for THE PRODUCERS. The lighting in PRODUCERS was fine, but pedestrian. The lighting in INVENTION was artistic.

www.thebreastcancersite.com
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03

[lullabyofbroadway28]

re: Best staging#8

Posted: 8/1/04 at 9:40pm

wicked sticks out in my mind. but i love the lighting in aida!

[Plum]

re: Best staging#9

Posted: 8/1/04 at 9:56pm

I was actually really disappointed in the staging of BFO- the sets, especially. Cardboard Rockettes? Cardboard Rockettes? And the ever-versatile couch was a running joke on ATC for weeks. Where did all that money go?

But to go back on the positive side, the staging of Assassins was just masterful. The score is good, but not one of Sondheim's best, and the book has its weak moments- but the staging of it made it into one of the most moving and startling shows I'd ever seen. Updated On: 8/1/04 at 09:56 PM

[WiCkEd4LyFfE]

re: Best staging#10

Posted: 8/1/04 at 10:05pm

Wicked

*Kristen*

[MargoChanning]

re: Best staging#11

Posted: 8/1/04 at 10:35pm

Dreamgirls -- the greatest piece of staging I've ever seen. The show moved at the same pace as a movie with 22 separate scenes, lightning fast shifts from the action on stage to backstage and back, pans, dissolves, montages, 5 second costume changes, the whole show left you breathless (one critic said that had Michael Bennett been a Union general, the Civil War would have lasted 15 minutes).

Also memorable:
A CHORUS LINE
The Robbins staging of FIDDLER
The Robbins staging of GYPSY
The John Dexter staging of EQUUS
The Peter Brook staging of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
JEROME ROBBINS BROADWAY
The Michael Blakemore staging of NOISES OFF
The Hal Prince staging of CANDIDE
The Hal Prince staging of EVITA
SWEENEY TODD
THE WIZ
The Wolfe staging of ANGELS IN AMERICA
NICHOLAS NICKELBY
SWEET CHARITY
SUNDAY IN THE PARK
The Jack O'Brien staging of HENRY IV
The David Leveaux staging of JUMPERS

"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

[Glebb]

re: Best staging#12

Posted: 8/1/04 at 10:41pm

Staging of DREAMGIRLS was mind boggling.

CAROUSEL at Lincoln Center was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

" ...the happiness in the tune convinces me that I'm not afraid."

[bta212]

re: Best staging#13

Posted: 8/1/04 at 10:44pm

I'll add an "amen" to "Dreamgirls", and "Follies" in London blew me away

"They have never understood, and no reason that they should. But if anybody could . . . " --SS

[Le Prince Rebel]

re: Best staging#14

Posted: 8/1/04 at 10:47pm

The staging of the overture of CAROUSEL at Lincoln Center was breathtaking. I still get goosebumps when I think of that carousel coming together!

[Glebb]

re: Best staging#15

Posted: 8/1/04 at 10:50pm

You are so correct about that overture of CAROUSEL.

I saw FOLLIES in London and although it looked costly it did little for me. I much preferred the Broadway version two years ago.

" ...the happiness in the tune convinces me that I'm not afraid."

[bronxboundexpress]

re: Best staging#16

Posted: 8/2/04 at 1:21am

STARLIGHT EXPRESS is the ultimate winner as far as set and design.

[Plum]

re: Best staging#17

Posted: 8/2/04 at 8:26am

D'oh! How could I forget Sunday in the Park With George? Seeing the island take form in the beginning was unbelievably cool, and that's even before the stunning Act 1 closer.

[jayem1968]

re: Best staging#18

Posted: 8/2/04 at 9:08am

If Dracula "Broadway" is anything like Dracula "La Jolla" - it is easily the best staging I have ever seen!

Everybody goes down well with beer.

[luvtheEmcee]

re: Best staging#19

Posted: 8/2/04 at 9:12am

Cabaret - not too elaborate, but I thought it was great.
Caroline, or Change, too.

A work of art is an invitation to love.

[robbiej]

re: Best staging#20

Posted: 8/2/04 at 10:25am

I've finally realized why it's hard to impress me with musical stagings these days.

The first three Broadway shows I saw were SWEET CHARITY, A CHORUS LINE and DREAMGIRLS.

No wonder everything else pales.

"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."

[TobyRagg]

re: Best staging#21

Posted: 8/2/04 at 11:16am

Ragtime definitely is the one that sticks out in my mind. Chicago is simple and it works for the theme of the show. You can't go wrong with the famous march in Les Miserables. Movin' Out's staging is fantastic as well.

[broadwayguy2]

re: Best staging#22

Posted: 8/2/04 at 11:57am

I don't want to repeat all of the above listed.. well.. Okay.. I will repat HAIRSPRAY.

[fiesta1]

re: Best staging#23

Posted: 8/2/04 at 12:03pm

I'm with Margo on Hal Prince's staging of Evita. Wow. The scenes progressed nearly seamlessly -- almost cinematically. I went back and saw the show again several days later just to see the staging.

I only saw the road tour of Dreamgirls (with Lillias). I was very impressed with it, but imagine that it must have been even more amazing. To paraphrase Conrad: The towers, the towers.

The Wolfe version of 'Angels in America' as well as the Nunn/Caird production of Nicholas Nickleby are also memorable.

[Mister Matt]

re: Best staging#24

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:00pm

Les Miserables
Starlight Express
Phantom of the Opera
Hairspray
Tommy
Jane Eyre
Proposals
An Inspector Calls
42nd Street (revival)
The Lion King
Titanic
Sunset Boulevard
Return to the Forbidden Planet (West End)
My Fair Lady (West End revival)
Whistle Down the Wind

"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian