Special Effect on stage that had the most impact to you in the storytelling...

I'm gonna say the killer rabbit in Spamalot had a significant impact on the show. It bit somebody's head off for heaven's sake.

No contest-PILLOWMAN. You can't even select only one special effect-The set, the lighting, the use of the top of the set as second sets. I'll pick that one for making the most impact on me. Those upper tier sets were used with such surreal elements-intense color, unreal size proportions between actors and set, the direction, etc.

I'll never forget the stunning experience of seeing this play.

---

Also have to mention that I was also totally impressed with the set design in Titanic, depicting action on multiple decks of the ship, and in the tragic sinking.

No one better say Elphaba defying gravity!

Off the top of my head, relating to the topic of the thread, would be the simplicity of Mufasa's face appearing during Endless Night.

The original production and revivals of GYPSY had illuminated signs at each side of the stage indicating which city Rose's traveling vaudeville act was playing. After one of their routines June and her Newsboys start a traveling step. As the music builds and gets faster, the name of the city on the illuminated sign keeps changing. Meanwhile, stobe lights on the performers begin to flicker faster and faster as the young performers, dancing in place, are gradually replaced by older performers in a flickering dissolve. Time has passed. The act is the same but the cast is now older.

The famous Jo Mielziner, who worked in the theatre from the 1920's to the 1970's and who designed over 300 productions, did the sets and lighting for the original production of GYPSY, which were largely copied for subsequent productions. I got chills everytime I saw this scene. It was magical. And I'm sure that director-choreographer Jerome Robbins worked with Mielziner on this staging.

---

Updated On: 10/21/06 at 06:07 AM

There are several "special effects" that have have an impact on me. Since I was first hooked on shows in the early 1990's, two of the first spectacles to awe were the chandelier in Phantom of the Opera and the helicopter in Miss Saigon.

On my first real trip to NYC in 1994 I saw Sunset Boulevard and was amazed by the staircase and how that massive set was raised and the apartment set moved in under it at the end of Act One.

Since then I guess the most amazing effect was at the end of Act One of Titanic when they had actors on 3 levels of the ship, the bridge, and the crow's nest all at the same time singing "Autumn/No Moon."

---

Thank you, wickedrentq! *claps* You aren't the only one who finds that scene the scene that had the most impact on them

I am 32 years old and I adore the show. I have a 4 year college degree. I am SICK TO DEATH of being made to feel stupid and ashamed because I love WICKED.

ONE DAY MORE in LES MIZ fits this for me, too.

---

Updated On: 10/19/06 at 10:10 AM

I loved the Carousel in the revival of "Carousel".

The "hat" moment in Piazza gave me chills each and every time I saw that show.

---

For me it was Cats. I know a lot of people don't like the show, but it was the first show I saw and I was blown away. It's what started my broadway obsession.

I agree w/ Les Mis and the rotating stage.

---

I always choke up when the barricade comes out at the top of act 2 of Les Miz. These two massive set pieces just bend over backwards and interlock...breathtaking.

---

"I am 32 years old and I adore the show. I have a 4 year college degree. I am SICK TO DEATH of being made to feel stupid and ashamed because I love WICKED."


Thank you so much for that, EponineAmneris.


I, too, am a major fan of WICKED. But I am not a babbling 12-year-old girl who knows nothing else of the theatre world. I am a mature, educated person who has knowledge of and a passion for theatre and the history of Broadway.

When I feel like I sometimes have to hide the fact that I love WICKED, it feels awful. What you said completely encompasses everything I feel about the situation. I am sick of feeling ashamed and being made to feel like an idiot because I am fond of a show.

Yes, a great number of WICKED fans are annoying. You're going to get that with any show that brings in a new generation of audiences. But they should NOT be representative of the entire community that finds it to be a wonderful and entertaining show.

I am sick of the fact that because these fans exist, the ENTIRE show is condemned.

.....and now I shall end my rant.


And to stay on topic...

Sometimes just the presence or absence of a sound effect or music does it for me. In TICK, TICK...BOOM!, there is a sound effect for thunder and rain for a particular scene (I don't want to give any spoilers)....and even though it's a pretty obvious sound effect, it adds major depth and a very, very heavy feeling to the scene that made it incredibly impactful for me.

---

Now it's almost passe, but Aaronson's sliding birch tree panels in NIGHT MUSIC, especially during the "Weekend in the Country" number, where people just appeared and disappeared almost like magic.

---