Best staging

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

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

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

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.

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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

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

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

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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.