BEST OF THE DECADE: Favorite Lighting Design

When it is done correctly, you don't know it is happening. All you know is that it helps create mood, place and focus. I'm talking about lighting design, a beautiful art all by itself, and just as glorious in conjunction with the other theatrical design elements. Over the past ten years, there have been many exciting designs, and it was not easy to narrow down our favorites. Here's what we did come up with!

BEST OF THE DECADE:

Jeff and Mike's Favorite

Lighting Designs

LIGHTING DESIGNS OF A PLAY:

Angels in America - Designed by Paule Constable

The neon, the spotlights, the color. The shadows. A real fantasia come to life.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Designed by Paule Constable

Here, the line between lighting and projection is barely distinguishable. And rightly so. To be inside young Christopher's mind, images swirl and so do swirls of light and darkness, sometimes confusing, sometimes providing laser-like focus, and always beautiful.

The Glass Menagerie (2013) - Designed by Natasha Katz

In a setting that is more darkness than light, Katz's dreamlike design faded in and out just like the memories being recalled in front of us.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Designed by Neil Austin

Not sure what I can say and still #keepthesecrets. But I will say that several times throughout the whole performance, the lighting got collective gasps. Amazing.

LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL:

Hadestown - Designed by Bradley King

King won a Tony Award for his efforts, and it was certainly deserved. Simultaneously concrete and other-worldly, the lights were hypnotic. Whether we were way down in Hadestown, or finding our way out, the lights told the story with clarity. And can you beat the one-two punch of rock concert lighting and lamps swinging out over your head, literally dancing with the cast? Nope, you can't beat that!

Hamilton - Designed by Howell Binkley

Even if you only saw the film version, you still got an excellent feel for just how amazing the lighting is here. It is as tightly integrated into the storytelling as every other element of the show, and it stuns.

Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 - Designed by Bradley King

Not only was the stage spectacularly lit, but so was the entire theater. And in a stunning less-is-more moment, the Great Comet as a plain, modern chandelier fixture was a stroke of genius.

Sunday in the Park with George (2017) - Designed by Ken Billington, Victor Seastone and Chelsea Zalikowski

The Chromolume. 

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2019 in Review: The Best of Broadway (and Off) in Performance

2019 is rapidly coming to a close (which may not be such a bad thing these days) and today we are going to celebrate some of our favorite performances over the past twelve months. We came up with 28 categories - from pre-show to post-show and everything in between. We hope you have as much fun with our choices as we did choosing them!

Over the past calendar year, we saw 23 shows: 16 shows on Broadway and 3 off-Broadway. and 4 regional productions. They were Be More Chill, Beetlejuice, Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Hadestown, Hamilton, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, King Lear, Little Shop of Horrors (off-Broadway), Merrily We Roll Along (off-Broadway), Moulin Rouge!, Oklahoma!, Puffs (off-Broadway), The Cher Show, The Lightning Thief, The Phantom of the Opera, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Tootsie.

2019 in Review:

The Best of Broadway (and off):

Performances

🌟Best Pre-Show Show: The Sword Swallowers Moulin Rouge!

• As if walking into that breathtaking theater isn't enough, the erotic beat and sensuous cast members circulate until just before the show starts. Then you are riveted by two statuesque beauties...

🌟Star on the Rise - Play: Sean Carjaval King Lear

• I have seen many productions of King Lear, and never before has the role of the banished Edgar made more of an impression as it did here. I'm telling you, this guy is going places.

🌟Star of the Rise - Musical: Micaela Diamond The Cher Show

• Magnetic. Dazzling. Superb voice. She has it all. The best "I Got You Babe" and "The Beat Goes On" this side of Queen Cher herself.

🌟Best Entrance - Play: Moaning Myrtle Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

• She rose from the depths and made quite a splash. It's been quite a year for bathrooms on Broadway.

🌟Best Entrance - Musical: Satine Moulin Rouge!

• As befitting a glamorous star of the Moulin Rouge, Satine (the glamorous Karen Olivo) floats down from the heavens on a swing. She really is a sparkling diamond.  

🌟Best Kiss: Christian and Satine Moulin Rouge!

• When Aaron Tveit and Karen Olivo finally lock lips, it is so satisfying!

🌟Best Almost Kiss: Curly and Jud Oklahoma!

• Everyone in the room was sure they'd (Damon Daunno and Patrick Vaill) start making out. You could cut the sexual tension in the room with a knife. But they didn't... sigh...

🌟Best Chemistry - Play: Anthony Boyle and Sam Clemmett Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

• You could feel it out in the lobby, let alone in the seats. It made the adventure at hand all the more poignant and very human.

🌟Best Chemistry - Musical: TIE: 

Robyn Hurder and Ricky Rojas Moulin Rouge! 

• I needed to smoke a cigarette after their Act Two opener, "Bad Romance/Toxic." Damn!

Ali Stroker and James Davis Oklahoma!

• Yee Haw, that was some sweet kissin' on the prairie. I don't think they could've been any cuter.

🌟Best Friends - Play: Scout, Dill and Jem To Kill a Mockingbird

• A beautiful thing with sweet, perfect performances by Celia Keenan-Bolger, Gideon Glick and Will Pullen.

🌟Best Friends - Musical: Percy, Annabeth and Grover The Lightning Thief

• Nothing creates fast friends like fighting the gods and dealing with teen angst all at once.  Chris McCarrell, Kristin Stokes and Jorrel Javier handled it all like the pros they are.

🌟Best Mythic Performance - Actor: Andre De Shields as Hermes Hadestown

• When he took the stage, he took our breath and hearts away. A performance of the ages in a career full of them.

🌟Best Mythic Performance - Actress: Amber Gray as Persephone Hadestown

• Talk about riveting! She was brilliant ever single second she was on the stage. "Anybody want a drink?" is my new mantra.

🌟Best Performance as an Inanimate Object - Play: The Sorting Hat Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

• Brian Thomas Abraham is the man behind the bowler. A creative, theatrical way to make magic!

🌟Best Performance as an Inanimate Object - Musical: The bullet Hamilton

• Leave it to Tommy Kail to come up with such a cool way to stop time and still "shoot' a bullet.

🌟Best Actor in Multiple Roles - Play: Ruth Wilson as Cordelia and the Fool King Lear

• I've said it before. I'll say it again: this woman is a sensation.

🌟Best Actor in Multiple Roles - Musical: Ryan Knowles as Chiron and Others The Lightning Thief

• The man is a chameleon. And he's hilarious. More of him, please.

🌟Best Scenery Chewer: Alex Brightman Beetlejuice

• Normally, being a scenery chewer is a negative thing. But in this case, it's a masterclass in knowing when to push and when to hold back. Bravo bravo bravo.

🌟Best Icon Recreation: TIE: 

Stephanie J. Block as Cher The Cher Show

Nkeke Obi-Melekwe as Tina Turner Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

• How could we choose one over the other? They are as iconic as the women they portray.

🌟Best Dance Moves: Jason Tam Be More Chill

• I loved how he moved like a computer chip. Who knew computer chips had dance moves?

🌟Best Dance Moves by a Non-Dancer: Aaron Tveit Moulin Rouge!

• Sharing a stage with the best dancers on Broadway isn't easy. But he sure kept up.

🌟Unsung Hero: Reeve Carney Hadestown

• He was left out of all the awards, which is a shame. We thought he was wonderful and so charming.

🌟Best Unexpected Performance: Jonathan Groff Little Shop of Horrors

• A lot of people decided he was too "hot" to play Seymour. Happily, he proves everyone who said that wrong. Besides, being geeky is sexy all by itself.

🌟Best Theater on TV: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

• One of the best things on Disney+, and one of the most fun shows on TV period. How can you not love Kate Reinders playing Kristin Chenoweth?

🌟Best Long-Running Portrayal: Michael Park and Jennifer Laura Thompson Dear Evan Hansen

• We are so glad we made it back to see them before they left the show. After over 1,000 performances over the years, they were as fresh as opening night.

🌟Best Replacement: Andrew Barth Feldman Dear Evan Hansen

• This young guy's beautifully touching performance made me love a show I previously hated. That says a lot.

🌟Best Understudy - Actor: Ryan Vasquez as George Washington Hamilton

• You'd never know he was an understudy. A brilliant performance. We would have loved a chance to see him in the title role.

🌟Best Understudy - Actress: Chelsea Turbin as Audrey Little Shop of Horrors

• Maybe the best Audrey we've ever seen. Her "Suddenly Seymour" soared, and her "Somewhere That's Green" was musical theater bliss.

🌟Best Post-Show Show: "The Concert" after Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

• You know it's a great way to end things when no one is running to beat the crowd out the door. And "Proud Mary" is a great way to keep you wanting more!

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2019 in Review: The Best of Broadway (and Off) in Technical Theater

Over the past calendar year, we saw 23 shows: 16 on Broadway, 3 off-Broadway and 4 regional productions. They were Assassins (regional - Signature  Theater), A Chorus Line (regional - Signature Theater), Be More Chill, Beetlejuice, Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Fun Home (regional - Baltimore Center Stage), Grand Hotel: The Musical Assassins (regional - Signature Theater), Hadestown, Hamilton, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, King Lear, Little Shop of Horrors (off-Broadway), Merrily We Roll Along (off-Broadway), Moulin Rouge!, Oklahoma!, Puffs (off-Broadway), The Cher Show, The Lightning Thief, The Phantom of the Opera, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Tootsie.

Our 2019 in Review continues today with what we felt were the very best in technical theater elements, plus a few "for fun" awards. We have designated 20 categories and 35 winners! As always, please feel free to share your thoughts, disagreements and your own favorites! (Contact us via the addresses above.) Be sure to check out the other columns in this year-end review by tapping the tab above, too!

2019 in Review:

The Best of Broadway (and Off-Broadway)

Technical Theater

Best Prop - Play: The Fool's Phallic Carrot in King Lear 

• I can't even look at Ruth Wilson without thinking of that root vegetable.

Best Prop - Musical: TIE: The cup in Hadestown and the flower in Hadestown

• Anybody want a drink? The way they use those cups in the finale are among my favorite theater images ever.
• Of course, we couldn't overlook that red flower. It is as indelible a thing as the Phantom's mask. It appears magically in the show, is the show's logo, and is on most of their merch. They even gave them away during previews!

Best Turntable: Hadestown

• A half dozen or so shows that we saw this year used the tried and true turntable. But Hadestown brought it to a new level. It was so integrated into the show along with its central elevator, that it is like another character in the piece.

Best Set Reveal: TIE: Hadestown and Beetlejuice

• The simplicity of the two-sets-in-one set of Hadestown is simply breathtaking. It is both a small thing and a change of great magnitude. Brilliant. 
• Meanwhile, the first time the stage transforms into that huge house in Beetlejuice feels so grand and epic. It is also endlessly creative and as funny as the rest of the show.

Best Immersive Set - Play: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

• There is so much we'd love to discuss about everything to do with this production, but we promised to #keepthesecrets. At least in this case, there has been a lot written about the complete transformation of the Lyric Theatre into part of the Wizarding World. It is amazing right down to the carpet.

Best Immersive Set - Musical: Moulin Rouge!

• Sure it creates some sight line issues, but it is so beautiful. The minute you step foot into the house at the Hirschfeld, you leave New York and enter the Parisian landmark. Depending on the day, I like the elephant better than the windmill or the windmill better than the elephant. Then the show starts, and I am in a trance.

Best Set Pieces - Musical: TIE: The Bathtub in Be More Chill and the toilet in The Lightning Thief

• Detect a theme here? Actually, this might qualify as a director's signature. You know, like Bob Fosse's bowler hats. In this case, the director in question is Stephen Brackett, who not only seems drawn young adult literature as a source for his shows, but also prominently featuring bathroom plumbing fixtures.

The Doctor Zhivago Table Award: The mute red Crock-Pots in Oklahoma!

• They sit there throughout the show, just tempting those nearby to lift the lids. But, much like the namesake of this award, they sit there. Silently. Watching us watching them...

Best Costumes - Individual Character: Satine in Moulin Rouge!

• I'd like to have the cash they spent to clothe Karen Olivo in the Spectacular Spectacular. They are worth every penny, too.

Best Costumes - Ensemble: The Workers in Hadestown

• Sexy and utilitarian. They fit the themes and aesthetic of the piece perfectly.

Best Costumes - Total Show: The Cher Show

• Who am I to question Bob Mackie? It was a visual feast from start to finish.

Best Costume Change: The transformation from Michael to Dorothy in Tootsie

• The rest of the show was a yawn, but the physical change was remarkable. It was even interesting to see him take it off.

Best Recycled Costume: Edgar in King Lear

• Has there ever been a more effective use of newspaper in costuming? It really worked for Sean Carvajal.

Best Non-Human Costume: The Blob in Merrily We Roll Along

• Leave it to Fiasco Theater to be so creative. Only they could turn some wigs, jackets and dresses on a variety of stands into a mob at a cocktail party and still only use six actual actors!

Best Twirly Costume - Play: The Robes in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

• Can we talk about that wand dance? And how they even used those robes to make scenery changes!

Best Twirly Costume - Musical: The Squip in Be More Chill

• Just to prove that Jason Tam's Squip could be more delectable than he already was, his costume morphed into a cool metallic computer board that he twirled around in.  Loved it!

Best Lighting Effect - Play: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

• The entire two-part production is full of great lighting effects, and there's a doozy of a one that encompasses the whole theater. Wish we could tell you about it... #keepthesecrets

Best Lighting Effect - Musical: The upper mezzanine of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

• For once a show thought about the folks in the cheap seats! To be fair, the view is perfectly fine from there. But it was super cool to see a jumbo-tron hanging above us with concert lighting and live footage during the concert scenes. Well done!

Best Projections - Play: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

• The entire two-part production is full of great projections, and there's a doozy of a one that encompasses the whole theater. Wish we could tell you about it... #keepthesecrets

Best Projections - Musical: Oklahoma!

• Video accompanied and enhanced several scenes, but the in-the-dark smokehouse scene had to be why people call this "Sexy Oklahoma!"

Best Special Effect - Modern: The Dementors in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

• Made Peter Pan look positively medieval.

Best Special Effect - Old School: The toilet paper in The Lightning Thief

• Though some called it "cheap," we prefer to think of all of the special effects for this show as "quaint, creative and old school." Maybe because when it was over, I was wrapped like a mummy in my seat, but I have a special affection for the toilet paper cannons.

Best Sound Effects - Play: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

• We sound like a broken record here. But the sound effects only added to this amazing experience.

Best Sound Effects - Musical: The Lightning Thief

• From the minute you walked into the Longacre, your ears got right to work. Talk about setting a mood and keeping it going!

Best Blood - Off-Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors

• Who knew blood spatter could be such campy fun?

Best Blood - Broadway: Oklahoma!

• Who knew blood spatter could be so poignant and culturally on point.

Best Puppets - Off-Broadway: Audrey II - Little Shop of Horrors

• Well, duh. 

Best Puppets - Broadway: The Monsters - The Lightning Thief

• There's a puppet creation credit in their Playbill, but these aren't the Avenue Q kind. These are The Lion King kind, albeit scaled down and much less expensive. But we dare you to find a better Minotaur on Broadway!

 2019 in Review:

Special Honors

Technical Theater

The Unsung Hero Award: TIE: The Chili Servers at Oklahoma! and the Costume Staff at Moulin Rouge!

• Imagine serving hundreds in around 15 minutes. Then imagine those hundreds as bewildered-by-what-they-saw and oh so entitled. The servers are saints.

• So there must be hundreds of costumes to maintain at the Spectacular Spectacular. Imagine having to clean, press and repair them every day - sometimes twice a day. And then there's mid-show maintenance I'm sure. Bravo to you all.

Best Re-Vision: Oklahoma!

• Call it "sexy Oklahoma!" if you want. Call it disturbing and scary. But rarely has a concept been so fully and completely realized at every level and aspect. This was an important, course-changing revival of a classic work of art.

Technical Theater Hall of Fame: The Phantom of the Opera

• This production is as crisp and clean as the day it opened. The costumes, sets, lighting and effects are pristine. And the show deck looks showroom new. Harold Prince must be looking on with such pride. Would that shows that have been open less than a year looked this good, let alone 30+.

Scenic and costume design: Maria Bjornson     

Lighting design by Andrew Bridge     Sound design by Martin Levan

Special Make-Up created and designed by Christopher Tucker

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