CLOSE-UP Copyright Lighting&Sound America October 2017 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html Doing the Work By: David Barbour Prince of Broadway recreates key moments from one of Broadway’s most remarkable careers The set for the sequence from Company offers Boritt’s take on Boris Aronson’s original urban-jungle-gym design. avid Belasco, Florenz Ziegfeld, one landmark show after another, Ebb, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Joshua Logan, Bob Fosse, rewriting the rules of musical theatre and Boris Aronson—his shows have DMichael Bennett: These are along the way. Working with virtually been known for their psychological some of the greatest showmen in all the signature creative talents of the complexity, bold design statements, Broadway history, and none of them last half-century—a list that begins and formal daring. Look around at the come close to the achievement of with, but is hardly limited to, Stephen Broadway musical landscape of Harold Prince. As producer and direc- Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, today—the sweeping political drama tor, Prince has consistently turned out Jerome Robbins, John Kander, Fred of Hamilton, the acute social observa- Photo: Matthew Murphy © 2017 106 • October 2017 • Lighting&Sound America tion of Dear Evan Hansen, the telling snapshot of history that is Come From Away. Could any of them exist without the innovations of Prince and company? Such a career demands a retro- spective: Prince of Broadway, pro- duced by Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, its Broadway venue, culls numbers from Prince’s astonishing resume. There are songs from such beloved mid-century hits as Damn Yankees, West Side Story, and that twilight-of-the-golden- era masterpiece Fiddler on the Roof. Of course, such game-changers as Cabaret, Company, and Follies are heavily represented, as is the ‘80s-era blockbusters Evita and Phantom of the Opera, the latter secure in its station as Broadway’s longest-running show. The program also includes excerpts from such lively also-rans as “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman,” a pop-art romp that never caught on, The title song from Cabaret features the performer Bryonha Marie Parham framed in and Parade, a stunning tale of preju- spotlight with the rattletrap Kit Kat Club behind her, washed in saturated color. dice triumphant and justice denied in the post-bellum American South. essence of each. Exactly how does what to do. I was sleeping four and Prince of Broadway is a string of musi- one cram a lifetime of masterpieces five hours a night, cranking out stuff, cal pearls; as the finale, a new number into a single evening of theatre? looking for the big idea. The day the by Jason Robert Brown, says, the In addition, Prince of Broadway had bids came back from the shops was Prince mantra, now and forever, is “do a long and complicated gestation peri- the day we pulled the plug on that the work.” od. Originally announced as a com- production.” Linking the numbers is a running mercial Broadway attraction, it fell By the time of the Japanese commentary written by David through when crucial financing engagement, Boritt says, “eighty-five Thompson, with each member of the became unavailable. Instead, the pro- percent of it was already designed. cast assuming, from time to time, the duction opened in 2015 in Japan, The thing that cracked it open was the Prince persona, those famous glasses where it was received with acclaim. idea of putting in an empty theatre.” perched firmly on his or her head. The Still, another period of uncertainty The concept wasn’t such a stretch— songs are not performed in chronolog- ensued until Manhattan Theatre Club after all, Prince had produced and ical order, although as many as four of opted to bring it to Broadway. directed Follies, set in a theatre them may be gathered around a single The set designer, Beowulf Boritt, marked for demolition, and much of title. Instead the structure is more says he spent five-and-a-half years his work has been marked by an associative, rather like listening to working, on and off, on Prince of exposed theatricality. “Hal has been Prince as he ruminates on his many Broadway. “It’s the longest stretch of my mentor, almost a parent figure,” the productions, with thoughts on one time I’ve ever been on a show,” he designer adds. (Working with Prince, show naturally segueing to the next. adds. “I was hired in March 2012, and, he designed LoveMusik, also at Such a structure posed vexing chal- at that point, we thought we were Manhattan Theatre Club, and Paradise lenges for its design team. Prince of opening on Broadway in September.” Found, staged in London.) “He thinks Broadway doesn’t try to slavishly Faced with the prospect of pulling of all theatre as a black box, with a recreate scenes from these shows. together a large-scale Broadway musi- few things inside it. He even describes Prince, working with choreographer cal in only a few months, he says, “I Phantom that way, which sounds and co-director Susan Stroman, are did what grad school prepared me for, ridiculous until you really look at it.” Photo: Courtesy of Beowulf Boritt concerned with presenting the by giving me more work than I knew But how to fill that empty black www.lightingandsoundamerica.com • October 2017 • 107 CLOSE-UP For the “Loveland” sequence from Follies, Boritt designed a kind of giant Victorian valentine, with cherubs and lovers peeking out from behind the lace. Binkley’s lighting suffuses it with a pink background wash that evokes the glamour lighting of another era. box? The shows featured in Prince of “We were looking for a snapshot, a with a couple of canted tenement Broadway were originally designed by couple of details that would evoke buildings, a stone wall, and a city sky- a roll call of theatre royalty, ranging what they did. We wanted the thing line set against a night sky. (There is, from William and Jean Eckert to Maria that was iconic about each show.” He of course, a fire escape, for the ballad Björnson, and their contributions reached out to the original designers “Tonight.”) The title tune of She Loves couldn’t be ignored. Thus, Boritt who are still living, including Tony Me (originally designed by the Eckerts) turned to the Billy Rose Theatre Walton, who gave him some notes unfolds in front of a Secession-style Collection at New York’s Lincoln about A Funny Thing Happened on the storefront, complete with Austrian cur- Center, that treasure trove of Way to the Forum (seen in the tains and jewel-tone stained glass win- Broadway history. He also delved into Japanese production only). He also dows. “You’ve Got Possibilities” (from the books The Theatre Art of Boris spoke to Lisa Aronson, widow of Boris Superman, a Robert Randolph design) Aronson, by Frank Rich, and The and his longtime assistant. unfolds against a blown-up page from Performing Set: The Theatre Designs Each scene in Prince of Broadway a comic book. Old-fashioned drops of William and Jean Eckert, by Andrew combines key details from the original come into play for “If I Were a Rich B. Harris. design, filtered through Boritt’s sensi- Man,” from Fiddler on the Roof, which “The big thing for me was how to bility. West Side Story (originally features a version of Aronson’s Marc deal with all the work of these design- designed by Oliver Smith) conjures up Chagall-inspired drawings, and Show ers, without copying it,” Boritt says. New York’s urban jungle, circa 1956, Boat (the rare instance of a Prince- Photos: Courtesy of Beowulf Boritt 108 • October 2017 • Lighting&Sound America This drop from “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman” resembles the blown-up page of a comic book. directed revival), which is backed by a lovers peeking from behind a surface wall has to fly out and the set has to depiction of the riverboat The Cotton of lace; it makes a stunning impression trundle underneath. It’s very, very Blossom, done in the style of a 19th- before collapsing in a heap upstage. tight.” He adds, “The back wall of the century theatre drop. As a special grace note, the names theatre set is like a piece of Swiss The most elaborate sequences are of the original designers are embed- cheese, with many parts that pull from Company and Follies, both of ded in each set, rather like the “Ninas” away. The top lifts to show the West which, in their original versions, repre- in an Al Hirschfeld illustration. For Side Story skyline. A big piece pulls sent two of Aronson’s most famous example, Jerome Sirlin’s name is away on the stage right side for designs. (“They were so iconic, they found in the web that covers the stage Sweeney Todd. Another piece opens needed to be there,” the designer in the title song from Kiss of the Spider to reveal the big gate from Phantom says.) For Company, Boritt created a Woman; the milk cart for Fiddler on of the Opera.” He cites Francis Rapp, version of Aronson’s urban jungle gym the Roof features Aronson’s name, the Friedman Theatre’s head carpen- design, placed against a drop of New translated into Cyrillic. ter, as playing a crucial role: “He is York at night. The “Loveland” Fitting all of this, and more, into really a genius. The design worked on sequences of Follies, which unfolds in the Friedman wasn’t easy.