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#51

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/12/10 at 10:04am

There's sort of a lack of general consensus about whether "stage magic" refers to a special effect and staging coup, or simply a "magical moment onstage." I think those would be better served with a "best beat or moment" category.

However, my favorite bit of stage magic is a cheesy one but a great laugh- in the Little Me revival, when Martin Short appeared seemingly in two places at once and conversed with himself thanks to carefully placed props and a voice-over. The trick went over well enough that he reprised it in his later one-man show Fame Becomes Me.

#52

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/12/10 at 10:14am

I think all the 9 to 5 set transitions were magic!

''With the number of people I ignore, I'm lucky I work at all in this town'' - Helena Bonham Carter

#53

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/12/10 at 10:34am

When the Papermill Playhouse performed Cinderella a few years ago, Cinderella's transformations were mind boggling.

"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson

#54

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/12/10 at 11:23am

Madbrian, I worked on that tour of Cinderella a couple years before Papermill bought it and remounted it. Those transformations, while amazingly simple in their execution, did indeed leave people absolutely amazed.

#55

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/12/10 at 12:03pm

Chess original London production - the chess board floor tilting up for the Duet on the Mountain.

A Chorus Line - Cassie's mirrors encircling and multiplying her/Costume change for the finale - the sunburst.

Noises Off - the first time I saw it in the Tulane studio theatre - didn't know and came back from intermission to find myself backstage.

Wicked - the trap door opening

Audra MacDonald and/or Michael Cerveris and/or Patti LuPone - well, just anytime they're onstage it magical, but most especially together. Passion/Sunday in the Park with George

"Love Life. Live." Michael Bennett

#56

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/12/10 at 12:46pm

Every scene in Les Miserables. It was the first show I saw on Broadway and I had no idea anything on stage could do all that. I still find it breathtaking.

Transition from Old Joe to Young Joe during Goodbye, Old Girl in the 1994 revival of Damn Yankees.

The house in An Inspector Calls.

Act I finale in Lord of the Rings (probably the most unbelievable effect I've ever seen on stage).

The Fall of Saigon in Miss Saigon.

Custer's Last Stand tableau in Will Rogers Follies.

Car in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (much more so than Mary Poppins flying).

Fountain in Bombay Dreams.

Lighting carousel and cyclorama in Jane Eyre.

Circle of Life and Stampede in The Lion King.

Defying Gravity in Wicked.

The dove during Love Me in Two Gentlemen of Verona.

De La Guarda - Entire show.

Fuerza Bruta - Treadmill and water dance.

Revolve in the London production of Cats (totally wasn't expecting it).

Solidarity and We'd Go Dancing in Bill Elliot.

Waiting For Life to Begin and Rain in Once on This Island.

Movie screen framing device and color/b&w transitions in City of Angels.

Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now set in Hairspray.

Motorcycle/Train sequence during A Kiss is a Terrible Thing to Waste in Whistle Down the Wind.

"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

#57

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/12/10 at 12:48pm

The "Zaza is here!" transformation in "A Little More Mascara" is so thrilling in both productions I have seen (current revival and a regional production).

#58

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/12/10 at 12:59pm

Definitely Mary Poppins when Mary flies over the audience and when Bert tap dances on the ceiling!

I also enjoyed the Stampede from The Lion King. I thought the whole thing was really cool.

The Best of Times is Now!

#59

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/12/10 at 1:15pm

The entire set elevating in Sunset Boulevard

The entire stage tilting in Fiddler on the Roof (with Harvey Firestein)

#60

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/12/10 at 5:47pm

My favourites are:

Billy Elliot - Grandmas Song, where the male dancers are all in slow motion with the chairs (based on London not Broadway)

Gypsy - Rose's Turn, where her name appears behind her for the last bars of the music, i didn't see it coming and was takin a-back by the sheer power and size of it all.

Little Shop Revival - Feed Me, there's a part close to the end of the song where Audrey 2 goes back into the flower pot, the kind of unravels its vines and smiles at the audience, VERY creepy to me! haha

Next To Normal - Wish i Were Here, thought the stagin and lightin were perfect!

Shrek - The Ballad Of Farquaad, The moment he dives into the bathtub and comes out dressed...i NOW realise how it's done, but at the moment i was in awe! haha

Sweeney Todd - The Ballad Of Sweeney Todd the finale reprise, where Lovette and Todd and only seen from the chest upwards in there white outfits. it was genuinly bone chilling to see, and them to rise up very slowly singing the haunting melody!

The Addams Family - Just Around The Corner, i just loved how the Dance-sestors appeared on stage.

Wicked - March Of The Witch-Hunters, I've always liked how Elphaba appeared in the middle of the hunters to perform the next scene.

Young Frankenstein - Join The Family Business, where they make a giant Monster - Life Life, where Fronkensteen is elevated with the lightning bolts around him...and the quick change from "the unvieling of the monster" to "Puttin' On The Ritz"

#61

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/22/10 at 1:26pm

Billy Elliot - Solidarity - It flows through time so seamlessly. It always amazes me and is always one of my favorite moments in the show.

The revival of Awake and Sing! where the set completely pulls away from Ralph at the end and it looks exactly like the art design.

The opening number of the Ragtime revival.

#62

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/22/10 at 2:30pm

The most magical thing I've seen on stage is Bernadette Peters singing "Children Will Listen" in the original production of INTO THE WOODS. A great performer, a great song, no machinery needed.

A close second would be Bill Irwin having the audience throw him his hat, which he would catch on his head, in THE HARLEQUIN VARIATIONS off-bway. It went on and on and got funnier and funnier and I'll cherish the memory always.

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/

#63

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/22/10 at 2:42pm

I love the orchestra reveal in the Lincoln Center production of South Pacific.

#64

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/22/10 at 2:51pm

Okay...not visual but I loved the use of the factory whistle in the original SWEENEY TODD.

#65

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/22/10 at 3:17pm

In terms of stagecraft magic: "The Carousel Waltz" from Carousel.
While the entire number is spectacular (going from the mill, to the boat yard, to the carnival), the high point is definitely during the carnival section, where the turntable turns showing the carnival as a slide show of sorts (tap dancing bearded ladies, fire eater, strong woman, funhouse, boxing match), only to end and reveal 15 carousel horses. Everyone gets on the horses, and just as Billy lifts Julie and puts her on her horse, the top of the carousel comes down and opens like an umbrella to complete the image of the carousel, which then circles around with the giant Mullin's Carousel sign on top. Incredible.

In terms of just pure talent and material combined to create breathtaking beauty, it would be, hands down, Christine Ebersole in the final performance of Grey Gardens. The entire show was magical, but "Another Winter in a Summer Town" was beyond brilliant.

"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.

#66

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/23/10 at 3:14pm

Well the best overall stage set that allowed for multiple magical moments was an off-Broadway musical called Trixie True, Teen Detective. In one scene, Trixie falls into the ocean and gets chased by a submarine! All of this in the Theatre de Lys. A big bomb in 1980-81, but I saw it 3 times!

One of my favorite simple magical moments is Joe's transformation from the young Joe Hardy back into the old Joe Boyd in Damn Yankees. I've seen it done several ways, but a summer stock production on Cape Cod did the slow motion Joe runs to catch the ball, falls down, transforms to the old Joe, stands up and catches the ball seamlessly. I have no idea how they did it.

I saw a similar thing done in a production of Man of La Mancha, where a young actor plays Cervantes, and transforms to a different, older actor playing Quixote. In the death scene, he is covered up, and changes back to the younger actor playing Cervantes. Done so well, that I had to read the program to realize it was two different actors.

..psst, Golan, check out what Patti Lupone is wearing. Who dresses that girl?!!

#67

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/23/10 at 3:39pm

Warhorse. Joey transforming from a foal to a fully grown horse.

Updated On: 7/23/10 at 03:39 PM

#68

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/23/10 at 3:42pm

The way Javert jumps off the bridge in the 25th anniversary production of Les Misérables.

And for the other kind of magic, Rose shouting "Here she is boys!" in Gypsy.

Updated On: 7/23/10 at 03:42 PM

#69

Your Favorite Piece of Stage Magic

Posted: 7/23/10 at 3:53pm

Bert upsided down tap dance in Mary Poppins....absolute amazement......Mary Poppins flyng at the end...just beautiful
And I still LOVE Chicago when Velma comes up....goosebumbs to me

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