Best theatre magic?

[aces25]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 3:51pm

What are some of your favourite magic effects on stage you have seen? 

[Alex10]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 3:52pm

Sylvia's final scene in Finding Neverland is some of the most incredible effects work I've ever seen.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 3:53pm

Some of the effects in Wildhorn's Dracula

[pupscotch]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 3:55pm

When Elphaba flies in Defying Gravity.

[SueBee06]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 3:58pm

Alex10 said: "Sylvia's final scene in Finding Neverland is some of the most incredible effects work I've ever seen.

 

"

For me as well. It just worked 100% and was gorgeous (and actually redeemed the show for me).

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 3:59pm

Sam walking through the closed door in Ghost.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 3:59pm

The earthquake in Shogun The Musical

[sorano916]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 4:00pm

The Beast transformation in Beauty and the Beast.

[UnwoundFantasies]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 4:03pm

Simple but I love onstage costume changes. What comes to mind first for me is Cinderella's on stage transformation into her ball gown and then later on into her second dress, as well as back to her rags. Recently, I'm obsessed with Alice Murphy's onstage transformation from age 30 whatever to age 16. I just think its breathtaking.

[nolanativeny]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 4:10pm

When I was first getting into shows I was amazed by the title song of Phantom and the Phantom's disappearance at the very end. I just couldn't fathom how they got up to the catwalks so fast (now the illusion has been shattered) or how he disappears into the chair (which I still don't really get even after it having been explained to me). I also think the stage picture of the candles coming up through the mist on the "lake" is really gorgeous.

Updated On: 5/10/16 at 04:10 PM

[bwayandstuff]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 4:18pm

Someone beat me to it but I love onstage costume changes. Also I remember seeing Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby when I was 4 or 5. I don't remember a lot of it but I do remember her flying over the audience and that was amazing. (My mom was fascinated by the fire during "Burn" in Hamilton... she wouldn't stop talking about how cool it was)

[kuhset]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 4:19pm

Two words: Pippin Revival. 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 5:11pm

There have been lots of threads like this, but I'll bite anyway because it's fun to reminisce about. As I've said before my favorite stage-magic things are not the mysterious secret ones where you can't tell how they do it. My favorites are the ones that use mundane and/or obvious methods of achieving something extraordinary. Recent examples that come to mind include:

 

-Sylvia's final scene - Finding Neverland

-weaving Arachne's tapestry - Spider-Man

-the puppetry in War Horse and Lion King

-using a shadow as the Giant  - Fiasco's Into the Woods

-the cotton ball explosion - An Octaroon 

-An incredible scene change in the recent National Theatre production of As You Like it, in which the furniture in an office is dragged up with cables to becomes the trees in the forest. 

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 5:15pm

Elphaba's flight in "Defying Gravity" is just the tops for me.

And, yes, as another poster wrote, the entire Pippin revival.

I'm also perhaps openly revealing how young I am with this, but I still don't understand how the Phantom disappears at the end of the show.

[Wick3]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 5:20pm

Beast's transformation to the Prince in Beauty & the Beast. No idea how Terrence Mann did it!

[non-stop26]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 5:23pm

Sylvia's final scene in Finding Neverland

Magic Carpet Aladdin

THE LION KING

[ChiTheaterFan]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 5:48pm

nolanativeny said: "When I was first getting into shows I was amazed by the title song of Phantom and the Phantom's disappearance at the very end. I just couldn't fathom how they got up to the catwalks so fast (now the illusion has been shattered) or how he disappears into the chair (which I still don't really get even after it having been explained to me). I also think the stage picture of the candles coming up through the mist on the "lake" is really gorgeous.

 

"

I have such nostalgia about this. I remember being so awestruck when I saw this as a kid. Even when he shows up in the mirror. Now it doesn't seem magical but it sure did then. 

[MoDance0934]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 9:56pm

The magic carpet in Aladdin. To this day, I'm still scratching my head as to how they pull it off.

[ggersten]

Posted: 5/10/16 at 10:51pm

The acrobats who lifted and moved Rosalie Craig throughout The Light Princess. While they are on stage (albeit in black) there are visible. The magic is that you stop seeing them and start to believe that Ms. Craig actually is floating.

[Mike Costa]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 12:00am

Tony Walton and Bob Fosse created a brilliant moment for Ben Vereen in the original run of Pippin at The Imperial where he bent over to pick up a bright red silk  from down front center and from that silk an entire set rose up from the basement.  Do any of you remember what number or scene that was in? It is not on the  William Katt video since that was not filmed in New York.

In the end though, I am, like MoDance, most amazed by that Flying Carpet in Aladdin.
It even comes back in full light for the curtain call and still is astonishing.

 

Updated On: 5/11/16 at 12:00 AM

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 12:03am

Not magic at all, but the fact no one has fallen
through any of the lifts at fun home. It just seems so dangerous.

Updated On: 5/11/16 at 12:03 AM

[KCW]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 7:23am

Ooooh, Costa I know what you are talking about I think (or I could be imagining things) You can see it in the Toronto production that was filmed. It's right after Magic to do or Corner of the Sky going into Charlemagne's castle. Also in Magic to do there is an effect that I just can't figure out, if you watch the video it's the one where the actor levitates.

[John Adams]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 8:29am

Another plug for my favorite theater podcast, since so many have mentioned the scene in Finding Neverland. Laura Michelle Kelly very dryly tells a story of how she almost died doing that scene (I love British humor!).

PS: She also shares an anecdote about stepping into the role of Mary Poppins as a replacement on Broadway (the role she originated in the West End). It's an interesting situation I hadn't thought about before.

Updated On: 5/11/16 at 08:29 AM

[Mike Costa]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 8:45am

Very smart, KCW, I will watch the Canadian video of Pippin.

Does anyone remember the TommyTune production of Nine when, at the curtain call, an entire flock of white doves were released from the white set and flew over the heads of the audience to the back of the house?    Gosh, he is brilliant.

It was pretty amazing to see water start trickling out of the set and eventually  fill the stage floor in the David Leveaux revival of the same show and see those gorgeous women gracefully walk through it as if it were nothing ... high heels and all.

[littlemouse921]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 9:01am

I don't know how they did it, but the transformation of princess Fiona into ogre Fiona in Shrek was pretty cool