Skip to main content
My Shows
News on your favorite shows, specials & more!
#1

Favorite Broadway "pre-set"

In going with the other post about favorite broadway show curtain, what is everyone's favorite "pre-set"? (aka the set that is on stage upon entering the theater)

Mine is probably the auction set for the Phantom....mostly because of the amazing transformation it makes during the overture:)
#2

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

The Phantom of the Opera is definitely a favorite...it's so fascinating to look at.

The Light in the Piazza was a great preset as well.

A repertory prouduction of My Fair Lady had a brick wall with the title in lights. It was beautiful.
How to properly use its/it's: Its is the possessive. It's is the contraction for it is...
#3

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

Since I am extremely fasinated by sparkly things, I did enjoy the Wicked curtain. And Phantom's was great as well.
#5

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

Can we count tour stuff? Because the Evita national tour had the coolest painting thing onstage...
Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!
#6

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

The Sweeney curtain was awesome. (Although I do love the lady who said, "Do they know the curtain is ripped?" :P)

Although, for best pre-set, I would have to go with Company. It's so aesthetically pleasing, and interesting. I love modern design in all shapes and form, and this is it at its finest. The way the pillar sits in the middle, with the overhang, and the glass boxes; I love all the symbolism, and the fact that it's supposed to be an apartment makes it even more appealing and interesting. (I saw Company yesterday. Can you tell?)
"My muffin top is all that/whole grain and low-fat/I know you want a piece of that/But I just wanna dance!"
#7

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

but can we really consider the painting on the evita tour as a "pre set"
it was really used as the curtain


and I still have NO idea what the hell it had to do with the show
Now all I see are cute boys with short haircuts in a maze of their own...
#8

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

you guys are breaking the rules. show curtains are not "pre sets" read the first post. with that said... cats. duh.
#9

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

Can I say the Sweeney Todd original production? Yes, it had the big drop of the British beehive, but that wasn't really a "curtain".

Also, The Light in the Piazza's is pretty cool.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
#10

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

Mine falls halfway between a curtain and a pre-set: Tarzan.

I love the changing Captain's log, as well as tracking the ship as it slowly makes its way to Africa. Once it hits land the storm starts.

Akiva
#11

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

Any Man of La Mancha set is always thrilling. I just love how when they begin to enter everyone in the audience begins to get quiet. It's a cool effect, you know? Cats and Phantom are other obvious choices, but one of my personal favorites is the set up for th beginnning of Ito the Woods, when it played at the Broadhurst. Just the effect of the Narrator seeming to come from nowhere and hen all of the books turning around to reveal the villiage amazed me as a little kid.
#13

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

I enjoyed the overall look of the "Wicked" pre-set. It was a combination of the vines and levels on the sides, the dragon overhead, and the show curtain with the sparkles and moving lights. It lent a sense of wonder and excitement.
#14

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

id have to go with THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA and COMPANY
as sweeneynut said, i loved all the modern architecture, the blue and white lightbulbs and stuff, and then i loved the plain brick wall behind it all, because the brick wall looked so...old, but the furnishings were so new :)
My 2007/2008 Season: Grey Gardens (7/5) 110 in the Shade (7/6) Mary Poppins (7/7) Xanadu (7/7) Deuce (7/8) Spamalot (7/8) Jersey Boys (8/25) The Year of Magical Thinking (8/25) Mauritius (11/2) Young Frankenstein (11/3) Rock 'N' Roll (11/3) Pygmalion (11/4) Mauritius (11/10) Mauritius (11/21) Mauritius (11/21) Sunday in the Park with George (3/6) South Pacific (3/7) Gypsy (3/8) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (3/9)
#15

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

Definately Phantom, first sime i saw the show i was totally facinated by it.

Wicked is a close second with all the scafolding and cog wheels at the side.

I love Mamma Mia and all but that blue gives me a headache.

Cats in london was also cool, espicially watching the tourists bitch and complain that they bought front row seats only to be blocked by the backside of a car trunk (since they didnt realise that the stage would rotate and clear their view)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27199361@N08/ Phantom at the Royal Empire Theatre
#16

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

The Grey Gardens house.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#17

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

The original Sweeny at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and i guess your Broadway production also.
#19

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

Jayne Houdyshell dozing in the recliner before "Well." Or Ethan Hawke's ass hanging out of his boxers before "Hurlyburly." (OK, that's Off-Broadway, but still...)

Updated On: 6/28/07 at 11:47 AM

#20

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

Company
Tarzan
Grey Gardens
http://www.beintheheights.com/katnicole1 (Please click and help me win!) I chose, and my world was shaken- So what?
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not...
"Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda
"And when Idina Menzel is singing, I'm always slightly worried that her teeth are going to jump out of her mouth and chase me." - Schmerg_the_Impaler
#21

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

I think technically speaking, the "pre-set" includes curtain (if any), lights (on curtain or set), set before the show if visible, etc. It's eveything that needs to be set up before the house opens. "Set" here menaing "to put in place", not "scenery." Thus, I take it to mean everything you see when you enter the house.

Correct me if I am wrong.
#22

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

if that's the case...I like the Legally Blonde Pink Curtain with the sparkling jewel :P
#23

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

Tarzan has a curtain.

I think what the original poster is talking about is when the set is ready when you walk into the theatre, such as Rent, Phantom, etc.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
#24

re: Favorite Broadway 'pre-set'

Well, I love a good pre-show...I think my favorite is Legally Blonde! I know, I know...but for those of you who look closely at the curtain you can see an eight foot tall magenta velvet vagina. It is about four feet to the left of the gigantic heart pendant. It is hilarious. I'm sure the designer had a good time with this. I know I did. Eight foot velvet vagina!

BroadwayWorld TV


Ticket Central
Hot Show
Tickets From $59
Hot Show
Tickets From $71
Hot Show
Tickets From $71
Hot Show
Tickets From $95