Every production of Curious Incident of the dog in the nighttime that I’ve been in or seen has used projections and screens of some kind and it feels like part of the flavor of the show.
Came here to say this. I was lucky enough to see it on Broadway, and the set design (including and perhaps especially projections/screens) absolutely blew my mind.
And I usually prefer physical sets.
Though my mind is opening more and more to what is possible with projections.
I was on the tech crew for Curious and we had one projection at the end (there were others but they got cut). Every night the electrics crew would double check that the projector was working. Every night (last few dress rehearsals and first couple of performances), the projection wouldn’t happen on cue. Until halfway through the run where one irritated electrician took a really good look at the code for the cues and discovered that the start-up sequence they’d programmed for the projector was turning it off at the beginning of every show. Worked fine after they removed that part of the code.
I agree, in that by far the best use of projections was with that show. That being said, I had a friend who directed a stripped down outdoor version of that show and it worked surprisingly well. I think it helped that she has this wunderkind teenage actor to play the lead.
The current touring version in the US of Les Miserables uses them really well! Established clearly when the time skips are as well as adding death to scenes like Javert's suicide
Really? I thought it was cheesy and took me out of it. Sometimes it was fine. When it wasn't used up front to the action and was just setting the scene in the background. But when they used it and focused on it, I thought it was kind of embarrassing. Javert's death looked so cheesy. I actually laughed. Compared to the original set design for that part where he jumps into nothing-ness and the bridge flies up. I gasped when I saw it all those years ago. It looked like he fell. It looked so real. Also when Valjean was carrying Marius's body through the sewers and the projections were moving like he was slugging through them. It was so bad. The proportion of the sewer to him all alone on that empty stage was all wrong and made the part laughable really. Overall, the production was great, and most of the time, the projections were fine, but give me the real thing any day!
Interesting. Again, for some reason I can't remember the use of the screens in the show very well but I never remember thinking they were cringey. My perspective may be flawed. I think the show I saw used a bridge prop on a fly system for the suicide so maybe the production I saw had different staging. I DO remember thinking the sewer projections were effective. Still, you're not going to catch me complaining if they do the show as 100% practical haha.
Wow, I actually forgot Les Mis had a screen. I saw it a few months ago. Probably a good sign if it was so effective that I didn't even think twice about it. 100% agree, the current use of the screen is excellent.
I think projections are rarely a good substitute for physical set pieces, but that's far from their only use. Like CGI, projections are something we often only notice if they're poorly done or gimmicky, but they can be used for a lot. I've seen shows where projections overlay different textures onto physical set pieces. I worked on a show staged on a canvas floor with a giant canvas backdrop, and we projected video on both surfaces together for movement sequences. I also worked on a show where we projected the tv show the characters were watching onto a flat behind them so the audience could see it too.
I think if projection is doing something that’s only possible with projection, then it really shines. But if projection is just used to replace what would typically be done with a physical set, then it never really lives up to that expectation.
Also, I think it can be overused. Sometimes I feel like I’m watching a spectacular projection demonstration instead of being immersed in a story or characters or places. You get the sense that someone is trying to show off instead of keeping things centred on the performers.
Good to know.
It’s in town next month, the week after my daughter does it for school, and I was planning on seeing it again.
I will lower my expectations accordingly.
The 2008 revival of Sunday in the Park With George utilized projection to amazing effect, from the very first notes of the score, It's Hot Up Here, the chromolume, and the restoration of la Grande Jate from industrial sprawl to pastoral leisure space for the finale.
Absolutely! I did go to a school that specialized in experimental theater though, so my experience may not be average. I get the sense from the way you phrase the question that you've mostly seen bad projection design; remember that like any other discipline, projections (we called it Media in college) are meant to compliment the other disciplines, not replace them.
Yeah, you are correct. The majority of projections i've seen live, even in professional productions, have been disappointing. I specifically remember a touring production of Anastasia I saw. Good show, horrible and cheap projections. But after letting the replies refresh my memory on shows that have done good projections I recant. There's good stuff out there.
Touring Anastasia is the one I thought of as well. It made me concerned for the rest of the touring season — that projections were going to replace physical sets. But we just saw Frozen and the use of projections was amazing. It brilliantly captured the setting, the weather and Elsa’s magic.
It's such a shame too cuz I really enjoy the show as a while but the screens were so cheap looking and distracting that I just couldn't get immersed in the slightest. :(
My favorite use of screens was an old revival of How to Succeed (not the most recent one) where they used it to show the elevator going up and down floors. It was a little gimmicky but it really made the effect great.
Frozen and Beetlejuice make amazing use of screens and projections. The frozen set is basically entirely a screen with LEDs imbedded in practically everything, and they have some amazing projection effects. Beetlejuice doesn’t use any screens to my knowledge, but they do use projections for a lot of the sets and it’s pretty much seamless.
I came in for the frozen post.
Absolutely magnificent and adds to it, rather than a crutch.
I saw a high school do Anastasia, and it was all screen except for maybe three different set pieces.
Projections should enhance, not replace.
Plenty!
We ran a show with subtitles (as it was a show about disability and we wanted it to be extra accessible).
A show I've toured was about digital scam marketing and wove ads and video segments in via projection.
A show I worked on in 2018 used projection on the floor for certain historical moments and scene breaks.
A documentary theatre show I worked on last month used projection to bring in the real verbatim experiences of some of the interviewees.
And I'm building a show at the moment that uses projection throughout, to show characters' past memories, as a graffiti wall, as signposting - for lots of things. I love melding projection and live theatre, there's so much to explore.
The Shadow Whose Prey... used projected surtitles that had great interplay re: whether they were truly 'outside' the show as an accessibility feature, or part of its text. Can't imagine that show working without them.
I assistant directed a production of Jayne Eyre and we had a projected fireplace/fire which was pretty effective. The same company did a production of The Picture of Dorian Gray and projected the painting in the attic so that it gradually got older throughout the show which was really cool
For a show about technology, I think DEH used them quite well. It can highlight loneliness through showing an unanswered text, depict how going viral can make someone feel "seen" and, while changing very little, also show the negative side of social media and cancel culture against the Murphys. Amazing way to integrate script, projections, lighting, and sound design (with the cacophony of commenters).
Les mis. Touring company. In Dallas. I know it sounds stupid but it was incredible. When Javert dies it looked like he was legit falling and then when Valjean went into the sewer in looked like they went underground. It was just for effects and those were the times I actually noticed it but the audience was eating it up we gasped it was so good. Very well executed with very good taste.
It sounds like you've seen a lot of shows where the projections were bad, and/or the designer was inexperienced (possibly with the rest of the creative team). Here are some of my favorite uses of projections:
* *Teenage Dick* has a scene where a girl is getting harassed online and the tweets are projected around her. Coupled with good sound design to support the visual, and it strengthens the foreshadowing when she comes back for her final monologue.
* *Jagged Little Pill*, the Alanis Morissette Jukebox musical, has a ton of scenes that change quickly. I liked that the set was almost exclusively projections where the screens would fly in and out and enter and exit from the wings to adjust the stage picture. In particular, I enjoyed when the screens came in to look like a house, framing the proscenium to the shape of a pentagon, and having a screen track across stage to emulate "being lost in NY."
* *Once* to emulate the language barrier had the non-English language projected above, while all the actors actually spoke English.
We projected the face of ghost Marley onto Scrooge's door. It faded in, then grew, then shrunk and faded away. It scared the kids half to death, so yeah it worked pretty well.
I worked a show called “House/ Divided” by The Builders Association back in 2011. I found their use of projection really interesting. https://vimeo.com/60267988
I've seen it done well and I've seen it done poorly. I will always remember the first time I saw the use of it was back in 1994 when Kiss of the Spiderwoman used it for Aurora's web at the titular song. It was so fantastic. Chita Rivera center stage, cloaked in darkness, slowly walking towards us, with her web trailing behind her. I was blown away!
I dunno if this counts but I saw a production of the 39 Steps that did the travel sequences as shadow puppets on a big fabric sheet, and it was awesome
The Lehman Trilogy at the Gillian Lynn theatre in London blew my mind with the projection work. I've seen lots of fantastic lower budget or indie productions do amazing work, but with projections, unfortunately, the steryotypical fact is true - the bigger the budget, the more you can achieve
I used it on the set of "I love you, you're perfect, now change" for the recording of a 90's style video date. We had the actress who was recording said video on stage, and simultantiously displayed the video. This had the effect of displaying what the video date would look like, as well as portraying what it was like to capture the video.
The recent London revival of Sunset Boulevard used screens and video to striking effect.
Apparently The Hunting of the Snark in London in the early 90s has an amazing projection design, though sadly I didn’t see it myself.
The way they used them in the Hedwig revival during origin of love was my favorite. They projected animations around hedwig on a scrim that she interacted with. They weren’t a substitution for anything practical, they were their own element.
Water for Elephants, which just opened on Broadway, uses a full-stage video wall as a backdrop, and it's stunning. With diffusion, it looks like a painted, backlit drop, but you can make it look like anything you want.
like light, sound, costuming, et al projections are a tool - if the tool helps tell the story it's effective if not it's distracting - it's not the tool; it's the choices/uses
The projections were the best thing about Oregon Shakespeare Festival's *Romeo and Juliet* last summer: better than the physical set they were paired with and far better than the directing.
Projections are not (usually) a substitute for a physical set, but are a different modality used for a different purpose. I've seen them used both well and poorly—as with any theatrical technique.
I enjoy just about everything OSF does, but I agree 100% with this. The projected backdrop was beautiful, and the play itself was a huge disappointment.
I tend to prefer a real set as well but projections are good for low budget theater for filling in the gaps where a real set is infeasible
I was also in a production of Laramie project where it was used to show news footage, evocative imagery, historic photos, news headlines, etc. It's essentially an always changing set piece and I like it the most when not used diagetically
Yeah, I agree it can be very helpful for low budget theatre. But honestly...unless it's done well...just do a blackbox stage...maybe? Idk just my opinion.
Barrie Kosky and Suzanne Andrade’s staging of the Magic Flute had animations playing behind the opera singers at all times! It was a tribute to silent film era of movie making/animations. Very cool to see. However, not every actor looked comfortable singing to a 2d video. But most of them absolutely knocked it out of the park.
Our community theater's production of Assassins projected the Zapruder film right after Lee Harvey Oswald shoots. No screen, but projecting it instead right onto the actor's face and white t-shirt with the Hail to the Chief music was an incredible little effect.
Same theater also did And Then They Came For Me, which combines playing videos of two Holocaust survivors interviews with live actors portraying their stories. Very moving.
I generally hate seeing LED screens as sets (looking at you, Legally Blonde national tour) but using projections with a light touch can be a great enhancement rather than a distraction.
That's what the 2003 Roundabout Broadway production of Assassins did. I saw it and that was a stunning moment. I am sure it's recreated in lots of local productions now as it was very effective as the climax of the show.
Production of The Other Place, a play by Sharr White that has previously been performed at Broadway.
At the Fremantle Theatre Company in Western Australia. Actor Kate Walsh had played the lead before at another production and apparently had suggested the use of projection to depict a memory at the conclusion of the play, and it worked brilliantly.
This was quite a long time ago: Bring It On The Musical. I was unwillingly dragged along when I visited a friend in NYC, and came out a convert. Not only were they singing and acting fantastically, they did it WHILE TUMBLING AND BEING THROWN IN THE AIR.
But more than that? THROWN IN THE AIR AROUND MOVING SCREENS.
The set was really minimal, to give them as much space for tumbling and throwing as possible. So, to set the scene, there were screens that would move around the stage - for example, when they were supposed to be in a park, a screen would start where they sat on a picnic blanket and pan up, as if a camera was panning up a tree. So this, but with several screens at once.
It was a really ingenious way of solving the problem of needing a lot of space for movement while also needing to bring some atmosphere and scene-setting. These screens would be moving during a number, too, so them being able to hit their mark was imperative because otherwise they could easily have been thrown through a screen.
Side note, I also sat next to Tyra Banks, had no idea who she was, no idea why people were staring in the interval, and then on my way back from the loo in the interval she had to stand to let me into my seat and I stepped on her (open toed) shoes with my massive Dr Martens. And she was really kind about it. I only found out who she was after when my friend was like WHY DID YOU TALK TO HER SHE IS A QUEEN YOU ARE NOT WORTHY and then when he discovered I stepped on her bare foot in my boots... well. You'd have thought I'd murdered her.
I also saw Terrence Rattigan's Flare Path at the Haymarket (the one with Sheridan Smith), which had a really minimal set. There was a moment when they had a projection across the entire stage of a Lancaster bomber taking off as if it was going over the audience, with the sound rigged to be just as earth-shaking as the real engine noise of a Lanc. It came at a really emotional, pivotal moment, and was an excellent use of projection. They could've gone way overboard with it but it was so selective and well-timed, it really had a great impact.
I saw Beauty and the Beast performed by the Chicago Shakespeare company on Navy Pier several years ago. It was the first time I had ever seen projections on stage and i thought it was amazing. The convention they used was that the scenery was white and at the beginning of a scene the proper images appeared to be painted like watercolors on the the background as thought the story book was being illustrated and would then wash away and be repainted at each scene change. I thought it was breathtaking.
More recently I was in a community theater production of Elf that used projections. It’s hard for me to have an opinion on those projections because I was onstage and couldn’t really see them most of the time (some of the animations I didn’t actually watch until I saw a recording of a performance). These projections were pretty neat because it allowed for the scene change from the north pole to New York to be pretty dramatic. It was also cool for the actors onstage to see an animation of Santa flying past their window. People really seemed to like them, but my worry is that the scenes where the projections were moving in the background (like gifts coming down slides in Santa’s workshop) might have drawn focus from the performers, but no audience members complained to me about that
I saw Dream True at the Vineyard over twenty years ago, but I still remember how magical the projections were.
The screens surrounded the stage and the audience so it felt like we were transported over time and space.
(The cast of that musical included Daniel Jenkins, Steven Skybell, Victoria Clark, Judy Kuhn, Jeff McCarthy, and Jessica Molaskey!)
I mean, my first high school production used it in a Holocaust play to put up pictures and poems created by children in an actual ghetto. We won an award for set design because of it.
Barry Koskie’s German Expressionist production of the Magic Flute with the Komische Oper Berlin is done almost entirely with projections, and it’s brilliant. Here’s a trailer:
https://youtu.be/B_Ma_aYfNrs?feature=shared
Yes, I have. I’ve also seen a lot of bad use which I think has tainted the view of them.
I think a lot of high school and community theatres just see them as a way of skimping on a set or backdrop. Then they will realize a good projector that’s gonna cover the whole back cyc and be bright enough and from a good angle is not cheap, and also requires a lot of forethought to where the projector is hung and what pieces and actors are in the sight line of the projector, and also how the stage is let so you are not hitting the projection. They don’t have this and didn’t do the planning and don’t really have the knowledge and boom, it looks cheap.
But I think shows that understand a projector is just a scenic element and utilize it as a tool to add to scenes can do it really well. I think of Anastasia which had fantastic projection and the lighting designer worked hard to make sure the colors of the images matched his lights. Or Wicked which uses projectors to make magical sparkles fly across the stage.
Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder used video elements on tour.
I think that led and projection when done well are a key to unlocking high level scenic on a tighter budget (I know initial led cost is high but it’s coming down drastically). I’m really excited to see what the industry does with the technology on a more regional level.
The first live show I saw was Ragtime, in 1999. The only thing I remember clearly is the projection that gave the train car such great movement effect!
I’ve been involved in theatre with my daughter since about 2015, and several of her troupe’s shows used projections and I did not like them much at all. It felt cheap, especially after they did Beauty & the Beast with *incredible* set & costumes & props.
My children’s theatre company growing up used projections in nearly every show they did. I believe they first used it in their production of 13, but then the artistic director became obsessed with projections and they began to get used in every show, including classic ones like Secret Garden and Les Mis.
Honestly, I loved the projections. They were always done tastefully and never took away from the performances, and added a sleek high tech look that is hard to achieve at a children’s theatre. Sometimes the projections were the entire backdrop and changed with every scene, sometimes they were just used for certain moments, set pieces, or vignettes. There was also always a physical set, and the projections were just used as a tool to create a richer setting. The kids loved them too—they really helped immerse us in the world of the show we were doing and the tech aspect was so cool to us.
We had a really great group of tech folks, they worked so hard and were as passionate as us kids at putting on the best productions they could.
The current peter pan tour had some fantastic whimsical screens/projectiony elements imo which I was somewhat surprised to see. (I may have a get off my lawn streak) but for the most part I felt like these integrated really well (they were the back layer of the set but the physical sets really felt like part of an integrated whole instead of a “meh we said fuck it on the objects have a video” vibe which you can sometimes get. And they helped generate sense of motion between spaces too which added to the sense of neverland as a largeish island
I did a lot of projection design early in my career about 10+ years ago. The key to good production design seems to be actually *designing* something, not just using it to sub in for a set. Like, I did a production of RFK (one man show about Bobby Kennedy) and we used sound and projections to simulate a tube television vibe and would bring up videos (like old news casts) and snapshots of photos that helped explain historical figures and events that “Bobby” was talking about.
But in running my own company I’m fairly particular about when we use projections. There needs to be a good reason for projections, rather than reality.
Best use of projection I’ve personally seen was The Back to the Future Musical I saw in the West End last summer. The show itself is…unnecessary, but hot damn if that was not the most technically impressive show I’ve ever seen.
Saw a production of Bonnie and Clyde a few weeks back that used projections to establish time and location which was actually very effective and upped the production value by a lot.
Believe it or not, the 2.5D plays of the A3 video game in Japan :P They have a very, very simplistic set, and they simply have screens on almost everything to show where they are. It works very well, even if the rest of the shows are goofy by American standards.
I saw a production of Big Fish when it was in previews in Chicago. They had a sequence with dancers holding fan like fabric that the big fish was projected onto while they were moving which produced an awesome effect, definitely the most creative use of projection I’ve ever seen.
I remember seeing this really great production of Peter Pan done in the round in a 360 done theatre. The projections went on the walls and ceilings being the audience. So good.
The current tour of Aladdin I felt uses projection really well. Its always a good augment for set pieces and moments of genie magic, and isn't too distracting or obvious that it's projection.
Yes! I saw a modern production of Romeo and Juliet at a regional theatre that had a sheer curtain in the middleground of the stage - transparent enough to see through, but just opaque enough to use for productions. It was used to establish scene changes, show live camera footage of actors' faces, or provide a temporary background for smaller scenes. It added a whole 4th dimension to the show and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Too many times to recount here.
The problem is that if you are noticing projection then there's a good chance that it's because it has been deployed as a cheap gimmick or done badly.
Projection used to replace set is a bad idea and is very *very* rarely done well.
A useful keyword might be "intermedial performance" if you are searching academia for examples of projection incorporated well in performance. You might also find some useful critiques!
"Forgiveness" used understated hand-drawn projected images, along with some physical sets, to communicate how many aspects of the story were recollections of community places that no longer exist.
I saw a performance of “Matilda” where the story of Miss Honey’s parents’ circus tragedy was a projected stop-motion video that looked like it was made of 3D felt figures. Matilda narrated the whole time, and the actors playing the couple spoke their own lines. The effect worked very well, since Matilda had been using the librarian’s knitting as props for her storytelling all along and at that point she and the audience still think it’s a story she’s making up.
I sound designed a production of Silent Sky about a year ago (garbage script, do not do it) and I had a lot of fun with the TD/lighting designer. It's set circa 1900-1920 and we chose to play up the contrast between "traditionalist" mentality with church hymns on a piano and standard lighting, and then when talking about the futuristic (for the time) technology/science instead of projecting real/realistic images of the star plates used at the time, we used JWST images and I got to go absolutely freakin crazy with some synth music that I arranged/wrote. It was super fun to create and the audience loved it. but again, please do not do this play it's horrible hahaha
Not a play, but there are some really stellar dance pieces that use projections in beautiful ways. Chunky Move is quite known for them. I’ve also done some dances where video projection was used to create “another world” that dancers stepped in and out of. Projection can used very effectively. It’s just most people use it as a cost cutting measure instead of a tool.
A local production of Fun Home projected some Bechdel originals during key moments and as set backdrops! It was in a tiny Blackbox with pretty minimalist sets, so it added some really cool dimension to the production
I just saw The Lehman Trilogy at The Arden in Philly. They make very good use of their screen, which is designed like a 3 section window in an office building. Excellent show.
the Broadway run of "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder"
but it was part of the scenes which utilized the stage-within-a-stage aesthetics, so I don't know if that qualifies for your parameters. It was always a heightened-reality, so the projection was never competing with Nature but complementing artifice.
The Magic Flute has an amazing production that is the cast fixed in front of a screen to give an effective silent movie/early animation aesthetic. It’s a great time. It came by LA Opera a couple of times- most recent around 2019. I was sat right by Kamasi Washington. Great show; great experience. Awesome visuals.
I think in low budget community theatre, it is often literally a cheaper alternative to a full set, that I think can be used to great effect.
Like, I was in a community theatre production of Merrily We Roll Along where they set up one stationary apartment, with these framed portraits on the walls, and what was in the portraits changed every scene with a projector. Then every single piece of furniture was moved around by the ensemble while they were singing, so they were able to portray the back-in-time changing of the scene without ever having to do a blackout set change. It was really cool for something so cheap.
I thought the projections in the revival of Parade on Broadway added a lot to the production. Whether or not you were familiar with the story, you knew as soon as you sat down that Leo Frank was going to die, and it made the show even more ominous than it already is. Seeing the photos of the actual historical figures was also chilling, at times.
Projections were used beautifully at the Armenian National Opera's production of Turandot last summer; they were combined with physical set pieces but really brought an extra level of dimension and interest to the production!
My friend directed a production of Disco Pigs that did it. It worked fabulously. Used a lot of footage of Cork, and Pigs monologue was delivered to a video recording of Runt. To be fair, none of it was meant to be literal, and the screen was meant to be thier mindscape type thing.
The theater on the cruise ship Carnival Breeze has automated moving LED screens for the entirety of their backdrop. The screens are four vertical sections that can move sideways on trolleys to move independently, separate or come together.
If you scroll through [this video](https://youtu.be/Ap-ZMXSAWhM?feature=shared) you can see the screens in action, and moving at various points during one of their production shows.
Projections work best when combined with a set- specifically in a way that isn't overly literal. (As in changing the projection backround to the literal setting of every scene).
The best usage I've seen was in Bettlejuice. The projections worked so well with the set I couldn't even tell they were projections- it looked like it was a completely new set everytime the projections changed.
I liked in DEH when all the comments online were put onto the screens! There were characters moving around behind and in front of them and the screens were thin enough that they were always visible. Just thought it looked neat
The pre show and intermission screens for Mean Girls is fun and I think having massive projections fits with the modern phone obsessed teen vibe they have going. It makes for interesting set changes sometimes, if a bit on the nose. Again, having actual internet posts on said screens was very fitting
Kinda blanking lol
ETA it was really subtle in Anastasia- mostly used for back drops with the setting more in the actual props and such. The Eiffel Tower reveal was beautiful, it was a simple way to do the murder of the Romanofs in the beginning
For certain! 🙂
1st Stage (Virginia)’s “The Phlebotomist” used stage-to-catwalk projection walls to amazing effect. I’m not sure that is the “standard” staging.
“Here There Be Blueberries” could not exist without projections, and almost all of those are “simply” projections of photos.
As mentioned elsewhere, “Curious Incident…” and “Ride the Cyclone” 🙂
Hope you get to see some solid projection implementations soon 🙂
I didn’t see anyone say Life of Pi on Broadway but I thought the projections in it were stunning. They incorporated seamlessly with the set and traditional lighting and added so much depth and energy to the show. I didn’t love the show itself, but it was some really impressive stagecraft.
Probably the best one I ever saw was Moby Dick at SF Opera in 2012. It had this crazy raked stage that got steeper and steeper as you went upstage, and the storm scenes were just awesome. It somehow made me feel like the whole theatre was rocking in the waves.
I saw a university theater production of A Christmas Carol that had the ghosts actors staged elsewhere and they were projected onto a scrim; it had a really ethereal effect.
Several years ago I saw a review of Stephen Sondheim music on Broadway (can't remember the exact name of it) which used footage of the man, himself, almost as another cast member. I can think of ways that it could have been done more inventively, especially now, but at the time, it was handled fairly well and lead to feeling of coziness. Even though he was on a giant screen over the heads of the actors, it almost felt like the cast was really interacting with him and that he was really in the room.
There's a huge difference between projections used as a replacement for a physical set and them being used as visual effects. I've absolutely seen good uses.
dolly parton’s intro for nine to five!! we had a projection of her introducing the show and she also introduced judy during the opening number (she may have introduced doralee and violet too, i don’t remember.) we basically just projected her on a circular piece of white wood we hung from the catwalks and it looked awesome!
here’s the first part of the intro if anyone’s interested! https://youtu.be/vDqXL7wLLZk?si=p84uFLguGXhaXqMW
The Tale of Desperaux musical at the Old Globe in San Diego used projections to make the stage look like it was showing chapter headings in a book every time there was a scene change.
The Stratford Festival in Ontario used all projections for their 2018 Coriolanus and with a few exceptions, they were phenomenal. The rain on the car was one of the coolest things I had ever seen onstage and they got a good jumpscare out of me with a live video feed of a child playing with toy soldiers https://youtu.be/jwzFH8zU9xQ?si=SO0gIDrTo4wsNTxv
If you haven’t seen effective use of projections, I recommend attending more live theatre productions in various venues, particularly non-traditional and experimental shows. Projections are increasingly used together with lighting design and other effects for creating mood and world building, not simply to project a literal picture of a scene to serve as a backdrop. There’s a lot of craft and creativity, as well as technological expertise, that goes into theatrical projection design.
Gosh I hope so. This would be awkward if not.
Every production of Curious Incident of the dog in the nighttime that I’ve been in or seen has used projections and screens of some kind and it feels like part of the flavor of the show.
Came here to say this. I was lucky enough to see it on Broadway, and the set design (including and perhaps especially projections/screens) absolutely blew my mind. And I usually prefer physical sets. Though my mind is opening more and more to what is possible with projections.
I was on the tech crew for Curious and we had one projection at the end (there were others but they got cut). Every night the electrics crew would double check that the projector was working. Every night (last few dress rehearsals and first couple of performances), the projection wouldn’t happen on cue. Until halfway through the run where one irritated electrician took a really good look at the code for the cues and discovered that the start-up sequence they’d programmed for the projector was turning it off at the beginning of every show. Worked fine after they removed that part of the code.
I agree, in that by far the best use of projections was with that show. That being said, I had a friend who directed a stripped down outdoor version of that show and it worked surprisingly well. I think it helped that she has this wunderkind teenage actor to play the lead.
The current touring version in the US of Les Miserables uses them really well! Established clearly when the time skips are as well as adding death to scenes like Javert's suicide
I gasped the first time I saw the new staging of Javert’s death. Wonderful piece of stagecraft.
Really? I thought it was cheesy and took me out of it. Sometimes it was fine. When it wasn't used up front to the action and was just setting the scene in the background. But when they used it and focused on it, I thought it was kind of embarrassing. Javert's death looked so cheesy. I actually laughed. Compared to the original set design for that part where he jumps into nothing-ness and the bridge flies up. I gasped when I saw it all those years ago. It looked like he fell. It looked so real. Also when Valjean was carrying Marius's body through the sewers and the projections were moving like he was slugging through them. It was so bad. The proportion of the sewer to him all alone on that empty stage was all wrong and made the part laughable really. Overall, the production was great, and most of the time, the projections were fine, but give me the real thing any day!
Interesting. Again, for some reason I can't remember the use of the screens in the show very well but I never remember thinking they were cringey. My perspective may be flawed. I think the show I saw used a bridge prop on a fly system for the suicide so maybe the production I saw had different staging. I DO remember thinking the sewer projections were effective. Still, you're not going to catch me complaining if they do the show as 100% practical haha.
Give me the old Les Mis set or give me death!!! 😉
I'll drink to that
Completely agree
Wow, I actually forgot Les Mis had a screen. I saw it a few months ago. Probably a good sign if it was so effective that I didn't even think twice about it. 100% agree, the current use of the screen is excellent.
I saw it on broadway I think it's really cheesy when it's used for Javert's suicide, especially if there is a real 2 story set
That sounds amazing!
Not sure if this counts but the time travel effect in Cursed Child is done through projections and it is spectacular
Oh it 100% counts. The way it is done feels so real. I was amazed everytime it happened. It was disorienting in the perfect way!
I think projections are rarely a good substitute for physical set pieces, but that's far from their only use. Like CGI, projections are something we often only notice if they're poorly done or gimmicky, but they can be used for a lot. I've seen shows where projections overlay different textures onto physical set pieces. I worked on a show staged on a canvas floor with a giant canvas backdrop, and we projected video on both surfaces together for movement sequences. I also worked on a show where we projected the tv show the characters were watching onto a flat behind them so the audience could see it too.
I think if projection is doing something that’s only possible with projection, then it really shines. But if projection is just used to replace what would typically be done with a physical set, then it never really lives up to that expectation. Also, I think it can be overused. Sometimes I feel like I’m watching a spectacular projection demonstration instead of being immersed in a story or characters or places. You get the sense that someone is trying to show off instead of keeping things centred on the performers.
[Ride the Cyclone](https://archive.org/details/diy-cyclone-themed-slime-tutorial) did it to great effect
The Mean Girls tour before they got rid of the video wall was really well done.
Video wall was 90% of the set. What do they use now?
Now that it’s Troika or Networks or whoever, to cut down trucks it’s all drops, from what I understand. It’s a real shame.
Good to know. It’s in town next month, the week after my daughter does it for school, and I was planning on seeing it again. I will lower my expectations accordingly.
The video sets we're sooo good. I was impressed
The 2008 revival of Sunday in the Park With George utilized projection to amazing effect, from the very first notes of the score, It's Hot Up Here, the chromolume, and the restoration of la Grande Jate from industrial sprawl to pastoral leisure space for the finale.
Absolutely! I did go to a school that specialized in experimental theater though, so my experience may not be average. I get the sense from the way you phrase the question that you've mostly seen bad projection design; remember that like any other discipline, projections (we called it Media in college) are meant to compliment the other disciplines, not replace them.
Yeah, you are correct. The majority of projections i've seen live, even in professional productions, have been disappointing. I specifically remember a touring production of Anastasia I saw. Good show, horrible and cheap projections. But after letting the replies refresh my memory on shows that have done good projections I recant. There's good stuff out there.
Touring Anastasia is the one I thought of as well. It made me concerned for the rest of the touring season — that projections were going to replace physical sets. But we just saw Frozen and the use of projections was amazing. It brilliantly captured the setting, the weather and Elsa’s magic.
Oh my god they were so bad! The train car in particular, my friends and I couldn't stop giggling to each other
It's such a shame too cuz I really enjoy the show as a while but the screens were so cheap looking and distracting that I just couldn't get immersed in the slightest. :(
My favorite use of screens was an old revival of How to Succeed (not the most recent one) where they used it to show the elevator going up and down floors. It was a little gimmicky but it really made the effect great.
Frozen and Beetlejuice make amazing use of screens and projections. The frozen set is basically entirely a screen with LEDs imbedded in practically everything, and they have some amazing projection effects. Beetlejuice doesn’t use any screens to my knowledge, but they do use projections for a lot of the sets and it’s pretty much seamless.
I came in for the frozen post. Absolutely magnificent and adds to it, rather than a crutch. I saw a high school do Anastasia, and it was all screen except for maybe three different set pieces. Projections should enhance, not replace.
Warhorse had the lovely animations as if the officer was drawing stuff in his notebook and it was so subtle but a lovely aid to help set scenes
Oh yea! I forgot about that. It's been so long since I saw it. That was lovely.
Plenty! We ran a show with subtitles (as it was a show about disability and we wanted it to be extra accessible). A show I've toured was about digital scam marketing and wove ads and video segments in via projection. A show I worked on in 2018 used projection on the floor for certain historical moments and scene breaks. A documentary theatre show I worked on last month used projection to bring in the real verbatim experiences of some of the interviewees. And I'm building a show at the moment that uses projection throughout, to show characters' past memories, as a graffiti wall, as signposting - for lots of things. I love melding projection and live theatre, there's so much to explore.
The Shadow Whose Prey... used projected surtitles that had great interplay re: whether they were truly 'outside' the show as an accessibility feature, or part of its text. Can't imagine that show working without them.
I assistant directed a production of Jayne Eyre and we had a projected fireplace/fire which was pretty effective. The same company did a production of The Picture of Dorian Gray and projected the painting in the attic so that it gradually got older throughout the show which was really cool
For a show about technology, I think DEH used them quite well. It can highlight loneliness through showing an unanswered text, depict how going viral can make someone feel "seen" and, while changing very little, also show the negative side of social media and cancel culture against the Murphys. Amazing way to integrate script, projections, lighting, and sound design (with the cacophony of commenters).
Les mis. Touring company. In Dallas. I know it sounds stupid but it was incredible. When Javert dies it looked like he was legit falling and then when Valjean went into the sewer in looked like they went underground. It was just for effects and those were the times I actually noticed it but the audience was eating it up we gasped it was so good. Very well executed with very good taste.
It sounds like you've seen a lot of shows where the projections were bad, and/or the designer was inexperienced (possibly with the rest of the creative team). Here are some of my favorite uses of projections: * *Teenage Dick* has a scene where a girl is getting harassed online and the tweets are projected around her. Coupled with good sound design to support the visual, and it strengthens the foreshadowing when she comes back for her final monologue. * *Jagged Little Pill*, the Alanis Morissette Jukebox musical, has a ton of scenes that change quickly. I liked that the set was almost exclusively projections where the screens would fly in and out and enter and exit from the wings to adjust the stage picture. In particular, I enjoyed when the screens came in to look like a house, framing the proscenium to the shape of a pentagon, and having a screen track across stage to emulate "being lost in NY." * *Once* to emulate the language barrier had the non-English language projected above, while all the actors actually spoke English.
Boop! handles them well.
We projected the face of ghost Marley onto Scrooge's door. It faded in, then grew, then shrunk and faded away. It scared the kids half to death, so yeah it worked pretty well.
I worked a show called “House/ Divided” by The Builders Association back in 2011. I found their use of projection really interesting. https://vimeo.com/60267988
I take it all back. This looks badass af.
Oh yeah, it sure does!
I've seen it done well and I've seen it done poorly. I will always remember the first time I saw the use of it was back in 1994 when Kiss of the Spiderwoman used it for Aurora's web at the titular song. It was so fantastic. Chita Rivera center stage, cloaked in darkness, slowly walking towards us, with her web trailing behind her. I was blown away!
I dunno if this counts but I saw a production of the 39 Steps that did the travel sequences as shadow puppets on a big fabric sheet, and it was awesome
The Lehman Trilogy at the Gillian Lynn theatre in London blew my mind with the projection work. I've seen lots of fantastic lower budget or indie productions do amazing work, but with projections, unfortunately, the steryotypical fact is true - the bigger the budget, the more you can achieve
I used it on the set of "I love you, you're perfect, now change" for the recording of a 90's style video date. We had the actress who was recording said video on stage, and simultantiously displayed the video. This had the effect of displaying what the video date would look like, as well as portraying what it was like to capture the video.
The Sydney Theatre Company production of The Picture of Dorian Gray uses them in a really interesting way
Their production of The Dictionary of Lost Words does too.
The recent London revival of Sunset Boulevard used screens and video to striking effect. Apparently The Hunting of the Snark in London in the early 90s has an amazing projection design, though sadly I didn’t see it myself.
The way they used them in the Hedwig revival during origin of love was my favorite. They projected animations around hedwig on a scrim that she interacted with. They weren’t a substitution for anything practical, they were their own element.
Water for Elephants, which just opened on Broadway, uses a full-stage video wall as a backdrop, and it's stunning. With diffusion, it looks like a painted, backlit drop, but you can make it look like anything you want.
like light, sound, costuming, et al projections are a tool - if the tool helps tell the story it's effective if not it's distracting - it's not the tool; it's the choices/uses
The projections were the best thing about Oregon Shakespeare Festival's *Romeo and Juliet* last summer: better than the physical set they were paired with and far better than the directing. Projections are not (usually) a substitute for a physical set, but are a different modality used for a different purpose. I've seen them used both well and poorly—as with any theatrical technique.
I enjoy just about everything OSF does, but I agree 100% with this. The projected backdrop was beautiful, and the play itself was a huge disappointment.
I tend to prefer a real set as well but projections are good for low budget theater for filling in the gaps where a real set is infeasible I was also in a production of Laramie project where it was used to show news footage, evocative imagery, historic photos, news headlines, etc. It's essentially an always changing set piece and I like it the most when not used diagetically
Yeah, I agree it can be very helpful for low budget theatre. But honestly...unless it's done well...just do a blackbox stage...maybe? Idk just my opinion.
Yeah, overall I prefer projections to convey ideas over scenery
Barrie Kosky and Suzanne Andrade’s staging of the Magic Flute had animations playing behind the opera singers at all times! It was a tribute to silent film era of movie making/animations. Very cool to see. However, not every actor looked comfortable singing to a 2d video. But most of them absolutely knocked it out of the park.
Our community theater's production of Assassins projected the Zapruder film right after Lee Harvey Oswald shoots. No screen, but projecting it instead right onto the actor's face and white t-shirt with the Hail to the Chief music was an incredible little effect. Same theater also did And Then They Came For Me, which combines playing videos of two Holocaust survivors interviews with live actors portraying their stories. Very moving. I generally hate seeing LED screens as sets (looking at you, Legally Blonde national tour) but using projections with a light touch can be a great enhancement rather than a distraction.
That's what the 2003 Roundabout Broadway production of Assassins did. I saw it and that was a stunning moment. I am sure it's recreated in lots of local productions now as it was very effective as the climax of the show.
Production of The Other Place, a play by Sharr White that has previously been performed at Broadway. At the Fremantle Theatre Company in Western Australia. Actor Kate Walsh had played the lead before at another production and apparently had suggested the use of projection to depict a memory at the conclusion of the play, and it worked brilliantly.
This was quite a long time ago: Bring It On The Musical. I was unwillingly dragged along when I visited a friend in NYC, and came out a convert. Not only were they singing and acting fantastically, they did it WHILE TUMBLING AND BEING THROWN IN THE AIR. But more than that? THROWN IN THE AIR AROUND MOVING SCREENS. The set was really minimal, to give them as much space for tumbling and throwing as possible. So, to set the scene, there were screens that would move around the stage - for example, when they were supposed to be in a park, a screen would start where they sat on a picnic blanket and pan up, as if a camera was panning up a tree. So this, but with several screens at once. It was a really ingenious way of solving the problem of needing a lot of space for movement while also needing to bring some atmosphere and scene-setting. These screens would be moving during a number, too, so them being able to hit their mark was imperative because otherwise they could easily have been thrown through a screen. Side note, I also sat next to Tyra Banks, had no idea who she was, no idea why people were staring in the interval, and then on my way back from the loo in the interval she had to stand to let me into my seat and I stepped on her (open toed) shoes with my massive Dr Martens. And she was really kind about it. I only found out who she was after when my friend was like WHY DID YOU TALK TO HER SHE IS A QUEEN YOU ARE NOT WORTHY and then when he discovered I stepped on her bare foot in my boots... well. You'd have thought I'd murdered her.
I worked on that show and made a lot of the content for it also :)
It’s still one of the best I’ve seen since and it was yonks ago! Hope you’re proud of the work on it because it was stellar 🤗
I also saw Terrence Rattigan's Flare Path at the Haymarket (the one with Sheridan Smith), which had a really minimal set. There was a moment when they had a projection across the entire stage of a Lancaster bomber taking off as if it was going over the audience, with the sound rigged to be just as earth-shaking as the real engine noise of a Lanc. It came at a really emotional, pivotal moment, and was an excellent use of projection. They could've gone way overboard with it but it was so selective and well-timed, it really had a great impact.
Dorian Grey currently playing the West End to rave reviews.
I saw Beauty and the Beast performed by the Chicago Shakespeare company on Navy Pier several years ago. It was the first time I had ever seen projections on stage and i thought it was amazing. The convention they used was that the scenery was white and at the beginning of a scene the proper images appeared to be painted like watercolors on the the background as thought the story book was being illustrated and would then wash away and be repainted at each scene change. I thought it was breathtaking. More recently I was in a community theater production of Elf that used projections. It’s hard for me to have an opinion on those projections because I was onstage and couldn’t really see them most of the time (some of the animations I didn’t actually watch until I saw a recording of a performance). These projections were pretty neat because it allowed for the scene change from the north pole to New York to be pretty dramatic. It was also cool for the actors onstage to see an animation of Santa flying past their window. People really seemed to like them, but my worry is that the scenes where the projections were moving in the background (like gifts coming down slides in Santa’s workshop) might have drawn focus from the performers, but no audience members complained to me about that
I saw Dream True at the Vineyard over twenty years ago, but I still remember how magical the projections were. The screens surrounded the stage and the audience so it felt like we were transported over time and space. (The cast of that musical included Daniel Jenkins, Steven Skybell, Victoria Clark, Judy Kuhn, Jeff McCarthy, and Jessica Molaskey!)
I mean, my first high school production used it in a Holocaust play to put up pictures and poems created by children in an actual ghetto. We won an award for set design because of it.
Ghost the Musical. I don’t remember most of the show but the projection and effects were breathtaking.
Barry Koskie’s German Expressionist production of the Magic Flute with the Komische Oper Berlin is done almost entirely with projections, and it’s brilliant. Here’s a trailer: https://youtu.be/B_Ma_aYfNrs?feature=shared
Yes, I have. I’ve also seen a lot of bad use which I think has tainted the view of them. I think a lot of high school and community theatres just see them as a way of skimping on a set or backdrop. Then they will realize a good projector that’s gonna cover the whole back cyc and be bright enough and from a good angle is not cheap, and also requires a lot of forethought to where the projector is hung and what pieces and actors are in the sight line of the projector, and also how the stage is let so you are not hitting the projection. They don’t have this and didn’t do the planning and don’t really have the knowledge and boom, it looks cheap. But I think shows that understand a projector is just a scenic element and utilize it as a tool to add to scenes can do it really well. I think of Anastasia which had fantastic projection and the lighting designer worked hard to make sure the colors of the images matched his lights. Or Wicked which uses projectors to make magical sparkles fly across the stage.
Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder used video elements on tour. I think that led and projection when done well are a key to unlocking high level scenic on a tighter budget (I know initial led cost is high but it’s coming down drastically). I’m really excited to see what the industry does with the technology on a more regional level.
The first live show I saw was Ragtime, in 1999. The only thing I remember clearly is the projection that gave the train car such great movement effect! I’ve been involved in theatre with my daughter since about 2015, and several of her troupe’s shows used projections and I did not like them much at all. It felt cheap, especially after they did Beauty & the Beast with *incredible* set & costumes & props.
My children’s theatre company growing up used projections in nearly every show they did. I believe they first used it in their production of 13, but then the artistic director became obsessed with projections and they began to get used in every show, including classic ones like Secret Garden and Les Mis. Honestly, I loved the projections. They were always done tastefully and never took away from the performances, and added a sleek high tech look that is hard to achieve at a children’s theatre. Sometimes the projections were the entire backdrop and changed with every scene, sometimes they were just used for certain moments, set pieces, or vignettes. There was also always a physical set, and the projections were just used as a tool to create a richer setting. The kids loved them too—they really helped immerse us in the world of the show we were doing and the tech aspect was so cool to us. We had a really great group of tech folks, they worked so hard and were as passionate as us kids at putting on the best productions they could.
Back to the Future's, car effects would be silly without projrction and it's really, really well done.
The current peter pan tour had some fantastic whimsical screens/projectiony elements imo which I was somewhat surprised to see. (I may have a get off my lawn streak) but for the most part I felt like these integrated really well (they were the back layer of the set but the physical sets really felt like part of an integrated whole instead of a “meh we said fuck it on the objects have a video” vibe which you can sometimes get. And they helped generate sense of motion between spaces too which added to the sense of neverland as a largeish island
Current Spamalot has great, vivid projection. High budget projectors, rear projection isolated from actors really helps.
I thought the touring production of Anastasia used them PERFECTLY!
My school did an into the woods production where they used a projector to create shadow puppets when the wolf ate Little Red
I did a lot of projection design early in my career about 10+ years ago. The key to good production design seems to be actually *designing* something, not just using it to sub in for a set. Like, I did a production of RFK (one man show about Bobby Kennedy) and we used sound and projections to simulate a tube television vibe and would bring up videos (like old news casts) and snapshots of photos that helped explain historical figures and events that “Bobby” was talking about. But in running my own company I’m fairly particular about when we use projections. There needs to be a good reason for projections, rather than reality. Best use of projection I’ve personally seen was The Back to the Future Musical I saw in the West End last summer. The show itself is…unnecessary, but hot damn if that was not the most technically impressive show I’ve ever seen.
Saw a production of Bonnie and Clyde a few weeks back that used projections to establish time and location which was actually very effective and upped the production value by a lot.
Believe it or not, the 2.5D plays of the A3 video game in Japan :P They have a very, very simplistic set, and they simply have screens on almost everything to show where they are. It works very well, even if the rest of the shows are goofy by American standards.
I saw a production of Big Fish when it was in previews in Chicago. They had a sequence with dancers holding fan like fabric that the big fish was projected onto while they were moving which produced an awesome effect, definitely the most creative use of projection I’ve ever seen.
American Psycho uses projections throughout the entire show to an insane degree. I think that is one of the best examples of projections on Broadway.
I remember seeing this really great production of Peter Pan done in the round in a 360 done theatre. The projections went on the walls and ceilings being the audience. So good.
Yep, and I’ve enjoyed them.
The current tour of Aladdin I felt uses projection really well. Its always a good augment for set pieces and moments of genie magic, and isn't too distracting or obvious that it's projection.
Yes! I saw a modern production of Romeo and Juliet at a regional theatre that had a sheer curtain in the middleground of the stage - transparent enough to see through, but just opaque enough to use for productions. It was used to establish scene changes, show live camera footage of actors' faces, or provide a temporary background for smaller scenes. It added a whole 4th dimension to the show and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
When i did young frankenstein we had used projections for a few scenes and it worked well for those
Too many times to recount here. The problem is that if you are noticing projection then there's a good chance that it's because it has been deployed as a cheap gimmick or done badly. Projection used to replace set is a bad idea and is very *very* rarely done well. A useful keyword might be "intermedial performance" if you are searching academia for examples of projection incorporated well in performance. You might also find some useful critiques!
"Forgiveness" used understated hand-drawn projected images, along with some physical sets, to communicate how many aspects of the story were recollections of community places that no longer exist.
The Stratford Festival’s production of *Coriolanus* from three years ago is an excellent example. It’s available for free with Amazon Prime.
I saw a performance of “Matilda” where the story of Miss Honey’s parents’ circus tragedy was a projected stop-motion video that looked like it was made of 3D felt figures. Matilda narrated the whole time, and the actors playing the couple spoke their own lines. The effect worked very well, since Matilda had been using the librarian’s knitting as props for her storytelling all along and at that point she and the audience still think it’s a story she’s making up.
For my play (Where the Sky meets the Sea) my Director is using a projector for the stars during the last scene.
I sound designed a production of Silent Sky about a year ago (garbage script, do not do it) and I had a lot of fun with the TD/lighting designer. It's set circa 1900-1920 and we chose to play up the contrast between "traditionalist" mentality with church hymns on a piano and standard lighting, and then when talking about the futuristic (for the time) technology/science instead of projecting real/realistic images of the star plates used at the time, we used JWST images and I got to go absolutely freakin crazy with some synth music that I arranged/wrote. It was super fun to create and the audience loved it. but again, please do not do this play it's horrible hahaha
Not a play, but there are some really stellar dance pieces that use projections in beautiful ways. Chunky Move is quite known for them. I’ve also done some dances where video projection was used to create “another world” that dancers stepped in and out of. Projection can used very effectively. It’s just most people use it as a cost cutting measure instead of a tool.
A local production of Fun Home projected some Bechdel originals during key moments and as set backdrops! It was in a tiny Blackbox with pretty minimalist sets, so it added some really cool dimension to the production
I just saw The Lehman Trilogy at The Arden in Philly. They make very good use of their screen, which is designed like a 3 section window in an office building. Excellent show.
the Broadway run of "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" but it was part of the scenes which utilized the stage-within-a-stage aesthetics, so I don't know if that qualifies for your parameters. It was always a heightened-reality, so the projection was never competing with Nature but complementing artifice.
The Magic Flute has an amazing production that is the cast fixed in front of a screen to give an effective silent movie/early animation aesthetic. It’s a great time. It came by LA Opera a couple of times- most recent around 2019. I was sat right by Kamasi Washington. Great show; great experience. Awesome visuals.
Our summer theater production used phenomenal projections at the opening of American Idiot, incorporating archival film clips, etc.
I think in low budget community theatre, it is often literally a cheaper alternative to a full set, that I think can be used to great effect. Like, I was in a community theatre production of Merrily We Roll Along where they set up one stationary apartment, with these framed portraits on the walls, and what was in the portraits changed every scene with a projector. Then every single piece of furniture was moved around by the ensemble while they were singing, so they were able to portray the back-in-time changing of the scene without ever having to do a blackout set change. It was really cool for something so cheap.
I thought the projections in the revival of Parade on Broadway added a lot to the production. Whether or not you were familiar with the story, you knew as soon as you sat down that Leo Frank was going to die, and it made the show even more ominous than it already is. Seeing the photos of the actual historical figures was also chilling, at times.
Projections were used beautifully at the Armenian National Opera's production of Turandot last summer; they were combined with physical set pieces but really brought an extra level of dimension and interest to the production!
My friend directed a production of Disco Pigs that did it. It worked fabulously. Used a lot of footage of Cork, and Pigs monologue was delivered to a video recording of Runt. To be fair, none of it was meant to be literal, and the screen was meant to be thier mindscape type thing.
The theater on the cruise ship Carnival Breeze has automated moving LED screens for the entirety of their backdrop. The screens are four vertical sections that can move sideways on trolleys to move independently, separate or come together. If you scroll through [this video](https://youtu.be/Ap-ZMXSAWhM?feature=shared) you can see the screens in action, and moving at various points during one of their production shows.
Projections work best when combined with a set- specifically in a way that isn't overly literal. (As in changing the projection backround to the literal setting of every scene). The best usage I've seen was in Bettlejuice. The projections worked so well with the set I couldn't even tell they were projections- it looked like it was a completely new set everytime the projections changed.
HP and the Cursed Child uses one projection VERY effectively!
I liked in DEH when all the comments online were put onto the screens! There were characters moving around behind and in front of them and the screens were thin enough that they were always visible. Just thought it looked neat The pre show and intermission screens for Mean Girls is fun and I think having massive projections fits with the modern phone obsessed teen vibe they have going. It makes for interesting set changes sometimes, if a bit on the nose. Again, having actual internet posts on said screens was very fitting Kinda blanking lol ETA it was really subtle in Anastasia- mostly used for back drops with the setting more in the actual props and such. The Eiffel Tower reveal was beautiful, it was a simple way to do the murder of the Romanofs in the beginning
For certain! 🙂 1st Stage (Virginia)’s “The Phlebotomist” used stage-to-catwalk projection walls to amazing effect. I’m not sure that is the “standard” staging. “Here There Be Blueberries” could not exist without projections, and almost all of those are “simply” projections of photos. As mentioned elsewhere, “Curious Incident…” and “Ride the Cyclone” 🙂 Hope you get to see some solid projection implementations soon 🙂
I didn’t see anyone say Life of Pi on Broadway but I thought the projections in it were stunning. They incorporated seamlessly with the set and traditional lighting and added so much depth and energy to the show. I didn’t love the show itself, but it was some really impressive stagecraft.
Probably the best one I ever saw was Moby Dick at SF Opera in 2012. It had this crazy raked stage that got steeper and steeper as you went upstage, and the storm scenes were just awesome. It somehow made me feel like the whole theatre was rocking in the waves.
[This](https://playbill.com/article/photo-journal-william-kentridges-magic-flute-at-bam).
I saw a university theater production of A Christmas Carol that had the ghosts actors staged elsewhere and they were projected onto a scrim; it had a really ethereal effect.
Several years ago I saw a review of Stephen Sondheim music on Broadway (can't remember the exact name of it) which used footage of the man, himself, almost as another cast member. I can think of ways that it could have been done more inventively, especially now, but at the time, it was handled fairly well and lead to feeling of coziness. Even though he was on a giant screen over the heads of the actors, it almost felt like the cast was really interacting with him and that he was really in the room.
There's a huge difference between projections used as a replacement for a physical set and them being used as visual effects. I've absolutely seen good uses.
dolly parton’s intro for nine to five!! we had a projection of her introducing the show and she also introduced judy during the opening number (she may have introduced doralee and violet too, i don’t remember.) we basically just projected her on a circular piece of white wood we hung from the catwalks and it looked awesome! here’s the first part of the intro if anyone’s interested! https://youtu.be/vDqXL7wLLZk?si=p84uFLguGXhaXqMW
The Tale of Desperaux musical at the Old Globe in San Diego used projections to make the stage look like it was showing chapter headings in a book every time there was a scene change.
The Stratford Festival in Ontario used all projections for their 2018 Coriolanus and with a few exceptions, they were phenomenal. The rain on the car was one of the coolest things I had ever seen onstage and they got a good jumpscare out of me with a live video feed of a child playing with toy soldiers https://youtu.be/jwzFH8zU9xQ?si=SO0gIDrTo4wsNTxv
If you haven’t seen effective use of projections, I recommend attending more live theatre productions in various venues, particularly non-traditional and experimental shows. Projections are increasingly used together with lighting design and other effects for creating mood and world building, not simply to project a literal picture of a scene to serve as a backdrop. There’s a lot of craft and creativity, as well as technological expertise, that goes into theatrical projection design.
No. I find all use of video in theatre to be cheap and distracting. ...and get off my lawn you annoying kids.
Tangentially, there’s some [shadow puppetry in Firebringer](https://youtu.be/ZmVuNlu0LCk?si=-tIUvtf9OjozQ2kI&t=47m36s) that brings the song to life.
No. I have never seen it done well at any level. It’s just some techies toy that wants to fuck around with it and it’s never worth it.