Les Mis Slanted Stage

#1

Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/29/06 at 9:02pm

I meant to ask earlier when I came across this bit of information in Ali Ewoldt's blog. Has Les Mis always had a slanted stage? There was a thread awhile back about shows that had slanted or raked stages, but I don't recall seeing Les Mis mentioned. Also, are there variations on how slanted the stage is?

Ali Ewoldt's blog where slanted stage mentioned

#2

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/29/06 at 9:14pm

If I'm not mistaken, most Broadway stages are raked.

#3

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/29/06 at 9:19pm

Hence the terms "upstage" and "downstage"

(but most B-way stages can go either way--like some of the casts...)

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#4

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/29/06 at 9:21pm

Most Broadway musicals have a raked stage as it distorts and forces perspective upon the audience. Objects and people upstage appear bigger and closer then they really are.
Raked stages however, put enormous stress on the cast & crew's knees and backs. And remeber since the stage is raked all furniture/set peices have to be counter-raked in order for things to be level.

#5

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/29/06 at 9:25pm

Just to interject, the stages are not raked.. the SHOW DECK is raked.

#6

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/29/06 at 9:26pm

Thanks for clarifying, Bguy.

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"It's not so much do what you like, as it is that you like what you do." SS

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana." GMarx

#7

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/29/06 at 9:26pm

Les Miz has always had a raked deck.

#8

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/29/06 at 9:28pm

Stages are built level. Some shows, Mamma Mia, Les Miz, and Wicked for example choose to employ raked stages.. Mamma Mia and Wicked, however, use level show decks on their current national tours (the 1st nat'l for Mia had a raked stage as well).

Equity has very strict regulations governing howed raked a stage can be.

#9

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/29/06 at 9:56pm

Its funny you should mention that...
Several years ago I was fortunate enough to be taken onstage by David Masenheimer, who played Javert at the time, and one of the first things he said was how terrible his posture was after working in Les Miserables...

#10

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/29/06 at 10:10pm

For people who know more about raked stages, can you really tell a difference when you're just sitting in the audience? Raked stages seems like one of those absurd things that shouldn't happen, but does because people think it has an effect.

#11

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/29/06 at 10:11pm

Was the deck raked for the national tour of Les Mis too?

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#12

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/29/06 at 10:40pm

Yes, but it depended on the venue.

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#13

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/29/06 at 11:53pm

I was just in a show with a raked stage, and most people said they couldn't really tell. I don't think it's really a stylistic choice? And I can imagine a turntable and a rake for Les Miz - that must suck for the actors.

#14

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/30/06 at 12:01am

at Mia, I think you could tell.... maybe I could because I knew. It depends on how steep the rake is. There IS a maximum slant though...

#15

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/30/06 at 12:03am

What is the typical size of the slant, if there is a typical or average size for raked stages? Is it noticeable as an actor? Sorry, I really ought to refer back to the previous thread on this.

#16

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/30/06 at 12:04am

When A Chorus Line first opened in London it was so seriously raked that cast members were dropping like flies.

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#17

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/30/06 at 12:05am

there isn't a typical/average. some shows have them, some do not. If they do, the size of rake depends on the show. I believe the maximum slant allowed by Equity is 1 inch of slant per foot.
Yes, it is noticeable as an actor.

#18

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/30/06 at 2:08am

The raking of a stage improves overall sightlines for the audience. If you are sitting at eye-level with the stage, you would be able to see further back on the deck. If you happen to be in a seat that is just below eye-level with the stage, on an unraked stage, you'd miss the feet of the performers, or worse.

Raking a stage not only improves those sightlines, but it adds depth visually, and physically. A raked stage adds depth to shallow spaces.

#19

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/30/06 at 2:12am

all very true Erik, thanks for adding the insight!

#20

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/30/06 at 2:18am

Does anyone have any pictures of a slanted stage, and how slanted they are? I can't picture it...the shows I've been to the stage just looks normal.

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#21

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/30/06 at 2:20am

millie, in order to SEE the rake, you have to take a picture from the SIDE of the show deck.. for the most part, that would be a VERY difficult thing to do without knocking out a wall

#22

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/30/06 at 5:50am

As a matter of fact, the theatre in London where Les Miz originally played DID have an actual raked stage WITH the double revolve, built nearly a hundred years ago. The set designer, John Napier, decided to incorporate the rake and the revolve rather than build a new "show deck". This meant that set pieces such as the barricade units could not be "tracked" through the stage floor - they had to be "free rolling". Each barricade unit has "driver" - a stage hand inside it, driving it like a parade float.

#23

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/30/06 at 10:16pm

millie-- if you google it you'll find some picutres. I found this website:

http://www.revolutionfreedom.com/design/theater_cats.html

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#24

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/31/06 at 1:10am

Jon, raking of the actual stage was a common feature of theatres LONG ago, primarily during the Restoration period I believe. It was then that fad was firced perspective scenery as well having teh audience seated on a flat floor (left over from the days of common standing room in Shakespearian/Elizabethan houses. Raked staged improved sightline for those audiences as well as helped achieved the forced perspective look.

#25

re: Les Mis Slanted Stage

Posted: 10/31/06 at 1:30am

LOL! This is completely off topic, but Grizabella in that picture is... hideous. (her makeup, at least) The sets are even worse...

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