Favourite scene transitions?

[aces25]

Posted: 12/30/18 at 6:04pm

What plays and musicals have some of the most creative scene transitions? 

[bradwalt]

Posted: 12/30/18 at 6:19pm

In the musical High Fidelity, they switched from one bedroom to another in two seconds. The bedspread flew off (on invisible wires) revealing a different bedspread , the artwork on the walls flipped around and even the nightstands changed (if I remember all this correctly).  

[Mike Costa]

Posted: 12/30/18 at 6:29pm

 

Nice topic. Looking forward to people's responses.

Susan Stroman's transition of the Arrival of the Ladies into Deadrock using treadmills in Crazy For You is one of the most exciting things I have seen on stage.

There was a moment in the original Pippin when Ben Vereen lifted a red handkerchief off the floor centerstage and the entire set rose out of it. Likewise, the reveal of the entire company in the revival of Pippin during Magic to Do when the gold silk was dropped revealing everyone doing circus tricks during the opening number.

Hall Prince's transition of the waiters disappearing behind a wall of light in Cabaret at the end of Tomorrow Belongs to Me is equally dramatic as is Jonathan Tunick's set change music as the bakeshop arrives for the first time in the original SweeneyTodd.

While we are on the subject the transition into Loveland in Follies makes everyone's eyes widen.

[BwayLB]

Posted: 12/30/18 at 6:31pm

The dance break between Whistle A Happy Tune and the palace in the Lincoln Center production of the King and I

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 12/30/18 at 6:46pm

In City of Angels, a morgue scene with a gurney became a Hollywood office as the corpse on the gurney became a producer getting a back rub on a massage table.

That was early in my theatergoing career and it’s always stood out to me as maybe the first time I was really aware of what creative staging can do.

Updated On: 12/30/18 at 06:46 PM

[HereAndThere2]

Posted: 12/30/18 at 6:50pm

This.

 

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 12/30/18 at 7:04pm

This is very good question and one I really had to think about. I dont think Ill forget about the fun home tours transition going into the house. It so breathtaking and shocking at the same time.
Kind of on that note the first transition in Lookingglass Alice is always a wonder to watch.

[Fetus]

Posted: 12/30/18 at 7:10pm

The transition into the roller rink in The Band's Visit is so simple but effective, one of my favorite moments from the last season.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/30/18 at 9:12pm

All time great: Jerome Robbins' transition from the fire escape scene ("Tonight" into the dance at the gym. I'm not even a big fan of WSS (at least compared to its fanatics; I realize it's an important work), but the transition into the gym made me gasp out loud in Robbins' mid-1980s revival (and I was watching from the stage manager's desk in the wings, not from out front).

Perhaps even more amazing is the transition scene (also Robbins) where Babies June and Louise and their Newsboys are replaced by adult actors under a strobe light. Gives me chills every time I see it.

These are the sort of directorial touches that film and TV can't really duplicate. They make the expense and inconvenience of going to live theater worthwhile.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 12/30/18 at 10:01pm

I'll never get over the transition from Mama Who Bore Me into the Classroom in the Deaf West Spring Awakening

[robskynyc]

Posted: 12/30/18 at 10:45pm

Call_me_jorge said: "This is very good question and one I really had to think about. I dont think Ill forget about the fun home tours transition going into the house. It so breathtaking and shocking at the same time.
Kind of on that note the first transition in Lookingglass Alice is always a wonder to watch."

are you talking about the projections where it looks like she's going down in the elevator? I think it was with Janet Dacal

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 12/30/18 at 11:27pm

I don't know if it counts, but the way Michael Bennett has/had the entire chorus line except for the actor or actors about to be featured step back out of the light in perfect unison always thrills me.

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 12/31/18 at 12:09am

The opening number "Comedy Tonight" of the 90s revival of Forum with Lane/Whoopi had a fantastic quick set change.

After opening the curtains twice on a grim, dark, and tragic set including a full ensemble all dressed in black and performing over the top scenes from a Greek tragedy, here is a fantastic transition where they lower the curtain on this setting only to then raise it up again about 5 seconds later with the set totally transformed into the bright and cheerful comedy set. There is a video out there on YT somewhere of it and it's just.... it's impressive the speed of the change as well as the seemliness of the transition. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 12/31/18 at 12:55am

robskynyc said: "Call_me_jorge said: "This is very good question and one I really had to think about. I dont think Ill forget about the fun home tours transition going into the house. It so breathtaking and shocking at the same time.
Kind of on that note the first transition in Lookingglass Alice is always a wonder to watch."

are you talking about the projections where it looks like she's going down in the elevator? I think it was with Janet Dacal"

That’s not lookingglass Alice. I’m talking about the play that was produced by the lookingglass theatre company.

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/31/18 at 1:32am

The tornado in the original Broadway production of THE WIZ.

[bwayobsessed]

Posted: 12/31/18 at 7:35am

Hand to God, when the turntable spins revealing the Sunday school classroom has been vandalized by the satan possessed and obsessed puppet

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 12/31/18 at 9:10am

All time great: Jerome Robbins' transition from the fire escape scene ("Tonight"Favourite scene transitions? into the dance at the gym. I'm not even a big fan of WSS (at least compared to its fanatics; I realize it's an important work), but the transition into the gym made me gasp out loud in Robbins' mid-1980s revival (and I was watching from the stage manager's desk in the wings, not from out front).

Oh, boy.  Let’s correct some things here: Tony meets Maria AT the dance, so “Tonight” happens afterwards, not before the dance.   The transition you meant to say is when Maria is inside the bridal shop (with Anita, Bernardo and Chino) and mentions her excitement for the dance and begins to twirl as the stage goes dark and as other girls twirl on stage alongside her, in a loud pop colored streamers drop from the flies and in a blink the entire stage is engulfed with dancers (the Sharks and the Jets) dancing inside the gym.  Also, this revival (which played the Minskoff Theatre) was in 1980, not the mid-80s.  

[youwillbefound2]

Posted: 12/31/18 at 10:41am

I don't know why, but the beginning of the Ferryman, when the wall(?) lifts up to reveal the inside of the house sticks out to me.

[David10086]

Posted: 12/31/18 at 11:05am

For me, just about every scene transition involving Norma's mansion  in the original run of SUNSET BOULEVARD was captivating. Watching the 'mansion' land onto the stage, or rise above it to reveal Artie's place was fascinating. A lot of time, thought, work and technology went into that - and it paid off. (Especially considering it was new technology 25 years ago.)

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 12/31/18 at 11:12am

In my opinion, the transitions in the original production of Sunset Boulevard were stunning, and incredibly cinematic. I couldn't believe how smoothly the mansion set, which could have been clunky, was integrated into the action.

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 12/31/18 at 11:13am

David10086 said: "For me, just about every scene transition involving Norma's mansion in the original run of SUNSET BOULEVARD was captivating. Watching the 'mansion' land onto the stage, or rise above it to reveal Artie's place was fascinating. A lot of time, thought,work and technology went into that - and it paid off. (Especially considering it was new technology 25 years ago.)"

Wow, great minds think alike!

[David10086]

Posted: 12/31/18 at 11:33am

CT2NYC said: 
Wow, great minds think alike!"

 

LOL! Indeed. 

And though I enjoyed the 2017 revival immensely, it was definitely lacking something - and this was it. There was no magic between the scene transitions. (Same with the tour I saw back in the late 1990s). Without them, the musical loses it's 'punch'. 

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 12/31/18 at 11:42am

the transition into the TOP of KING AND I when the BOAT came out onstage had me in tears.

 

The first time the house moves DS in MY FAIR LADY was pretty epic.  and then then went and SPUN that house.

 

The high fidelity transition of bedrooms was pretty epic in design.  Tho the bedspread didn't fly away, it just was flipped over by the actors lying in the bed.

[oldfriends]

Posted: 12/31/18 at 11:45am

The transition from Another National Anthem into the Lee Harvey Oswald scene in Assassins. Was done with such theatricality in the original production (less so in the 2004 Broadway staging).

[darquegk]

Posted: 12/31/18 at 12:16pm

One of the first shows I did as music director was "High School Musical 2." There's a transition from Scene 1 into Scene 2 where the music suddenly gets, for lack of a better word, EPIC. And I remember consulting with the director about that, and saying "is this a staging thing that's supposed to happen here?"

That's an interesting alternate question: pieces or moments where the music suggests something more or bigger happening than the actual libretto gives you, which you'd only really know if you'd seen the production.