Sweeney OBC Set

Was reading All That Chat earlier and this was posted...

The Broadway production was actually more spectacular physically than the tour. Just to the left of the stage, there was a huge organ on which the prelude (heard on some recordings, usually in truncated form, but cut from the tour) was played. (Well, someone dressed as a kind of creepy organist mimed playing it there. Of course, it was actually played in the pit.)

There was a stage elevator down center. Two gravediggers came onstage about 15 minutes before the show started to dig a grave there, shoveling dirt out of it, while they gradually descended in the elevator. And then Sweeney rose out of the grave on his first entrance during the "Ballad." At the end, Sweeney and Lovett rose out of the grave together.

And at the top of the set was an enormous roof of smoked glass.


Does anyone have any photos of the New York set?

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I always thought that the set you saw on the recording out of LA was the New York set, I had no idea it was that huge.

Smaxie, thanks for the info as well, I searched Google and came up empty handed and while I understand photos will not do it justice. I would still love to see some.

And Smaxie, can I just say Iam very Jealous that you got to see this production!! :))

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I have a great photo of the entire set on stage at the Uris Theatre (you can even see the glass roof above the stage) but I'm not in town to scan the photo. I'll do so when I can later this week.

That was my post.

If you have the OBCR on disc with the booklet, you can see part of the roof in the "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir" photo. In the photo section of the original hardcover published script (and I think in the paperback as well), there's a similar photo of the same number that shows you more of the roof. Still, neither photo gives a sense of just how high up the roof was. When you entered the theatre and saw the set, it was like entering a huge cathedral, an effect enhanced by the organ and the almost stained-glass feeling of the roof. Prince's idea was that the citizens of London never got direct sunlight.

The legend on top of the organ was "The Blood of Jesus Christ His Son Cleanseth Us From All Sins."

Of course, the "British Beehive" was on the tour as well, but the commercial video only shows it from a distance. The hardcover published script (and probably the paperback) has a good photo of it.

The original Cruikshank etching (I think he did several versions of it) is easy to find online by googling "British Beehive" but everywhere I find it, it's too small to really see any detail.

I was lucky enough to see the original set on Broadway.

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The set is still, to this day, one of the most monstrous sets ever on Broadway. Sondheim himself wasn't a giant fan, but he has been quoted as saying that it worked enormously well for what the production was. The tour downscaled it quite a bit because not all touring theatres are as enormous as the Uris (Gershwin).

It was a factory from Rhode Island.

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Was there a proscenium arch when it was the Uris? I can't imagine how this configured (what with the enormous glass roof) if there was.

Of all the designers out there, nobody seems to understand how to design for the Gershwin/Uris better than Eugene Lee. Many of the other designers hate designing for the space, but he has said that he loves what he is able to do in terms of scale there.

Wow... seems like the DVD definitely does not do the set justice... at all. The two sections of the set to the left and the right, were they open for everyone to see into? If so, what numbers/scenes took place in them? Because on the DVD they do not show them at all. If only I had been alive, and lived in NY when the Original was on Broadway.

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It was pieces of an abandoned 19th c. iron foundry from RI.

slightly OT, but i don't suppose any of you all have any pics of the inside of that theatre with out any elaborate set loaded in? I;ve always wondered what it looks like. I've only been in there for Wicked and have seen som epics for Starlight Express.

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