How did SOUTH win 'Scenic Design' over SITPWG???- Page 4

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 2:47pm

the uninspiring SOUTH sets

Ah. The flaw in your logic. Michael Yeargan's work consistently inspires.

Barber of Seville, Metropolitan Opera





Madame Butterfly, San Diego Opera



Cymbeline, Lincoln Center Theater



Aida, Seattle Opera

[tazber]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 2:50pm

Come on PJ, the guy's obviously a hack.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 2:53pm

Dear dear something. Go ahead and comment. I thought the projections looked like a Powerpoint presentation. Very nicely done and all that, but still: an overgrown Powerpoint presentation. You seem to have thought otherwise. Okay.

My dislike of the production has NOTHING whatever to do with anything you wrote. I did not like it because I thought it was BAD. Period. It has nothing to do with pretending Broadway is like it was 40 years ago, or having another generation to market towards, or anything else. The bottom line is: the cast was BAD, the direction was BAD, the arrangements were BAD.

In my opinion.

Okay. Moving on to other things.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 3:31pm

"Do you really think that no time or effort went into the set design of Sunday? I would think that far more months, even years of work went into the creation of the animated projections and the physical set (yes there was an actual physical set) by many talented creatives from various disciplines. You really have no idea!"

This set took two years to design by the original set designer, Georges Seurat. All SITPWG did was project that onto the wall in a power-point like manner (to steal the descriptiton from another poster).

[nonplussed]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 4:15pm

Fosse 76 You obviously haven't seen the show!

[worrell4077]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 4:26pm

I'm going to say that South Pacific won scenic design because it had an actual set that exists in reality and not just a projected set. I haven't seen South Pacific yet, but the photos of the set look amazing. Before South Pacific opened, I had hoped that Young Frankenstein would win for Scenic Design, but South Pacific's set is more impressive that Young Frankenstein's, but Young Frankenstein's set design especially the lab are just wow too.

Giving SITPWG the award for scenic design would be like giving the Oscar for Art direction to a movie that's sets were CGI(Star Wars) over a film that for some scenes used CGI, but had actual sets for the actors to work with instead of just a green or blue room with some props.

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 4:32pm

Worrelll you are a dumbass. If you read my previous post in this thread, you'll see why. You are just a complete and perfect example of a classic Tony Voter. It is just as hard to use projections in a set then to build a large, elaborate, physical set.

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 4:41pm

How are the SOUTH sets amazing???

It's a bunch of ****ing sand dunes and a painted backdrop!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 5:00pm

Nobody has actually answered the thread title accurately:

How did SOUTH win 'Scenic Design' over SITPWG???

It is a democratic process. South Pacific received more votes for scenic design than Sunday.

Next week, we'll reveal how Mary Poppins can fly.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 5:04pm

"Next week, we'll reveal how Mary Poppins can fly."

I can tell you that now. They hook her onto a harness and pull her up in the air. That amazing special effect should've won a Tony!!!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 5:07pm

What about all that mist that I see sometimes all over the stage. And then it goes away at just the right moment. How do they get the weather to change like that indoors and on queue? Is there a Tony for Best Humidity?

[jpbran]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 5:08pm

"an overgrown Powerpoint presentation"

By your logic, then the SP set is just an overgrown school diorama.

Are Tony categories voted on by peers? (like the Oscars) If so, then many of the traditional set designers who were voting probably didn't want to encourage something they feel might reduce their union buds' usefulness.

SITPWG's design was amazing... pure and simple. And YES, it was "set design." The category isn't "Traditional Wood and Fabric Set Construction."

Granted-- projections do not fit in everywhere, and will probably be waaaaay overused, but in this case it was amazingly well designed and executed, both to the service of the story and the delight of the audience.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 6:16pm

I feel so sorry for the Sunday Set Design Groupeez in this thread.

Is this how we would have acted if Patti had lost?

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 6:18pm

you still haven't explained to me how a set of fake sand dunes, wash stalls, and a makeshift stage are "amazing" ?

[Weez]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 6:38pm

There would have been weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Possibly some storefronts smashed open around RCMH.

Out of interest, how do you spell "oh no she DI-int"? There must be an accepted spelling, but I can't say I've ever come across it written down. If this thread doesn't improve, we may need to use it.

[jpbran]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 9:09pm

Um, it's actually "di-unt!"

Oh, the state of education today.

[Zeitoujo]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 9:13pm

IT WAS ROBBED>

[Roscoe]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 9:24pm

"SP set is just an overgrown school diorama."

Goodness, that little Powerpoint remark has riled folks up. I don't reslly think that SOUTH PACIFIC's set can be seen as an overgrown school diorama, except by those who are so furious over SUNDAY's loss that they are desperate to throw dirt on the winner.

I liked SOUTH PACIFIC's set. Functional, interesting, never overwhelming the action. Evidently others round here don't like it. C'est la vie. Opinions will differ.

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 10:12pm

What was interesting about a bunch of sand dunes and military maps?

[Roscoe]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 10:27pm

At least as much as was interesting about an overgrown Powerpoint presentation.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 10:24am

"Did you miss my 'breakdown'?" -- TooDarnHot

No, indeed. I think we all witnessed it.

[jpbran]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 4:21pm

"I don't reslly think that SOUTH PACIFIC's set can be seen as an overgrown school diorama, except by those who are so furious..."

Lord... I was just pointing out that such a simplified, childish comparison could be extrapolated to just about anything. Powerpoint= the most BASIC of prestentation/projection tools. Sunday= the technology at its most intricate. (No sane person would really think that... nor would any sane person who saw Sunday really compare it to PP unless they were just starting $hit.)

And SP isn't getting any "dirt throwing" from me.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 5:36pm

I quite agree that it is possible to take a reductive standpoint against anything: she's just playing a hammy stage mother/ it's just a sentimental Latino re-hash/ it's just a bunch of pretty stage pictures. It doesn't prove a point. Sunday in the Park does not use Powerpoint; Knifedge used ground-breaking technology which does not deserve such off-hand dismissal.

To say in other words that it doesn't really count as set design or is not as good as architectural scenery, is like saying that an orchestra isn't an orchestra unless it is in the pit. Surely nobody here is entitled to narrow definitions in such a way.

So what were the virtues of Sunday's projection, (apart from the fact that it physically worked, even under full lighting washes)? Well, unlike the previously-mentioned Woman in White, here the projected design enhanced the drama. Having seen the original production, the National Theatre's first London production and the Buntrock show, for me this one released the whole idea of the impermanency of the brush stroke- its erasbility, if you like- in a way that the flying of a scenic item could not. "Colour and light"- that's what the show talks about. And there it is on the stage. Form and content beautifully complimenting each other.

So how did SP win? Because more Tony voters chose it. So now we come to that old chestnut. Well, who are these voters? A group of entirely objective, donnish judges, with no agendas, commercial interests, allegiances or preferences? No. So in very many cases their opinions can be just as flawed as any of us here. And indeed, many admit to voting without even seeing all the shows. So those here who smugly draw on the results of a poll of this group, are hardly able to produce objective, unanswerable proof that they are right. They just got lucky with the maths on this one.

Both designs are very good. Both perform different functions. But I would be very wary of citing a Tony Award as unarguable proof of the superiority of one over the other.

[jpbran]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 6:06pm

Meant for Devonian...

[Elphaba3]

Posted: 6/17/08 at 10:24pm

I haven't seen SITPG, but South Pacific's sets took my breath away. Sunday's seem very good too from what I've seen.