Favourite Stage Effect Ever Seen?- Page 4

[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)

[Roscoe]

Posted: 12/28/07 at 3:15pm

I did get a charge out of seeing Elphaba fly in WICKED.

I still remember Bernadette Peters climbing out of the dress in SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE.

But a lot of the coolest effects I can remember come from actors doing cool things. I remember Jessica Tandy suddenly becoming 50 years younger in FOXFIRE, and Bill Irwin aging almost as much as quickly in MR. FOX.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 12/28/07 at 3:31pm

"Norma's mansion decending from the flies."

Oh, I loved that. I saw it in L.A. and when her mansion flew up and the apartment came from below was astounding. How did the car chase go again? I remember not liking it, but if only I remembered it.

[Mealz1042]

Posted: 12/28/07 at 4:02pm

umm EVERYTHING about young frankenstein but particularly they hay ride scene. Could be critisized as being cheesey but I thought it was VERY well done... and almost believable

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 12/28/07 at 4:37pm

I never got a chance to see DRACULA, so can someone please further explain the "aging so quickly" thing that everyone is talking about and its context within the show?

[italianpride888]

Posted: 12/28/07 at 5:05pm

This isnt my favorite effect, but I thought it was pretty neat. When I saw the Little Mermaid show at Disney MGM Studios, at the end I believe Ariel is lifted up while wearing her fin than all of the sudden a cloud of smoke came up and she was wearing a dress. The cloud isnt so thick that you can't see whats going on.. thats what makes the effect so cool, it just happends so fast right in front of your eyes.

[philly03]

Posted: 12/28/07 at 5:55pm

I love Javert's Suicide probably most...it really is what everyone already said..so basic but so intricate with all the blue and the revolve goes around really fast.

The Phantom of the Opera chair effect is defanetly my favourite though.

[philly03]

Posted: 12/28/07 at 6:00pm

I'm not sure if it would classify as an effect or direction, but in Jekyll & Hyde during "Someone Like You" when at the beginning the Lucy moves her hands and if it comes across right (Coleen Sexton in the DVD did) the furnature moves as well (Looks like magic! haha), and also at the end when all the people walk by to show she's alone (actually, as if it's not enough like other things, it reminds me of Eponine at the Barricade as already mentioned!). Somewhat cheezy, actually really cheesy if the timing is off (such as the Hoff I think in it during This is The Moment).

Posted: 12/28/07 at 6:06pm

in legally blonde it's a double one is a guy and the girl slides down! the guy stops himself sideways!

Posted: 12/28/07 at 6:08pm

my favorite was the house in mary poppins it was aboulutely amazing! :)

[sit&dither]

Posted: 12/29/07 at 11:53am

I never got a chance to see DRACULA, so can someone please further explain the "aging so quickly" thing that everyone is talking about and its context within the show?

Going by memory, so others excuse any inaccuracies: When Dracula appears, he's quite aged (grayed wig, wrinkles, etc). He then attacks a tasty young thing behind one of the aforementioned glass, blood-filling coffins. When he emerges from her neck, he’s young and refreshed. What was amazing was the rapidity with which the transformation took place: old::bite::young, just like that. And I’m not completely sure that he was even completely obscured by the coffin for the change--just that his face was. If memory serves, the top of his wig was visible throughout the bite, and once he finished and stood, the old wig just melted away (i.e. was pulled away when he stood up?).

However the thing that gave me greatest shock during the show was Kelli O’Hara’s disrobing. One second she was dressed, one second she was not. I’m sure she just flicked her gown off her shoulder allowing it to fall to the floor, but the night I saw the show, her “quick-change” (shall we say) was performed with such speed that it was even more awe-inspiring than Dracula’s.

[goober1632]

Posted: 12/29/07 at 4:34pm

When i saw Dracula at La Jolla he walked to the lip of the stage and just disappeared. He might have jumped off into the pit, but it was so fast we were all speechless. Yes, Dracula had the BEST special effects i had EVER seen. Too bad the music was dreadful.

[lesmis]

Posted: 12/29/07 at 4:53pm

Titanic - this is not a big effect but when the cart rolls across the stage.

Les Mis - the turning of the barricade

[deadparrot]

Posted: 12/29/07 at 4:58pm

One of my favorites is the final scene of 1776, with the Liberty Bell clanging in the background as each delegate's name is called.

Simple, don't even know if it counts as an "effect," but it gives me chills every time I see it. Updated On: 12/29/07 at 04:58 PM

[sing_dance_love]

Posted: 12/29/07 at 6:08pm

I love crazy costume changes from Elle's in "Omigod..." to the whole amazing "Show-off" number in Drowsy.

And I have to say the hat flying at the beginning of Piazza was beautiful. It was easy to see the string but the entire image was just incredibly beautiful.

[BroadwayBound115]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 6:00pm

I really enjoyed the effect in Curtains where it looks like the stage shifts down and the drop goes into the floor and then Cioffi, Nikki and Chris are in the flyspace. It happens so fast it is sooo cool to watch.

Young Frankenstein's effects blew me away, especially the opening flash of lightning during the overture.

And also, Mary Poppins also wowed me with the house, the toys, the bag the kites, her flying. It was wonderful!

[Patash]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 6:31pm

I was going to mention An Inspector Calls as well, but I never saw it on Broadway, only in London before that. At the end the cobblestone street also cracked and tilted and there were peoples' faces or heads which actually appeared up through the cracks. I was told that didn't happen in New York.

[philly03]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 6:36pm

"How did the car chase go again? I remember not liking it, but if only I remembered it. "

Sorry that no one responded and it's 8 months later! I didn't like how it was done, but from what I remember, the sunset manila colored wall things dropped, and projected was either fotage from the film or something else of the two money collectors in their car (windsheild only) and Joe (windshield only), and then as they turned the wheels would appear below those and then the windshields would get closer together and then farther apart, etc. And then when the tire goes out, it goes in the middle (the tire projection that is) and then it ends. Meanwhile, the entire time there was the projection of the movie chase with only the soundeffects of screeching wheels and show the car going into the garage where then I think one or two of the ways partially pull up a little to act as a garage, with a silhoutte of what the house should have looked like.

[Patash]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 6:45pm

Not exactly a special effect, but I freaked when the entire Producers' office appeared the same but entirely in white.

And the black and white vs. color versions in City of Angels.

And I don't think we'll ever top the first time Peter Pan flew.

[toanythingtaboo 2]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 6:49pm

To the question about the 'Wicked Witch of the East' number in Wicked, I think this is how its done:

The wardrobe had two halves. One half is facing the audience, which is when Elphaba is lit up and says her bit to Nessa...then the light goes off and opens the door.

The other half of the wardrobe at the back is open, where the already silvered up tin man double is sitting/standing. So when Elphaba pushes the wheelchair around the back of the wardrobe, Boq and the Tin Man swap, Elphaba then continues to push the wheelchair to the side.


The Legally Blonde Pole thing...obviously its two people, but surely they don't just have the actress holding on for dear life while another actor slides down the SAME pole to give her a cue to let go?

Would they not have a platform for her to sit on while waiting, so she then just has to go at the right time? And have the actor have some sort of device to stop him from sliding onto her before she goes down? Hm....


Anyways, I will always love the Defying Gravity effect. The goose bumps you get the first time you see it is engraved in my memory.

Love the drowning of Prince Eric in Little Mermaid too.

Hm, minds drawing a blank for others right now.

OH! I know it doesn't technically count, but the effects on that opening for the Beijing Olympics were SPECTACULAR! The scroll...the Olympic rings lifting off the ground and being suspended in mid-air, the drums/lights, the running around the brim of the stadium roof to set fire to the torch.

Aw man. It was beautiful.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 6:59pm

The chase through the train to catch Mrs Primrose in On The Twentieth Century.

The Loveland transformation in the London production of Follies.

The house vomiting its contents into the orchestra pit in An Inspector Calls.

[little_sally]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 7:06pm

I loved the effect with the painting over the fireplace before "Join the Family Business" in Young Frankenstein.

Burt dancing on the ceiling during "Step in Time". Wow.

The train at the end of The Woman in White scared the crap out of me. It looked like it was coming right at the audience!

Speaking of scaring the crap out of me, I loved the effect with the child dummy during The Writer and the Writer's Brother scene in The Pillowman.

[Jane2]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 7:30pm

The entire production of The Pillowman.

[Noel&Cole]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 7:59pm

I was just in London and saw several amazing staging effects in Sound of Music (the mountain moves), Zorro (flying and swordplay were awesome) BUT the one that really caught the eyes was in NEVER FORGET-THE TAKE THAT MUSICAL. At the end of the first act it is raining onstage and then at the very end the rain falls as words. The words NEVER FORGET spelled out in rain drops keep falling from the flies. Not sure how they managed it but it was really cool

[TheatreFreak05]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 8:00pm

The projections in the SITPWG were beautiful. I loved when it would show little things in the background moving, like the sailboat and the people in the distance. I also liked when George was talking to the characters in the painting during "Color and Light". "Putting it Together" was clever as well.