Welcome to the Musicals Thread, the Avocado’s space for anything and everything related to musical theatre! Every month I’ll post a discussion prompt, but please feel free to comment on other topics, from new discoveries to old favorites. If you have ideas for future prompts or would like to write a feature for the thread, let me know!
While costumes communicate the nature of the characters that wear them, sets do the same for the world those characters inhabit. They can transport us to the height of luxury or the depths of desperation, fantastic idylls or carbon copies of our everyday environments, and they can play crucial roles in the action as much as they set the mood or dazzle the eye – consider, for example, Monty between the doors in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.
That said, while everyone on stage needs to be wearing something anyway (give or take a production of Hair), scenic design can be quite a more strenuous undertaking, especially depending on the venue. Crews may opt to provide only a few pieces of furniture and let the audience’s imaginations fill in the rest (not to mention expedite transitions from one scene to the next). Other times, the stage may be purposely bare or near it, indicating that the story unfolds outside of normal time and space, such as in a meeting place for various Assassins from across history.
What are your favorite/the most memorable sets from musicals?