I thought that one of the most amazing productions I saw was the fabulous Lulu at the Berkeley Rep. It blew me away by the staging and thought that the way it used the stage (along with the cast acting the HELL out of it....) I wish it had been recorded or a new production was made. An afternote: Wedekind's Lulu starred Justine Bateman and was news at the time due the fact that a man stalked her during the production.
Another production that lingers in my mind was Music Circus (Sacramento) was the first staging they did of CHESS. In the round... they turned the set into a chess board and had the stage light up in black and white along with parts of it rising and sinking to make mountains, seats, and the such. It was very simple but amazingly done. The master of it was when the two ladies sang "I Know him So Well" -- Florence started on a white square all dressed in white and Svetlana was in black on a black square -- they didn't move bu the stage rotated very slowly as they sang. As they did their blocks slowly changed colors leaving Florence in black and Svetlana in white..... very powerful and I was incredibly moved-- it got a much deserved standing ovation each night. (I worked at the theater then)
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
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