Turntable Staging- Page 2

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 4/21/07 at 8:46pm

I see it now, D2, thanks, thought you meant I had inferred that.

Funny, because before that statement is a comment that says Les Mis was not the first.

Anyone catch the Forbidden Broadway on Les Mis and the turntable? Very funny.

[WickedRentHead]

Posted: 4/21/07 at 9:47pm

DRS used the turntables in the Imperial

[Shakespearean]

Posted: 4/22/07 at 2:32am

One of my favorite turntables and a play... Noises Off.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 1:46pm

wicked, there are no turntables in the imperial. the turntables for les miz and the dual turntables for dirty rotten were built into the production's show deck, which is laid over the actual stage. they have no connection whatsoever with the imperial stage.

[Weez]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 2:09pm

You can tell how I got into theatre; you mention turntables, and my immediate thought is Joseph. Didn't the London Palladium production use a three-ringed turntable or something, or am I making things up? It definitely had at least one though!

The Menier Chocolate Factory production of 'The Last Five Years' used a turntable as well.

I've forgotten the point of the thread. :/

[Justin D]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:36pm

Yes the london version of Joseph used a 3 ringed turntable, I saw it in canada and they got rid of it and instead, the objects just came out on a conveyar belt from under the steps/choir seating and off the other side, rather than through doors at the back.

Did the one in Woman in WHite on broadway squeak as much as the london one (it was terrible in london)

Lion King also uses a turn table of sorts, espicially in the touring version

[ElFantasma14]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:48pm

DRS had dual turntables? The tour must have downsized to only one, because I definately don't remember seeing one when it was in Boston.

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 3:53pm

Yea... DRS had an outer rim and an inner circle. Guess they kicked it down to one rotating thing..

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 5:53pm

Is it the turntable or the way it is used that can become passe?

[leon1489]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 7:19pm

Although I haven't seen it staged that way, I think Ragtime would work phenomenally with a turntable. The scene transitions would happen much more fluidly, which is perfect since the music is often times seamlessly integrated.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 7:28pm

Yeah I actually always thought that still the most famous use was the turntable within a turntable for Robbins/Aronson's original Fiddler--just from reading musical books etc--but I suppose for most other younger theatre fans Les Mis definetly replaces that in their mind.

Ragtime prob could work on a turntable although as it was originally staged in some ways it already felt like scenes were on one...

As for Millie isn't that umm... More an example of the old Victorian theratre technique of having the SETS on a turntable but not the whole stage? F*CK, I forget the proper term. But it's farily different

E

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 7:43pm

The Wild Party used a turntable as did the recent revival of Oklahoma!

Posted: 4/23/07 at 7:48pm

RIGHT I forgot that Nunn used a turntable again for Oklahoma. How as it used in Wild Party? Man I wish I could find more about that staging than the Tony clip

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 8:53pm

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=924595#2786902

[suzycat]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 8:56pm

My favorite use of the turntable was in Rabbit Hole. Their dual turntables worked amazingly.

[ohjustjake]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 9:24pm

Yeah, DRS only has one large turntable in the tour, but it works great. I think the use of a turntable can really make scene changes work so much better.. or it can ruin it. whatever.

[jjoey076]

Posted: 4/23/07 at 10:18pm

Ragtime with a turntable = ****ing awesome.

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 4/24/07 at 5:26am

You've not seen a turntable until you've been to the National Theatre in London. The 'drum revolve' there spins, rises and falls, and can split in half whilst doing all of the above with the two halfs operating independantly. It was used to spectacular effect in 'His Dark Materials'. More info for the interested here:
National Theatre Drum Revolve

Posted: 4/24/07 at 7:20am

THe only thing I managed to see during my time in London in '99 at the National was the spectacular John Caird revision of Candide--but I think it was done in the smaller theatre (I wish I could remember clearer--a part of me thinks it had a small turntable but now I think I'm mistaken :P )

E

[jbdc]

Posted: 4/24/07 at 9:31am

Ragtime has been done regionally with a turntable.

Also the 94 Carousel that Bob Crowley designed used a turtable brilliantly, and not only for the carousel section.

I like the way Lonny Price uses it in 110, so it's more cinematic, rather than just to change scenes.

Posted: 4/24/07 at 4:19pm

Apparantly the turntable in Coco (largely used by Michael Bennett) was one of the only great things about the show. Anne Reinking (who danced in it) is quoted as saying it worked in the same way as Les Mis, I kid you not

[sidjones09]

Posted: 4/24/07 at 4:35pm

Wasn't there a lot of turntable staging in the original 'Dreamgirls'?

Posted: 4/24/07 at 4:44pm

I don't think so--I knwo the pillars all moved on their own (until the bus and truck tour and the 87 Broadway return which Bennett finally allowed them to be moved by actors to allow a more feasible tour with the automatic bridges cut too) but I don't believe anything was ever on a full revolve

[Den]

Posted: 4/24/07 at 4:52pm

Tag didn't think of Les Mis during LOTR, but I sure did, especially since they were both in the same Mirvish season. Kept thinking how poorly LOTR conveyed travel (hobbits running in every direction on a fully lit stage) vs Les Mis (JV walking in a pool of light at the front edge then into a new location as the set was placed in darkness at the back and revolved into place). LOTR's elevator stage ended up being an excuse for having almost no sets at all.

I think Into the Woods had a small turntable at the back (if it hasn't been mentioned).

Posted: 4/24/07 at 4:59pm

I always try to figure out Staiges ITW set (why hasn't he done more recent shows?) I knwo it used two conveyor belts but yeah there does seem to be something in the back--ie that rock that rolls into and outa place during the Baker's Wife seduction. It's a gorgeous dense set, regardless.

I read somewhere that Maria Bjornson made use of a partial revolve for her designs of the 80s London FOllies but have never figured out how or where or if this is even true (maybe for the staircase?)--there are no really decent pics of that set.