Furniture choreography / transitions?

Please excuse the obscure topic, but I'm doing some research for a project. Hoping for some help, oppose to ribbing.

When have you seen choreography with furniture and fast scene changes/transitions with furniture in and out of the scene?

The original Broadway staging of Jekyll & Hyde was heavily criticized for this. The furnishings would often snake off stage mid song. I thought it looked kind of neat. I feel like it's even more common now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rEdb5sJ-tU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhw5Bxrvuus

Grand Hotel



people come

people go

people move chairs

9 to 5 and Wicked had/have very well "choreographed" scene changes, although more technical, the cast is staged around the moving elements (ie. Glinda on the bed, students sitting down on the classroom benches, etc.). Worth noting they are both Mantello shows.

Les Mis is well known for the amount of furniture that would come around on the turntable (I believe set by the crew upstage, not by the cast)

Jersey Boys has all the furniture set by the cast. Those scene changes are choreographed within an inch of their lives. (ie. how they hold a chair, how they walk with it, how they set it down)

And of course Come From Away.

"bowtie7 said: "Grand Hotel

people come

people go

people move chairs"

For those not familiar with the Forbidden Broadway parody songs--this is a quote from one of the best ones--Grimm Hotel. (recorded on Forbidden Broadway volume 3)

The Color Purple (revival) directed by John Doyle.

And this version of Chinglish:

I think it’s safe to assume that there’s always been theatre where cast members move furniture or scenic elements. It’s the simplest way to get an object on or off that stage.

The Scottsboro Boys is a great example of a modern production that uses simplistic furniture, arranged by the cast, to tell a compelling story.

Updated On: 6/21/21 at 12:44 PM