What is the cleverest stage trick you have seen?- Page 2

[mpkie]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 1:31pm

I don't know if it qualifies as a stage trick as it's more fancy stage design/engineering but the ship gliding on stage during The King and I just took my breath away. It was so magical.

Also want to echo about BoM. I LOVE the "Turn It Off" moment when the lights go off and come back on with all the actors in pink vests. And Elder Price finds himself among them tapping away. When I took my friend, she was equally astounded and kept asking me how they did that.

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 1:48pm

I recently saw a production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" In Boston. It was at the Lyric, which is a tiny space, and I was very close to the performance floor, center. The set contained a lot of books on bookshelves against the rear wall. At some point during the final scenes, I noticed that the shelves remained but all the books had disappeared. I have no idea how they managed to wheel something off or onstage in the middle of Act III without calling attention to it.

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 1:58pm

I once saw the alternate ending in Phantom where the trick didn't work.

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

It's a revolving chair.

 

[Tag]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 2:13pm

^Not quite a revolving chair.  The Phantom sort of slides back in the chair, and black material is pulled down in front of him.  After his disappearance, if you were to sit in the chair, you'd pretty much still be sitting on his lap.

[MyFavoriteBrunette]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 2:31pm

It's been 20 years since seeing it but I remember in when I saw Beauty and The Beast at The Palace Theater, the young boy playing Chip the tea cup was on a rolling serving cart and it appeared as though you could see right through the lower half of the cart to the scenery in the back.  The effect was Chip had head with no body.  

Just went to see Aladdin again with a colleague who was going for the first time and he was stricken with the "how did they get the carpet flying?" question.  

Oh I forgot about part in Turn it Off at BoM!  Thanks for those who mentioned it! =)

[KnewItWhenIWasInFron]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 2:44pm

The house in "An Inspector Calls" comes to mind immediately. (Am I the only one in this thread who has been going to the theater more than couple years?)

[Luvinbroadway]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 2:49pm

The LTC revival of Carousel when the whole Beaumont became the carousel during the Carousel Waltz.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 2:57pm

This might not really qualify as a stage trick, but the scene at the ball in the Great Comet where the cast is spread throughout the theatre and Natasha and Anatole are kissing and the whole company is playing the wine glasses until Helene is the only one left is absolutely magical. 

[thedrybandit]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 3:32pm

Tag said: "^Not quite a revolving chair.  The Phantom sort of slides back in the chair, and black material is pulled down in front of him.  After his disappearance, if you were to sit in the chair, you'd pretty much still be sitting on his lap."

And just to fill in more, there's a headpiece that pops out above the Phantom's head, and that's what the cloak is attached to, so that even when he slides back into the throne, it appears as though he's there. Simple, but very effective.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 3:58pm

At the end of Cabaret where the drums are playing at full blast, but no ones there. It certainly starts the goosebumps.

 

the current tour of phantom, he is standing and not in a chair. How is that done? I was think a trapdoor, but it's a tour so I doubt it's that.

[mc1227]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 4:50pm

Duplicate post.  Sorry

Updated On: 2/18/17 at 04:50 PM

[thedrybandit]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 5:26pm

Call_me_jorge said: "the current tour of phantom, he is standing and not in a chair. How is that done? I was think a trapdoor, but it's a tour so I doubt it's that."

The cloak he puts on has a support structure in the hood and shoulders, and is never fully attached to him. It just sits on his shoulders. When he faces upstage, standing near the bed, and Meg grabs his shoulders, he simply steps or crouches out of it while she holds it in place, and I think he actually hides under the bed, through a trap door in the part of the frame that the audience can see. It's hard to tell, but it's very dark by the bed, and he stands directly in front of it before he vanishes. His movements are covered up by how wide the cloak is. Meg waits for a signal from one of the actors upstage of the cloak, and then drops it.

As a disclaimer, I've never been told how it works, but I've seen it from a few angles and as best I can tell, that's what happens, if no trap door is involved.

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 6:05pm

Tag said: "^Not quite a revolving chair.  The Phantom sort of slides back in the chair, and black material is pulled down in front of him.  After his disappearance, if you were to sit in the chair, you'd pretty much still be sitting on his lap.

 

"

YouTube "Phantom mishaps" and watch the one with Hugh Panero describing the rotating chair not working.

If you were to sit on the chair after you'd be sitting on the mask and not the guy playing the Phantom. 

 


 

Updated On: 2/18/17 at 06:05 PM

[Leaf Coneybear]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 6:13pm

I saw a production of the Tempest a few months ago and in the beginning of the characters heads was shoved into a bowl of water to be drowned. They held the guys head in there for what seemed like eternity, not sure if there was a trick or if the guy could just hold his breath a long time haha

[mc1227]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 7:34pm

Not sure if it would be considered a trick but more an effect was in The King and I opening scene with the ship traveling across the stage and seeming like it was going right into the audience.  I had never seen anything like that before and was totally amazed!

[TylerJia]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 7:45pm

The act 2 opening of Groundhog Day was pretty spectacular in London, won't give it away but plenty of 'spark' involved.. hope it stays for Broadway! (Looks like most elements of the show are)

[Dover]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 7:54pm

mailhandler777 said: "Tag said: "^Not quite a revolving chair.  The Phantom sort of slides back in the chair, and black material is pulled down in front of him.  After his disappearance, if you were to sit in the chair, you'd pretty much still be sitting on his lap."

YouTube "Phantom mishaps" and watch the one with Hugh Panero describing the rotating chair not working.

If you were to sit on the chair after you'd be sitting on the mask and not the guy playing the Phantom. "

In that video Seth says the chair rotates. Hugh never says that, and he also knows better than to talk about how it actually works. Tag's post is the best way of describing it.

[ggersten]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 9:29pm

The fight scene at the swimming pool in Let The Right One In.  

 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 9:47pm

The Book of Mormon trick in "Turn It Off" is simple. Their pink glitter vests are tucked into their pants. One day when I saw the show(about 4 years ago), the lights came on too quickly and they were still pulling their vests over their heads.

[A Canadian in NYC]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 10:28pm

BroadwayConcierge said: "Also, watch from 2:41 to 4:50ish for Yitzhak's finale quick-change in Hedwig! It's amazing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nobSihlOR_Q

That is awesome!  Thanks for posting BC.   Now I know :)  (too bad we had to hear DC screeching in the background)

"

 

[The Other One]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 10:56pm

Hope Davis throwing up in God of Carnage.

[amaklo]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 11:02pm

It wasn't really a clever stage trick, just brilliant design, but I'll never forget the Loveland scenery flying in during the original Follies. 

[PatrickDC]

Posted: 2/18/17 at 11:08pm

Speaking of actors disappearing from chairs, here is MERLIN at the Tonys. Watch it a few times and if you have a slight familiarity with illusions you'll figure the tricks out easily. True, we have the benefit of replaying a video. I'm sure on stage with the distractions of the actors, dancing, and up-tempo song the illusions left the audience wondering. I know a bit about illusions from a buddy who was into magic, but I still very much enjoy seeing magic on stage. 

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 2/19/17 at 12:23am

When I was in the 7th grade, my class took a field trip to Springfield, and went to the town where Lincoln grew up. There was this exhibit where there was a  stage with a glass wall in front of it. This guy dressed up as a Civil War soldier comes out, and starts interacting with stuff in the exhibit, and stuff he picks up starts floating, like as a hologram in the glass wall, and then disappears. Then at the end of the show, the civil war guy, who I was convinced was a live actor, reveals himself as a ghost and slowly disappears.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 2/19/17 at 10:05am

I'll second the Loveland transformation in the original production of FOLLIES as the most stunning effect I have ever seen.  Another favorite effect of mine involved the two pianos in the original production of GEORGE M!  They were on either side of the stage as part of the proscenium and were used as practical pianos during various scenes in the first act (auditions, George's office, Fay Templeton's home, etc.).  The "trick" occurred at the top of the second act.  After an orchestral fanfare, twin spots hit the pianos and they proceeded to "play" the entr'acte by themselves.  They were player pianos- and that was the first moment you realized it.  Perhaps more of an "effect" than a "trick", but clever and fun.