Broadway: The Best Of Times
We asked you, our readers, to pick your favorite Broadway designs through the years. While we took into consideration the number of nominations, we also looked closely at why you chose the shows, giving weight to your comments, as well. So here they are, your top ten from the last 40 years in chronological order.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1971
Director Peter Brook re-imagined William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1971 in an empty white box, with sets and costumes by Sally Jacobs, who won the Tony Award® for Best Scenic Design, and lighting design by Lloyd Burlingame. ...
Follies, 1972
Follies drew a huge range of critical response when it debuted. Love it or hate it, the production drew a few Tony Awards for Boris Aronson’s scenic design, Florence Klotz’s costumes, and Tharon Musser’s lighting....
Candide, 1974
Candide started out at the Chelsea Theatre Company at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1973 (commonly referred to as “the Chelsea version”), moving to Broadway in 1974. Once there, it took home the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, thanks to the co-design by Eugene Lee and Franne Lee....
A Chorus Line, 1975
In our business, no list is complete without A Chorus Line and Tharon Musser’s Tony Award-winning lighting design that included the first-ever computerized lighting control and masterful followspot work. ...
Sunday In The Park With George, 1984 and 2008
Both the 1984 and 2008 versions of Sunday In The Park With George couldn’t escape our list, the original for its double Tony Awards for Tony Straiges’ scenic design and Richard Nelson’s lighting design, with costumes by Patricia Zipprodt and Ann Hould-Ward and sound by Tom Morse. ...
Les Miserables, 1987
“They really did figure out how to take a bunch of parts, move them around, and keep on moving through scene after scene,” says one of our readers about the original Broadway production of Les Misérables with that incredible turntable and “the barricade.” ...
Angels In America, 1993
Angels In America, A Gay Fantasia On National Themes, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tony Kushner, came to the Broadway stage in its two parts: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, winning back-to-back Tony Awards for Best Play in ‘93 and ‘94. ...
The Who’s Tommy, 1993
Bringing the ultimate rock opera to the stage in 1993 made award-winning work for much of the creative team for The Who’s Tommy, including Tony Awards for lighting designer Chris Parry and scenic designer John Arnone. ...
The Lion King, 1997
Director Julie Taymor may have taken some hits before leaving the current production of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, but her work on The Lion King back in 1997 solidified her as a visionary in the theatre. She also designed costumes, for which she won a Tony, as well as masks and puppets with Michael Curry. ...
The Coast Of Utopia, 2006
The Coast Of Utopia broke the Tony record for the most awards given to a play, with its three parts of Voyage, Shipwreck, and Salvage. Best Scenic Design of a Play went to Bob Crowley and Scott Pask, with Best Costume Design of a Play to Catherine Zuber, and Best Lighting Design of a Play to the lighting trio that lit a part each of the trilogy: Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner, and Natasha Katz. ...
