BWW Interviews: Tony-Winning Set Designer Derek McLane Talks OSCARS, PETER PAN LIVE, GIGI & More

Derek McLane, who recently won the Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for the 86th Annual Academy Awards, once again takes on the set designs for this year's OSCARS.

The Tony Award winner, who also received an ADG nod for his set designs on NBC's PETER PAN LIVE, is already receiving critical praise for his work on the Broadway-bound production of GIGI, now playing at the Kennedy Center. Other current projects include Roundabout Theatre Company's reimagined INTO THE WOODS, Atlantic Theater Company's World Premiere of Doug Wright's Posterity, and Joe DiPietro's new musical LIVING ON LOVE, heading to Broadway this April.

BWW catches up with the busy artist just days before the 87th ACADEMY AWARDS, to find out what's in store for this year's ceremony and get the behind-the-scenes scoop on NBC's PETER PAN LIVE and much more!

First of all Derek, congratulations on the Art Directors Guild Award.

Oh thank you, it was a really a nice event. It's very different than the usual award shows that we go to. It's so much more specific and there are not that many awards that they give out so the pace of it is much more relaxed and people get a chance to speak more in depth about what it is they do.

You were nominated for two different projects, the Academy Awards, as well as Peter Pan Live, so that must have been very special.

Yeah it was really nice. I felt really honored because I'm a little bit new to this community so it was nice, this community meaning the TV community as opposed to the theater community.

Well speaking of that, it seems like lately the two communities are really starting to blend more and more for the Oscars, especially with the addition of Neil as this year's host. Do you approach the broadcast as almost a mini theater production, as far as the entertainment value that you want to bring to it?

Yeah, parts of it does feel like a Broadway production, but parts feel completely different. I mean nobody wants to turn the show into a Broadway show at all, it is a television event, but it is exciting to have that kind of crossover. And of course it goes the other way, if you look at who's working in film and television, so many of those people have substantial careers in the theater as well.

Well Craig [Zadan} and Neil [Meron] are certainly on the right track because each year the ratings continue to rise.

Yes, they've done an amazing job. And I think what's great about them is that they really understand how to put on a show. So I suppose that's what the broadcast has in common with Broadway, they really have a sense that they're putting on a show.

Exactly, which is why it has been so much fun to watch. It was recently announced that Bobby and Kristen Lopez are composing a special musical number for the show, which I'm guessing you are involved in. Any details you can share with us about that?

No, other than to say something really general which is, I'm really excited about it and I think it's going to be a great show. You know we've all been sworn to secrecy and a big part of the fun of doing the show is to try not to reveal details, other than to say who is going to be on it, but everything else we keep totally secret. I'm sorry I can't tell you more. (laughing)

Completely understand! I wanted to ask you about NBC's Peter Pan Live because your sets for that project were phenomenal. First of all, what was your inspiration for them?

Well thank you. There were a couple of sources of inspiration with that show because there were sort of different worlds in it. There was the world of London and the Darling house, which is sort of the real world of the show, and then there was the world of Neverland of course, and then there was the world of the pirate ship, which is related to Neverland but it's sort of that darker, more dangerous side of it.

So I looked at a number of contemporary photographers who do this sort of art-directed photography in which they create these types of impossible images by building outdoor sets or modifying real locations. And a lot of those images were really exciting to me as I was trying to develop the world of Neverland. For example making trees that had roses on top rather than leaves, that kind of thing, which became a part of Neverland. I ended up combining research from a number of different sources to create a world that had a certain amount of real elements in it, but also some impossible elements. So the giant backdrops surrounding Neverland was something we spent quite a lot of time creating, and that was based on images from different parts of the world, like off the coast of Vietnam, some images from the Tropics, some images from China and then some from the Mediterranean. And then putting them together to make something which felt like it could be real, but was also not like anything you'd ever seen before, or not like anywhere that you can actually put your finger on and go, "oh I know where that is.' And it was a lot of fun coming up with that.

One of my favorite parts of the show was when Wendy and Peter were rowing through that eerie lagoon. It was so beautiful and you really sensed that movement through the water. Was it challenging to create that effect?

Yes, it was challenging. That was something we developed over a period of time. Originally, the boat was perceived as something to get to Marooner's Rock in the lagoon, when Peter is chained to the rock. But then we started to deal with that song they sing and how we were going to do it, and [director] Rob Ashford said, "that's when we should have the big boat ride, because we can actually make that into a beautiful, long journey." And that's what we ended up doing. And basically we created water for that by flooding the floor in Neverland with a huge amount of fog and then driving our boat through that. And it was really fun to kind of make that up. But it was one of those things that, until we got out there on stage and started playing around with the elements, we really didn't know how it was going to work.

So basically coming up with the idea is just half the battle, figuring out how to implement it becomes your job.

Yes, but Rob was really great. We did it very much together and we just went out there on stage when nobody else was around and started looking at what we could do without the actors being there.

How challenging was it to deal with the flying aspect of the show?

Hugely challenging! The amount of time that went into those rehearsals made that show really, really complex. The amount of tech time it took to work out all the flying was huge. And Allison Williams was so serious about working on her flying that she started long before rehearsals began. I think her and Rob started a month before the rest of the cast started rehearsals. She was very serious about approaching all those things in a really thorough manner, which was great. It took a lot of time.

You recently designed the sets for the new production of GIGI, heading to Broadway this spring, and your work has already received rave reviews from critics.

Yeah, I'm really excited about the way that show looks. It's such a privilege to design Paris on stage. I mean it's obviously one of the most beautiful places in the world, but figuring out how to render the sets, it's hard to think of anything more fun than that. I'm really glad that people are responding to it so positively.

And when you consider those two projects, PETER PAN and GIGI, they couldn't be on more opposite ends of the creative spectrum. Is it hard to switch back and forth between designing for fantasy and designing for a period piece?

You know, the more different the projects are that I'm working on the more stimulating I find it. And you can't think of everything all at once, you know as an artist, you don't necessarily have control over when ideas are going to occur to you. So you try to put yourself in an environment that's creative and stimulating and surround yourself with good research. And sometimes you get stuck when you're thinking about something and you go, 'gosh, I don't know

what I want to do here.' And the great thing about working on other projects that are totally different is that when you're stuck on one project, the answer to something on the other one occurs to you. You're trying to solve something about Gigi and you're sitting there stewing on it, the last thing you're going to do is come up with a good idea for Gigi, but you're going to come up with a great idea for the Oscars or Peter Pan. So in a funny way, I find you get your inspiration from the craziest places and you can never really predict where it's going to come from.

You also designed the sets for Roundabout's new production of INTO THE WOODS. Is this the first time you've worked on this show?

Yes, that production was the first time I designed for INTO THE WOODS and I also did that production at The McCarter and then we took it to The Old Globe, so this our third incarnation of the show. It was so exciting for me to do because this is my 9th Sondheim musical and first of all, it's such a privilege to get to work with Steve Sondheim because he's such a genius, and he's also so open to ideas and experiments with his work, which is wonderful. He's just very open to people having an idea about something and trying it, and obviously this production of INTO THE WOODS cannot be more different than either of the Broadway productions. But he really embraced that and that was really very gratifying.

Yes, I read he even came to several previews and gave notes to the cast.

He came a couple of times. First he came to Princeton and I don't think the production could have ever made it to New York without his blessing. And then he came twice when we were in previews in New York, he came to the first preview and then he came a few weeks later, and it was wonderful.

As far as your upcoming projects, are you still working on designs for the Atlantic Theater's production of Posterity?

Yeah it's in rehearsal right now, the sets are being built. And I'm also doing LIVING ON LOVE which is by Joe DiPietro and Kathleen Marshall is directing. It's also coming to Broadway this spring. This is a play about an opera diva, starring Renee Fleming. We did it at Williamstown last summer and so it's great to get the chance to bring it to a bigger audience and also the chance to do a more polished production on Broadway.

It sounds like you have a tremendous amount on your plate as usual.

Yeah, well they're all exciting projects, and as you point out, they're all very different from each other which is great.

Well we're very excited to see your work on Sunday's Oscars as well as all your upcoming shows heading to Broadway.

Yes, I'll see you at the theater this spring!

About Derek McLane:

McLane's Broadway set design credits include Beautiful, The Heiress, Nice Work If You Can Get It, The Best Man, Follies, Anything Goes, How to Succeed in Business..., Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Million Dollar Quartet, Ragtime, 33 Variations (Tony Award, Best Scenic Design), Grease, Little Women, The Pajama Game, I Am My Own Wife, The Women, Present Laughter.

Off-Broadway credits include Ruined, A Lie of the Mind, Marie and Bruce, Starry Messenger, The Voysey Inheritance, Two Trains Running, Macbeth (Shakespeare in the Park), Hurlyburly, Abigail's Party, Aunt Dan and Lemon.

McLane recently designed the sets 2013 and 2014 Oscars. His TV credits include NBC's Peter Pan Live, for which he was nominated for an Art Director's Guild Award, and NBC's Sound of Music, Live.
His credits also include opera and theatre designs in London, Paris, Dublin, Glasgow, Moscow, Krakow, Sydney, and Warsaw.

Awards include: 2015 Directors Guild Award for the 86th Annual Academy Awards, Emmy Award: 85th Academy Awards, ABC Television, 2013, Drama Desk Nomination: Follies, 2012 , Drama Desk Award: Anything Goes, 2011 Tony Award Nomination: Anything Goes, 2011 Tony Award Nomination: Best Scenic Design of a Musical, Ragtime, 2010, Lucille Lortel Award Nomination: Outstanding Scenic Design - A Lie of the Mind, 2010, Garland Award: Excellence in SOUTHLAND Theater - Backstage -Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, 2010, Tony Award: Best Scenic Design of a Play 33 Variations, 2009, Henry Hewes Design Award Winner -Scenic Design: 33 Variations, 2009, Henry Hewes Design Award Nomination -Scenic Design: Ruined, 2009, Vivian Robinson Audelco - "The Viv" Set Design Award Ruined, 2009, Drama Desk Award Nomination: 33 Variations, 2009, Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination: 33 Variations, 2009, Henry Hewes Design Award Nomination -Scenic Design: Rafta, Rafta, 2008, Lucille Lortel Award Nomination - Outstanding Scenic Design: 10 Million Miles, 2008, Lucille Lortel Award: The Voysey Inheritance, 2007, Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination: The Voysey Inheritance, 2007, Tony Award Nomination: Best Scenic Design of a Musical: The Pajama Game, 2006, Lucille Lortel Award Nomination: Abigail's Party, 2006, Drama Desk Nomination: Abigail's Party , 2006, Lucille Lortel Award: Intimate Apparel , 2005, Drama-Logue Award: Intimate Apparel, 2005, Audelco Award: Intimate Apparel, 2004, OBIE Award: Sustained Achievement, 2004, Lucille Lortel Award: I Am My Own Wife, 2004, Drama Desk Nomination: I Am My Own Wife, 2004

OSCARS photo courtesy of ABC/Adam Taylor

PETER PAN LIVE photos courtesy of NBC/Virginia Sherwood

PETER PAN LIVE Sketch: Neverland Map courtesy of Derek McLane

GIGI photo courtesy of Joan Marcus

INTO THE WOODS photo courtesy of Joan Marcus