Shows with the best scenic design?
My vote goes to Phantom and Wicked
Currently? Great Comet, with the runner-up being the extremely inventive The Play That Goes Wrong.
I cannot imagine ANY show winning the Tony this year for Set Design except for Comet. I can't even think of another show that comes close.
The Great Comet and Hello, Dolly! are my two favorite scenic designs from this season.
The SHE LOVES ME revival set was absolutely stunning.
Broadway Star Joined: 8/5/13
Not sure if this thread is about 'all-time' or current shows. A while ago, I started a similar thread which ran for quite some time. It was a really fun thread where lots of people posted lots of great photography.
I think its great that "Scenic Design" is being discussed again. A great set design is magic and one of my favorite aspects of the theater going experience.
As for now on Broadway
Phantom
Great Comet
Hello Dolly
War Paint
The Evita revival had one of the best sets ever and I'll never understand to this day why or how it was snubbed from the Tony's.
The Great Comet and She Loves Me are probably two of the most incredible sets that I have ever seen.
American Psycho's set, lights and projections were perfection.
showchoirguy said: "The Evita revival had one of the best sets ever and I'll never understand to this day why or how it was snubbed from the Tony's."
I agree 100%.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/25/05
showchoirguy said: "The Evita revival had one of the best sets ever and I'll never understand to this day why or how it was snubbed from the Tony's."
Made only greater by Neil Austin's lighting design. That Oram and Austin didn't win, let alone get nominated, is one of the worst Tony snubs in recent years.
One more nod for the transformative THERESE RAQUIN sets in the Roundabout revival of a couple years ago. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS showed staggering imagination shared between sets, light, projections and costumes, and showed us a new way to see Paris, no small feat there.
Matilda, The Lion King, Curious Incident. Spongebob also had an amazing set.
IdinaBellFoster said: "The SHE LOVES ME revival set was absolutely stunning.
"
Everything about SHE LOVES ME was magical. I miss it.
Therese Raquin really had one of the most gorgeous set designs I've seen in a Broadway show, and the fact that it was Roundabout - which usually goes cheap - I was really amazed. And then they out did themselves again with She Loves Me.
None of the sets for the current shows are all that amazing - I haven't seen Comet - but I really enjoy the way Sweat's bar swings on, and to me, it took me by surprise.
I appreciate Comet's, but I actually miss the tent version. I mean, I was there for Les Mis' last performance and Comet's first preview so I was greatly impresses by the transformation but I liked the tent better.
Rocky's set was also quite good, in my opinion.
I wish there was a chance Comet and Dolly! could tie for Scenic Design this season. Comet's set is on another level that is seldom achieved in the theatre, but Dolly! is just sumptuous, stunning, and sweeping. One can hope...
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/30/15
Obviously it's nowhere near the Great Comet, but I was impressed by Miss Saigon's set this season as well. Also really liked the set of The Front Page.
Last season- Misery sticks out.
Some of my favs from the past:
The Who's Tommy
American Idiot
Lincoln Center South Pacific
and I think that the original Les Mis design is probably still my all-time favorite. Just a brilliant, brilliant stage/set design.
Broadway Star Joined: 8/5/13
As we're listing all-time favorites, I'd like to add the original, On the Twentieth Century. Robin Wagner's sets were magical.
And, if we're including non-Broadway, I'd add KA (Las Vegas) to the list of spectacular.
Swing Joined: 4/23/12
I love set design!
This season, Miss Saigon, Great Comet & Amelie had a great set for sure.
Top favorites are: Rocky, American Psycho, She Loves Me, Billy Elliot, The King and I, and How to Succeed in Business.
Uh, the Miss Saigon set is incredibly bad. It's boring and banal. For most of the show it doesn't do anything exciting. Even the helicopter left me a little "eh." I thought the whole thing was rather ho-hum.
I wish Amelie's had been more whimsical. It's a cute idea, but it didn't really "do" anything that made it feel more than a regional production.
RippedMan said: "Uh, the Miss Saigon set is incredibly bad. It's boring and banal. For most of the show it doesn't do anything exciting. Even the helicopter left me a little "eh." I thought the whole thing was rather ho-hum.
"
Uh, this thread is entirely subjective and your opinion does not = fact.
I'm very aware thanks! Please tell me, where, in my original post, I stated that as fact?
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