2023 in Review: Our Favorite Design Elements

2023 in Review:

Our Favorite Design Elements

(8 Categories + 2 Special Citations)

We were fortunate enough to see 21 different productions in 2023: 14 Broadway, 3 off-Broadway, and 4 regional; these are the shows we considered in all categories for our favorites this year: & Juliet, A Beautiful Noise, Back to the Future, Bad Cinderella, Bob Fosse's Dancin', Camelot, Here Lies Love, Leopoldstadt, Life of Pi, New York New York, Once Upon a One More Time, Pacific Overtures (Signature Theater), Parade, Shucked, Spamalot (Kennedy Center), Sunset Boulevard (Kennedy Center), Sweeney Todd, The Frogs, The Gardens of Anuncia, The Light in the Piazza and The Play That Goes Wrong (Kennedy Center). We also saw Kimberly Akimbo two additional times - what can I say? We are Fanagrams! We made our lists separately - so below you'll see where we agreed, plus performances we each just had to include! 

How did we compare to your favorites? Leave a comment below, or catch up with us on Twitter or Instagram! (@jkstheatrescene for both)

FAVORITE SHOW LOGO

 

Musical: Shucked

Play: Leopoldstadt

Regional: Pacific Overtures (Signature Theater)

FAVORITE SOCIAL MEDIA

TIE: Shucked & Sweeney Todd

FAVORITE SHOW WEBSITE

Here Lies Love

FAVORITE OVERALL MEDIA CAMPAIGN

Shucked

FAVORITE SCENIC DESIGN

Musical: Here Lies Love

Design by David Korins

Play: Life of Pi

Design by Tim Hatley

HONORABLE MENTION

New York New York

Design by Beowulf Boritt

The Play That Goes Wrong (Kennedy Center)

Design by Nigel Hook

FAVORITE COSTUME DESIGN

Musical: & Juliet

Design by Paloma Young

Play: Life of Pi

Design by Tim Hatley

HONORABLE MENTION

Bad Cinderella

Design by Gabriela Tylesova

Pacific Overtures (Signature Theater)

Design by Helen Q. Hwang

FAVORITE LIGHTING DESIGN

Here Lies Love

Design by Justin Townsend

HONORABLE MENTION

& Juliet

Design by Howard Hudson

Sweeney Todd 

Design by Natasha Katz

FAVORITE PROJECTION DESIGN

Musical: Parade

Design by Sven Ortel

Play: Life of Pi

Design by Andrzej Goulding

HONORABLE MENTION

Back to the Future 

Design by Finn Ross

SPECIAL CITATIONS

Here Lies Love 

For creating a completely immersive and all-audience inclusion experience. Kudos to the entire design team and director Alex Timbers for their eye to the future of live theater, and for not forgetting theatrical tradition.

Life of Pi Puppetry 

For creating the next generation of theatrical puppetry. Kudos to Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell for such stunning creations, and Mr. Caldwell's brilliant movement direction, which brought many different animals to life, while still managing to convey the human element. And of course to the entire team of puppeteers, artists of the highest order, all.

Favorite Designs: The Design of American Psycho

Favorite Designs:

The Design of American Psycho

Theater truly is a collaborative art. Each element depends on and enhances the others. An excellent example of this is the design for American Psycho. It struck me when I was researching for this article, and I was going to single out the projection design, which are the current gold standard, in my opinion. Turns out, and it is so obvious to me now, that projections wouldn't be what they were without the lighting and set designs, so integrated are they.

          

Es Devlin (Sets), Justin Townsend (Lighting), Finn Ross (Projection)

So, first, let's consider the set design of Es Devlin, who created sort of magic all-white box set. White is so clean, and perfect for conveying the lead character's O.C.D. The set walls are movable, and the floor moves, just like his mind. All-white walls also allow a blank slate for Justin Townsend's brilliant lighting design. 

Not only can the lighting design be a fully austere white, but it allows for very clean (again the O.C.D.) color washes. Here, Townsend uses light washes to subliminally put us in Patrick Bateman's mind. Bateman is obsessed with film and technology, consequently, his mind, when crazed, sees things as projections. Video technology is based entirely around a three color pallet - red, green and blue. Red blood, green money, blue icy emotions. 

 

Those two elements offer the perfect medium for Finn Ross' mind-blowing video projections, which offer the audience a frightening glimpse at not only how his mind works, but what his psychosis looks like. Not only are Ross' images a perfect match for the show, but the methods by which they are conveyed are sensory banquet. Sometimes, the images move in regimented vertical then horizontal patterns. Other times, they are static, frozen in place, set like a prison. Still other times, they come in a frenzied, disjointed rush. Always they mirror the mind of an American psycho.

 

I'm of the mind that American Psycho was a show way ahead of its time, and that some day it will be back, ready to thrill and terrify audiences ready to embrace it in all of its bloody excess.

#2545 

The 2011 - 2012 Season: Trend: Projections or Films?

Having now attended last night's performance of Evita, I have had the privilege if seeing every new musical and musical revival (and a few plays) that opened this season on Broadway.  And having seen seven of them in the last 3 weeks, a certain trend is really noticeable: shows are becoming more and more reliant on projections as a  part of their design scheme.  Heck, there is even a sub-trend within that trend that I'll talk about in a minute.

Leading projection designers Sven Ortel and Howard Werner

Of course, projecting images during a show is hardly a new thing - the original production of Evita incorporated still photographs of actual people, places and events in Argentina and abroad.  But the level of technology available seems to have exploded in recent years, as has the applicability of that technology to live stage performances.

The Woman in White: Projection as backdrop scenery

This wave of multimedia application seems to have its roots back in the designs of The Woman in White, which featured huge panels that bent and curved, giving some of the projections the look of 3D, while the rest were large enough to show entire filmed sequences of elaborate landscapes.  That show began the discussion about the eminent demise of physical sets in Broadway shows.  After all, a few giant screens would be able to accommodate untold numbers of scenes, as opposed to just one.  Less space, less time, less construction, less money.  While I think the physical set is a long way from going the way of gaslights, and theatres without air conditioning, I do think the economics of the world, along with the demand for more and more elaborate shows by patrons with more entertainment choices at their disposal, projections are here to stay.  (Naturally, even though ultimately this could save major money per production, I don't see ticket prices going down...).

Jesus Christ Superstar: Projection of digital icons

Here are a few facts about and uses of projections used in the productions which opened (or will open this week) on Broadway during the 2011 - 2012 season.  There were 41 productions this season: 15 new musicals and revivals, 23 new plays and revivals and 3 solo shows.  Of those, 8 of the musicals/revivals, 5 plays/revivals, and one of the solo shows list a Projection Designer (Jesus Christ Superstar uses the term "Video Designer").  One-third of the new productions this season featured projections - "multimedia", I understand, is about to become the "official" term - which is significant.

Chinglish: Projections as subtitles

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark:
Projection of character in another location

Among the uses of these projections in shows that saw were: set locations (Godspell, Ghost, Newsies, Bonnie and Clyde, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark); moving locations (Ghost, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark); subtitles/location markers (Chinglish, Jesus Christ Superstar); historic footage in support of the topic of the show (Newsies, Bonnie and Clyde, The Best Man, Evita); digital graphics (Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, Newsies, Ghost, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark); and one show, that for the life of me, I can't remember a projection (Nice Work If You Can Get It).  Other shows that list a Projection Designer that I did not see are: The Mountaintop, Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway, Wit and The Columnist. (I did not include Magic/Bird, which does not list such a designer, but whose production photos  clearly show projections.  Also, even Off-Broadway is getting into the projection game - both Carrie and Now. Here. This. made use of multimedia.)

Off-Broadway's Carrie: Projection as scenery

Ghost: The Musical: Film footage projected on scenery

And that trend within a trend?  Projecting films - literally movies - on the set to show "close-ups," provide scene transitions, and/or to provide actual historic footage of events.  That happened in Bonnie and Clyde, Newsies, Evita, Ghost and The Best Man.  Imagine how noticeable that is when you see four of those five in less than nine days!

Brief Encounter: The Gold Standard of Theatre Projection

The Normal Heart: Projection as thematic support

Lombardi: Projection to put us in the middle of the action

Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The main "set" is projection "able"

Wonderland: Projections where too much hurts the show

Just how effective this multimedia explosion has been/is/will be I will have discussed in my reviews, a few of which are yet to come.  But I can say that in the recent past, the use of projections were particularly successful in adding to the plays Brief Encounter (the gold standard), Lombardi and The Normal Heart, and the musicals Billy Elliot and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.  On the other hand, they were used to disastrous effect in the musical Wonderland.  Like any other design element, getting just the right amount and not over doing it is a very fine line.


Jeff

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