Who do you think will win the Tony for Best Scenic Design of a Musical?
I'll list the nominees and give my own personal opinion.
Bob Crowley - ONCE: A very nice, intimate design. He did a great job of expanding the set slightly to accommodate the bigger stage wile retaining the intimate feel. However, I feel this design is a little too simplistic (even though that is the entire premise of every aspect of ONCE) and lackluster compared to the rest of the nominees.
Row Howeel & John Driscoll - GHOST: Modern scenic design done very well with the use of LED screens. Worked hand in hand with illusions and was visually stunning. However, because the entire set is basically LED screens, I don't think it will be a favorite among the committee compared to shows that have actual/physical set designs.
Tobin Ost & Sven Ortel - NEWSIES: My pick. The erector set design perfectly conveys the city feel desired for the story and incorporates, and works with, projections better than any other production I've ever seen. Who would have though that three identical three level towers could appear to create so many different locations and make the audience feel they are in different places with each arrangement. This set is a happy medium between simplicity and spectacle, and perfects both in my opinion.
George Tsypin: SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK: This set is great, but it is also very busy, especially in the city scenes were the buildings are just all over the place in every direction. Also, a lot of the set is 2D, to give the comic book effect, and I just don't see that overtaking the other nominees. The coolest design is the Chrysler Building that gives the impression you are looking down on the city from the sky. Very, very nice.
Spiderman truly deserves this and costume design(The show sucks but it's pretty to look at), but the real question is whether the theater community will let Spidey win something.
direction or set design....or possibly choreography or even the costume designer...its the set designers job to design the contraption they fly in, the costume designers to design the harness, the directors to decided where they fly, the choreographer to say how they fly, then the director has to give final approval.
It is not the costume Designer's Job to design the flying harness. The flying company does (foy or whoever). It is the costume designer's job to cover the harness. Same with the flying rigs. Their are specialists who design them NOT the scenic Designers.
yes but it is the senic designers job to incorporate them into the design..it is somewhat of a loopol..similar to if a show has amazing makeup (shrek) and wins for its costumes which rely heavily on its make up but only its costume designer gets credit
yes but it is the senic designers job to incorporate them into the design
No, not necessarily. And you can't compare costumes/makeup to scenic/flying because there is no correlation. Flying is completely separate. Unless the scenic designer is designing a piece that has a flying character on it (like Arachne's web/loom structure in the prologue of Spider-Man), they are totally separate, and even in that case they are just designing the piece itself.
I don't think the inclusion of projection will hurt NEWSIES. In fact, I think it will help. They flow seamless with the set design. I'm usually not a huge fan of projections, but they are done to perfection in NEWSIES. I thought it was brilliant.
I think it is about time for a multimedia/projections category. Within the past two seasons, many shows have use projections and/or media... Wonderland Women on the Verge Bonnie and Clyde Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark Newsies Ghost However, I understand that the two are so closely intertwined when it comes to the overall design of the show so I see why they are tied together.
Well, at least the projection designers are being recognized in some respect by the Tony Awards! It's actually quite reassuring to me. (Now if they recognized musical directors...)
Hands down, far and away the award belongs in the hands of Tobin Ost and Sven Ortel for Newsies. Every reason has been stated before, but I will try to put my own spin on it.
Newsies, was it comes to technology and scale, perfectly sums up traditional / classic stage design and the newer styles and technologies, it also manages to be incredibly simple and incredible complex at the same time. It was designed and built on a relatively modest budget and realized to perfection. There are only a small number of minor things I would choose to see tweaked and I can not often say that about a show's design. It is also incredibly economical across the board, resoundingly theatrical and pitch perfect for the piece.
One of my favorite - and very simple - moments in the show is "Brooklyn's Here", when the projection of the Bridge begins to move and the center cube opens to reveal the Brooklyn Newsies. When I hear the first chords from that song now, my brain immediately jumps to that visual from the show and then just as quickly fades away and I see the Newsies walking across the actual Bridge. I am pulled into the world 100%.
bdn223, I mean absolutely no disrespect with this but you genuinely have zero idea about theatrical flying effects and responsibilities and who integrates them into the physical production and how. As far as the flying in Spidey goes.. well, yes, they DO impressive things but the rigging and technology used is decidedly UNtheatrical and frankly offensive when compared to how those same exact flights would and ARE executed, regularly (and were executed BEFORE Spiderman) by the top notch firms specialized in theatrical flying. Whenever I hear Ms. Taymor claim to have had genius revelation to incorporate flying patterns - such as 3-D flying rigs - that had not been employed in live theatre before, I want to box her ears.
While spidey gives us an extravaganza and looks like a ton of money and pop art exploded on stage, I feel like Newsies delivered great set design without question.
bdn223, your assumptions in how the flying is designed into the show is wrong, as has already been pointed out.
When flying is needed for a production, there is a flying specialist (team or person) brought in for an initial meeting. The director says what (s)he wants, a choreographer would say how the character should move, and then the collaboration begins. The flying specialist would then say what is possible, and what is not. You go from there. The costume designer says what the character is wearing. The set designer shows where you can fly. The flying specialist says "in order to do what the director wants, I need to use this harness and this flying contraction." Sound has to worry about mics, Costumes about disguising the harness and clips, Lighting must disguise the wires, Scenic must disguise and incorporate flying rigs AND provide area for flight. Etc. Etc. Etc. Even the simplest flying needs (ie an actor hanging themselves on stage as in many productions of JCS) can be quite complicated and need several meetings and rehearsals.
Okay I admit my fault...don't all attack me at ONCE...get it ONCE...tehehe...speaking of Once I don't understand why everyone thinks its set design is so ingenious...the only thing that was cool about it was the giant mirror in the back which lets the audience know Christin Millioti is actually playing the piano. I know there is beauty in simplicity, but the set is just too simple to be considered the best set of the season, when other designer spent weeks/months trying to figure out how to create different locations on the stage, Once's Bob Crowley already knew it was going to be just a unit set all taking place within a bar. If that set were used for a play and was up against a Cyrano De Bergerac, War Horse, Peter and the Starcatcher, A Midsummer Knights Dream, Romeo and Juliet there would be no question that Once would loose, but because its a musical a unit set wins? I know costume design still always goes to the extravagant, but why not set?
BTW....I would love for Newsies to win in this category I just feel that it is a true long shot here, since I think its Once's simplicity vs. Spiderman's circus.
I say from the set design models and production photos that are on the Tony Awards website, I would probably say NEWSIES or (dare I say) SPIDER-MAN. I really loved the set designs for FOLLIES, EVITA, and NICE WORK even though they weren't nominated.
I completely agree I honestly thought Follies was going to sweep the technical categories, except it wasn't nominated for any of them. McLane was able to take the Marquee, which most consider a complete eyesore both inside and out, and turn it into a decaying decrepit theater that looked like it was to fall apart at any second.
I agree that the exclusion of McLane for FOLLIES was awful. It should have been nominated over ONCE, in my opinion (if I had to exclude any of the current nominees). What he did to the Marquis was great, all the way down to the removal of the wall sconces. NICE WORK, though, doesn't compare to FOLLIES in my opinion. While it does look nice, it is a little awkward in places. The main thing I'll point out is that staircase and its position onstage. It looks like something out of a regional or community theatre. It just looks like a lot of units thrown together against backdrops in certain scenes. I just don't think it looks as cohesive as it should. It's nice, but is one of McLane's less than stellar designs. I'd rank it 4th against FOLLIES, ANYTHING GOES, and HOW TO SUCCEED...
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joined:3/25/12
Posted: 6/1/12 at 11:24pm