Favourite Stage Effect Ever Seen?- Page 3

[Wildcard]

Posted: 12/25/07 at 9:58pm

Brave Sir Robin, to answer your question, the whole stage in the Broadway production of Titanic tilts. You can see the different levels all at the same time and see all the furniture start sliding.

[scot]

Posted: 12/26/07 at 10:28am

This is a odd thought
for me...but in Miss
Saigon, so much was said
about the helicopter
scene. It was a great
scene but not nearly as
much as some others in
that musical. Anyway, the
last Equity tour I saw of
'Saigon' they opted to use
a video screen for the
helicopter scene. The sound
effects were louder and I
just think it worked very
nice. Kind of surprised the
audience in a good way.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 12/26/07 at 12:57pm

The creation of LA GRANDE JATTE at the end of Act I of "Sunday in the Park with George."

The final tableau of 1776.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 12/26/07 at 2:26pm

When the phantom sings why so silent? and he says you will sing for me! and then disapears into the floor and appears at the top of the stairs. IT gets me everytime. The ending to that show with just the mask on the chair also just gives me great chills of joy.

I do however agree philcrosby that the sunday tableau is amazing too!

[dancinfan]

Posted: 12/26/07 at 8:23pm

The house tilting during the rainstorm in The Inspector Calls.

[lusciouslace]

Posted: 12/26/07 at 9:15pm

Maybe this is a dumb question, but I've always wondered how they do the final scene in Phantom, when he sits in the chair and then it's just the mask, but the sheet never loses its form. How exactly does that happen?

I always assumed that the pole trick in LB was two people, how could it not be?

Everybody mentions the chandelier in Phantom in Las Vegas. Is there something different about that one?

I wondered how they would do the stampede in Lion King. I thought it was pretty clever. Really accomplished the effect.

Of course the Beast turning to the Prince was awesome.

I'm sure there are others...but that's all I can think of at the moment.

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 12/26/07 at 9:23pm

Chitty flying
Mary Poppins flying
Bert walking around the top of the stage
Miss Saigon helicopter
Beast Transformation
Javert's suicide
and Dracula had amazing effects.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 12/26/07 at 9:52pm

Maybe this is a dumb question, but I've always wondered how they do the final scene in Phantom, when he sits in the chair and then it's just the mask, but the sheet never loses its form. How exactly does that happen?

When he lifts the cloak above his head, a form comes out from the chair directly above his head that he drapes the cloak around, so it looks like it's hanging off his head but really it is touching a head-shaped form above. He then hits a lever that lowers him down and back into the chair, and is covered by a false back & seat. ( i.e., if Meg were to sit in the chair at that point she would actually be sitting on the Phantom's lap.)

I love that it's an effect that works really well yet it's achieved by such simple means.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 12/26/07 at 10:28pm

I forgot one. This is really simple, but(slight spoiler if anyone cares):

At the end of A Chorus Line, when Zach is saying his bit about rehearsals and the Judy does her "thank you" arms up in the air. The lights fade down until they're just on her. It looks really nice.

[legally_popular]

Posted: 12/27/07 at 1:09am

I'm sorry if this has been mentioned before, but another Wicked one:
[SPOILERS]
During "The Wicked Witch of the East" when Boq turns into the tin man. That must be a double, right? because he can't change into that tin man outfit THAT quick. Pretty cool though. I love that part.

Also, in the beginning of that scene when Elphaba appears to Nessa through the mirror before walking out of it. I don't know how they do that.

[legally_popular]

Posted: 12/27/07 at 1:21am

And about the girl sliding down the pole in Legally Blonde... that has got to be two people because the fully dressed girl is at the window in the upper left corner in the beginning of the song. It's hard for me to explain, but after they pop out of the windows and the house goes away, the girls on the top level must slide down the poles to get down (except for Pilar in the middle on the stairs). So I guess that one girl just crouches down behind that banner the whole time until the robe girl says "Wait for me!" and then slides down.

And in the MTV version I noticed that the robe girl's body is on the left side of the pole sliding down up until the banner when the fully clothed girl appears on the right side. ehh guess I watched that scene too many times, haha =P

[legally_popular]

Posted: 12/27/07 at 2:23am

Yeah. Well I couldn't clearly see the double's face, but I saw the real Boq get up and then the "tin man" sit down like a second later. That's when I realized.. no way he could've changed that fast.

I can't wait to see the reactions of the people I go with when we see it soon. I'll be sitting in left orch when I go in March, so I'll probably be paying extra close attention in that direction at that time.

[lusciouslace]

Posted: 12/27/07 at 10:04am

Thank you for answering the Phantom question! That is very very cool!

What happens if the effect isn't working that day...I'm sure they have an alternative ending or course of action right?

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 12/27/07 at 10:22am

What happens if the effect isn't working that day...I'm sure they have an alternative ending or course of action right?

If there is a problem with the chair, the signal is given to Meg to not pull back the cloak, and the Phantom will slip her the mask, hopefully out of sight of the audience. It'll end the same way with her holding up the mask in the spotlight, but she'll never reveal the empty throne. It happened once when Mark Jacoby was the Phantom & Hugh Panaro was Raoul. He tells of how from backstage he could hear Mark whispering "I'm still here! Don't pull off the cloak."

It's only happened a few times, though once or twice Meg did not hear in time and she pulled back the cloak to reveal the Phantom still sitting there. I think in that case he pretends to be dead or just sits very still. I know that happened to Jeff Keller once.

[lusciouslace]

Posted: 12/27/07 at 10:36am

Thanks!! :) That's always been one of the coolest parts to me...

[beyondblessed]

Posted: 12/27/07 at 12:10pm

I really like in Avenue Q when the giant Kate Monster pops up from behind all the houses and then drops down in the blink of an eye. It was cool and kind of creepy.

This one is simple and old, but I love in Rent when the house is completely dark and Maureen makes her entrance, she's just carrying a light, but it really feels like a motorcycle is on the stage.

110 in the Shade finale. I love water indoors. And watching Audra McDonald dance in the rain with her mouth all open so playfully was cool.

Tarzan wasn't that great of a show, but Disney does always deliver with the spectacle. I love how they created the overhead view of Tarzan's parents walking on the beach, and the waterfall ribbon dancer, that was really cool. And we give so much credit to Ashley Brown and the Mary Poppins creative team, but there were so many people flying over our heads during Tarzan we got to give some credit there. Including Chester Gregory who was swinging upside down over the audience while riffing all over the place.

The Light in the Piazza, everything about the stage effects in that show was amazing.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 12/27/07 at 12:21pm

When the arches part at the beginning of PIAZZA

"I really like in Avenue Q when the giant Kate Monster pops up from behind all the houses and then drops down in the blink of an eye. It was cool and kind of creepy."

I love that! And the Christmas Eve wedding dress.

[Jon]

Posted: 12/27/07 at 12:51pm

The Phantom in the chair trick is simialr to a legendary effect that goes way back to the early 1950's - the original DEATH OF A SALESMAN.

The set showed the boys' bedroom on an upper level. There were twin beds. Biff and Happy were in bed, talking. They then go to sleep. A few seconds later, they appear on the main stage floor level (in a flashback scene) - except the audience never saw them get out of the beds, and the shapes of their bodies under the covers is still visible. There was never any blackout for them to come down the stairs.

Here's how it was done: each bved had an elevator built into it. The blankets had wire frames built in. The actors bulled the blankets up, then the elevators took them down to the floor level. Later, they could ride the elevators up again, and be rediscovered in their beds.

Posted: 12/27/07 at 5:24pm

dancinfan - I'm so glad I'm not the only one here old enough to remember An Inspector Calls. I actually thought the rainstorm was pretty amazing.

I love when Raoul jumps into the lake in Phantom - works better when the a/c isn't forcing back the smoke & giving away the effect to the mezz seats.

I thought the barricade coming down (someone mentioned this) after Eponine's big Act 2 number was much better when Les Miz was at the Bway - it was so huge that it had more punch.

[carymetorent2]

Posted: 12/28/07 at 2:28am

I love watching Mary Poppins fly...but I think all the stuff coming out of the bag is pretty cool too and the dollhouse Valentine comes out of. I'm still not sure I know how they did those.

Also, I really liked some of the wave visual effects and Prince Eric's drowning in "The Little Mermaid."

Another I really liked....in "Woman in White" the shifting scenery and projection screens. I don't remember the full details, but I remember leaving just loving that. SOme people found it nauseating, but I Thought it was so cool.

[timesquare01]

Posted: 12/28/07 at 1:20pm

when i saw mary poppins i was in the second row of the mezzanine on house right. needless to say ashley brown flew up five feet in front of my face. that was amazing. i cant believe no one has mentioned bert's tap dance around the proscenium during step in time. upside down, tap dancing, and belting. it was amazing.


i also really liked the bench in beauty and the beast. it was after the title song, i believe, that a bench just popps up out of the floor. and then they sit on it.

during legally blonde, idk why. but i love when the greek chorus comes out of the floor for the first time. its amazing. lol i also like during the song legally blonde when her door turns and you see both sides of the wall. something about the way they are singing to each other through the door gets to me.


while we're on the subject, the pole trick is done as follows. the girl is crouched down/hanging onto the pole behind the banner that says "congrats elle" or whatever. then when the guy in the robe and facemask runs out and says "hey wait for me!" he slides down the pole and just as he gets to where she is holding on, she lets go. i had a workshop with paul canaan (the guy in the facemask) so i know for a fact its two people.


in a production of scrooge i was just in. there is this beautiful moment after isabelle leaves ebenezer where young ebenezer takes her ring and looks at the door she just left through. then old scrooge reaches into his nightgown and pulls out the same ring, which he wears on a chain and stares after her as well. many people have told me that that moment was heartbreakingly beautiful and effective to them.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 12/28/07 at 1:26pm

This goes WAY back, but, at the age of 12, I saw the original My Fair Lady and the effect at the end of the first act when the anteroom turns into the ballroom proper has never left me. I KNOW there have been stupendous advances in technology since then, but the remembrance of that scene has haunted me forever. Certainly more than any helicopter or falling chandelier.

Updated On: 12/28/07 at 01:26 PM

[DirtyRottenGirl]

Posted: 12/28/07 at 1:52pm

The whole special projected set didn't really work for The Woman In White but at the end when the train comes through and it looks like it is going through the audience is awesome. It goes so fast at you. I thought i was going to pee myself.

[mc1227]

Posted: 12/28/07 at 2:42pm

I always got a thrill watching the flying scenes in both Peter Pan and Wicked. Also, love the showgirls popping out of the filing cabinets in The Producers. And most recently, the lab scene in YF.

[Justin D]

Posted: 12/28/07 at 3:08pm

My soft spot is always Phantom, so the candles in the lake always does it for me.

I love mufassa's ghost in Lion King.

I still can't understand how they did the reversing ageing thing in Dracula.

Was not impressed with Chitty, since from the seat i had in london i could clearly see the boom that the car is attached to.

Les Mis always makes me cry when Javert climbs the barricade and it spins around and suddenly all the dead people are gone and he is left alone.

I totally loved the finale of the Little Shop of Horrors revival when the plant extends out into the audience.

Norma's mansion decending from the flies.

Not so much of an effect, but i almost peed myself in Mamma Mia when the boys flap onstage in those flippers.

Only thing i thought cool in wicked (as far as effects go) are the 2 portraits in the Shiz scene how they go all psychadelic when Elphaba freaks out about Nessa.

and lastly, I loved the ending of xanadu with all those disco balls (what can i say, i am a sucker for disco balls)