COUP DE THÉÂTRE's - favorites?

[cambell22]

Posted: 10/15/24 at 4:46pm

What are some of your favorites? 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 10/15/24 at 4:50pm

Trunchbull picking up Amanda Thripp by the pigtails and throwing her made me gasp lol

 

Updated On: 10/15/24 at 04:50 PM

[ardiem]

Posted: 10/15/24 at 4:54pm

Fairview. So many wildly effective rug-pulling moments!

[inception]

Posted: 10/15/24 at 4:57pm

After reading your comment in the Starlight Express thread, I'm guessing your meaning some kind exciting set piece?

This weekend I saw the newest Cirrque Du Soleil touring show Echo, which has been traveling about since 2023.  At the end of the first act it has 

 

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an amazing massive puppet that breaks out of a part of the set. 

It was very cool.  It isn't much more than cool, as there isn't really a story, so it doesn't add to any story.

[xoxobwayjohndoe]

Posted: 10/15/24 at 4:58pm

The set transformation in Wet Brain at Playwrights was truly something else. I've never seen anything else like it.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/15/24 at 5:46pm

A LIFE by Adam Bock at Playwrights Horizons back in 2016. It managed to pack 2 huge surprises into the production- the ostensible main character, played by David Hyde Pierce whose charm was used to devastating effect here

 

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dies midway through the play, after thoroughly endearing himself to the audience with a lengthy monologue and a scene.

 

It thoroughly upended what the play had appeared to be about.

And befitting such a shift, the hitherto unremarkable apartment set itself shifted and turned inside-out and in on itself.

A remarkable coup from the writer, director, and designer.

Updated On: 10/15/24 at 05:46 PM

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 10/15/24 at 5:52pm

Chéreau’s separation of act one and act two in The House of the Dead. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 10/15/24 at 6:10pm

I know there once was a lengthy thread on this topic, but despite several attempts, I could not discover the right search parameters. Maybe someone else will be more successful.

[SeanD2]

Posted: 10/15/24 at 6:36pm

The pool table (IYKYK) and final sequence in Black Watch. Those have stayed with me for years now