As a form of stage performance, the importance of stage scenery to musicals is self-evident. It can not only create a suitable drama environment for the play, but more importantly, it can turn the short moments in the theater into eternity in the eyes of the audience. It is the appearance and development of stage scenery that expands the performance space of musicals and vividly strengthens the contrast between time and space, thus making all stage activities and scenes of musicals go smoothly.
The design of stage scenery is an extremely important part of music creation. Stage designers must read the script carefully and understand it deeply. On this basis, they should, according to the director's creative ideas, build a space for the future performance of musicals, provide a reasonable schedule for the performance, and reveal the connotation and implication of the drama by artistic means.
Stage scenery design is a comprehensive and complicated work, which usually involves architecture, materials, lighting, technology and aesthetics. Its style and form are very important for a play, which can fundamentally affect the style and style of a musical. Therefore, whether the director and the stage designer cooperate tacitly or not, and whether the stage scenery design is appropriate or not, will often affect the success or failure of the drama performance.
Similar to the development of musical itself, the stage scenery has also experienced a development process from scratch, from simple to complex. In the early musical repertoire, because the story of the musical itself is relatively simple, a play usually has only a few scenes, even a one-act play, and the number of actors in a musical is relatively small, so the stage scenery is dispensable and there is no special requirement. At that time, the stage designer in the musical was not a full-time fixed job. Often before a drama is staged, the theater manager feels it necessary to design the stage, and then temporarily finds a designer to direct it. However, the stage scenery designers at that time did not have an overall design idea, and there was no unified requirement and specification for the stage scenery in musicals, so the stage scenery was often improvised by designers.
The scenery produced in this environment is basically related to the designer's own level and hobbies, and has no direct relationship with the plot. Although the designer can draw a beautiful stage curtain background, it can only be regarded as a beautiful canvas that has nothing to do with the plot, and it can't play a role in shaping characters and promoting the plot. Moreover, the scenery has largely followed the traditional way in old operas and musicals, which is limited to the plane and frame stage mode, and the dramatic environment is only displayed by the canvas hanging behind the actors. If it happens in a palace, a magnificent palace curtain will be hung, while if it happens in a forest, a green forest scene will be put on the stage. Early plays such as "Chorus of Couples" and "Oklahoma" all adopted this setting method to varying degrees. Because there were fewer scenes in early plays, there was no need to carry more drama content, and this flat design could also meet the requirements of musicals at that time.
However, with the development of musical components and the continuous improvement of the status of scripts in musicals, the role of stage scenery and design in musical performances has become more and more prominent, and it has gradually developed from flat to three-dimensional and materialized. The traditional curtain method was questioned and challenged, and the set designers began to break the stage frame mode and seek to update more realistic set devices. Stage scenery design has also become one of the indispensable arts in music performance. The plane curtain was gradually abandoned and replaced by a realistic theatrical environment created by realistic stage props. The "Post Office" set has already appeared in 1930' s Madness of Girls. A small staircase and a small door with one side open were built above the stage to make the actors' performance more natural and real.
The strengthening of science and technology has also greatly improved the ability of stage design and performance. Many achievements of modern science and technology have been applied to the stage, thus creating a stage spectacle with more and more exquisite scenery and props and more magnificent momentum for us. Another representative work of Weber, Phantom of the Opera, has been a great success and enduring. In addition to the thrilling plot and gripping drama suspense, the contribution of stage setting is undeniable. The ever-changing stage mechanism has become an important means to attract the audience, and perhaps nothing can impress the audience more than the underground lake scene in the play. As a "ghost" shelter, this underground lake is full of mystery and terror, Maria? Through sound, light and various lights, BuJonson vividly shaped this illusory and beautiful world for us. Similar to the movie montage, this horrible world is no longer frightening, and the audience has a deeper understanding of the lonely and sensitive "ghost".
In addition to completing the basic task of setting off the plot and creating the atmosphere, the stage scenery sometimes needs to carry more missions. Theater genius director Harold? In Prince's eyes, stage scenery can often be the most powerful means to set off the theme, sometimes more direct and effective than script and dance. In his famous work Hotel (1966), he adopted a brand-new design to enhance the stage expressive force of the play. There is a huge mirror hanging on the stage curtain, which can directly reflect the appearance of the theater audience. The distorted faces of the audience reflected in the mirror reflect the theme of the play: the philosophy behind the mirror refers to the rampant racism in the United States at that time, while the distorted faces imply the dark side of people's hearts. Prince pointedly pointed out that the United States at that time, like Germany, was in danger of being corrupted by fascist centralization. This idea is amazing, and it also makes Prince famous.
Examples of this are The Partner and The Rich Show, which were later co-productions of Prince and Sondheim. Prince's idea of attaching importance to stage scenery also runs through these two plays, and stage designer Harrison has a good understanding of the director's intention, thus presenting a unique spectacle of stage performance for the audience.
In Partner, in order to show the contradiction, estrangement and lack of communication in modern marriage discussed in this play, Harrison designed a unique stage based on his understanding of life in New York for many years: different platforms made of metal skeletons, curtains made of transparent glass between platforms, and elevators that can move up and down in the middle of the whole platform. This "structuralism" technique vividly shows the audience a cold and depressing picture of urban life.
In this stage design, actors can see what is happening in the elevator in the center of the platform through transparent glass, but they have no idea about the world around them, which is a good allusion to man-made obstacles in urban life. The elevator in the middle is not only convenient for people to go up and down stairs, but also has a deeper meaning: the activities and exchanges between men and women in cities are mostly vertical, but rarely flat. People keep climbing for the status and reputation of social respect, but they always ignore the most precious family around them. The elevator has become their best tool to escape from reality and paralyze themselves. This profound design technique completed the "concept" that Sondheim wanted to express.
The stage set design in "Rich Show" reproduces the artistic conception of "rubble and ruins" that the director prince wants to pursue, and creates an environment full of memories in the Winter Garden Theater. Boris, the stage designer? Alongsang made full use of the height of the Winter Garden Theater, and set up multi-level platforms on both sides of the stage, which can move at will, thus skillfully connecting reality with memories through different heights of the same platform. However, when all the high platforms appeared on the stage, the actors completed the transformation from the past to the present on the high platforms, and different heights represented different performance periods of the actors. Once the high platform is completely removed, the whole stage becomes more and more spacious and empty, bringing people back to the splendid performance venue with infinite scenery. In addition, the stage has been specially placed with incomplete statues, withered stage frames and other props suggesting incompleteness. These alternating "fragments" complement the sense of "ruins" created by the whole drama, giving the audience infinite reverie.
Simply put, the set design in musical can be roughly divided into two parts: one is the set design, and the other is the set production team. Of course, the set design is done by the set designer. Generally speaking, the work of a scenery designer can be divided into the following steps:
First of all, after studying the script in detail, I will discuss and communicate the creative ideas with the director, and then combine my own imagination with the director's imagination to find a suitable starting point as the starting point for creating the stage scenery.
Then I will start sketching, outline the stage image and layout in my mind, and then discuss it further with the director.
Next, once the scheme is accepted by the director and the whole creative team, the designer should have a full understanding of the theater, especially the stage space and its equipment, and have an accurate grasp and understanding of the parts that need to be adjusted and improved.
After the field trip, the designer will draw a plan and a three-dimensional perspective. In the floor plan, the location and size of each scene, the specific placement time and location of each prop and the use of the stage position should be accurately marked as the basis for making the installation scenery and props. At the same time, it is necessary to provide a clear stage environment for lighting designers, so that their work can be synchronized and constantly adjusted according to the changes in reality.
Finally, after everything is basically determined, the stage designer can reduce the production model according to the proportion of the whole installation set as a reference for further production of the set. The set model is of great reference value to other parts of the theater, which can let directors and actors better understand the drama environment they want to contact.
The work of the set production team is rather trivial. After they get the designer's floor plan and three-dimensional map, they purchase materials and make various sets that meet the performance requirements according to the map. It is the unknown efforts of the whole group that have created a colorful and wonderful landscape on the colorful stage.
In the past, the audience watched all kinds of performances and drama pictures through the mounted scenery on the stage, but today, everything has made progress, the stage designer has broken through the traditional constraints and restrictions, the three-dimensional and humanized stage has given the audience more theater feelings, the relationship between the audience and the performance area has been completely changed, the performance has become more and more integrated into the audience, and the sense of scene has increasingly become the goal pursued by the director. It is believed that with the further strengthening and improvement of scenery technology, the techniques of stage performance will be more diverse and the stage will become more and more beautiful.
Second, the stage lighting
When talking about the role of stage lighting in drama, Adolphe Appia, one of the pioneers of the 20th century dramatic art innovation movement, a Swiss stage artist and the father of stage lighting, thinks that "this kind of lighting that can bring changes and movement rhythm to the stage space is the soul on the stage". /kloc-when the electric light was first applied to the stage at the end of 0/9, he predicted that it would change the whole drama world. Indeed, the combination of light, color and music is strong and wonderful. With the development of stage lighting technology, the role of lighting in any form of stage performance is becoming more and more obvious. Musical drama, as an art form of stage performance, is also inseparable from the strong support of light intensity.
Stage lighting, also known as stage lighting, is one of the important means of stage art modeling. It uses stage lighting equipment, such as lighting fixtures, slides, control systems and other technical means. During the performance, with the progress of the plot and the need to express the characters, the environment is represented by light color and its changes, the atmosphere is rendered, the sense of stage space, times and artistic conception required by the play is created, and the necessary special effects such as wind, rain, clouds, water and lightning are provided. It is the existence of light that unites the three-dimensional scenery on the stage with the moving actors and forms a moving picture.
Andrew? Weber's Early Works-Apollo March 27th London 1984? Star Express, staged by Victoria Theatre, is a typical high-tech musical. In order to show the starry sky effect on the background curtain, 1500 lamp holders, 1200 sets of different lighting equipment and 6000 decorative light bulbs were used in the play. When the audience enters the theater, the curtain is opened and the lights are flashing, they will feel really under the stars.
The role of stage lighting is deeply influenced by lighting technology, and its development and evolution process cannot be separated from the rapid progress of technology. In early theatrical performances, torches and candles provided light sources for the stage and played a role in lighting. Later, with the invention of kerosene lamps and gasoline lamps, there were more stable and dazzling lights on the stage, but this still did not change the essence of light as a simple lighting tool. Edison's invention of electric light is not only an epoch-making event in the history of human science and technology development, but also has an important and far-reaching impact on stage performance. Electric lights not only brought unprecedented light to the stage, but also opened the colorful sky. The continuous progress of modern industrial civilization and science and technology has provided a solid material and technical foundation for the development of stage lighting. The stage technology, especially the lighting technology, made great progress in the late 1980s, which made the stage characteristics of musicals change greatly, making the drama more and more dependent on the lighting technology.
Lighting technology was quickly applied to musical performances, which greatly enhanced the charm of the drama. 1907, Siegfried, the king of song and dance, shouted the slogan "Let American girls shine" and launched a series of luxurious song and dance variety shows-"The Rich Show", which was staged in the small theater on the roof garden on the top floor of Olympia Theatre, and won with colorful lights, splendid decorations on the golden walls and beautiful young dancers. The lights made this luxurious and live entertainment show magnificent, and made countless money for Siegfried. At the same time, the role of stage lighting has really attracted the attention of the music industry.
In the development of musicals in the 20th century, any progress and invention of lighting technology were quickly applied to the stage of musicals. With the development of science and technology, lighting can surpass the basic lighting function and become a special stage art means. Today, lighting technology has become a comprehensive and high-tech stage skill, which can not only bring brightness and color to the whole stage and theater, but also effectively assist the director to complete many functions such as setting off the plot, creating a dramatic atmosphere, shaping characters and driving the plot to turn.
Throughout the successful works of Broadway in recent years, they are all good at wonderful lighting design. From The Rich Show to Les Miserables, from Cats to Miss Saigon, from Notre Dame de Paris to Hairspray, which won eight Tony Awards in 2003, there are excellent and novel stage lights. Their colorful stage effects, various computer lights and a large number of new light sources form the beauty of dynamic lines, romantic colors and lyrical melodies, giving the whole stage a harmonious and unified whole beauty.
Generally speaking, stage lighting in musicals has the following functions:
1. Visual lighting. This is the basic function of lighting, which enables the theater audience to clearly watch the whole stage and the actors' performances.
2. Highlight people. This additional function is mainly realized by stage chasing light. A bright lamp is used to clean the dark stage. Due to the principle of human vision, people will naturally pay attention to the brightest area on the stage, thus completing the close-up of the characters in the play.
3. Strengthen the aesthetic feeling. This additional function can only be realized through the joint efforts of various factors on the stage. Under the combined action of lighting, stage scenery, costumes, makeup and other factors, the audience will be brought into a dreamlike atmosphere, thus having an immersive feeling of the dramatic environment in which the story develops.
The lighting in musicals is usually done by a special lighting engineer, who needs to accurately grasp the number of lights, the load of lamps and the general position of lighting arrangement required for performing theaters and stages after continuous coordination with the creative team. After the script, music and dance are basically determined and entered the rehearsal, the best lighting scheme is designed according to the plot and the actual situation of the performance theater. After entering the final rehearsal stage, lighting, as an important part of stage art, should participate in the rehearsal of actors' costumes, check whether the lighting design is unreasonable or not, and finally determine the lighting scheme.
Stage lighting can not only create a strong drama atmosphere, but also help to form a unified drama style. The theme of the play, the director's conception, gorgeous costumes and gorgeous dances, and many musical spirits that can only be expressed by words and expressions mainly rely on lighting. As an important element of dance beauty, stage lighting has increasingly become an important means to successfully shape characters and decorate the performance stage.