On The Town

Photo

by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green

Lyric Theatre

John Rando, Director, Joshua Bergasse, Choreographer

Costumes by Jess Goldstein, Lighting by Jason Lyons, Sound by Kai Harada

Set & Projections

2014

2015 Henry Hewes Award Nomination

NewYork, New York: Jay Armstrong Johnson, Tony Yazbeck and Clyde Alves

Subway: Tony Yazbeck, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Clyde Alves and Company

Gabey's Comin': Jay Armstrong Johnson, Tony Yazbeck and Clyde Alves

Come Up To My Place: Jay Armstrong Johnson and Alysha Umphress

Rehearsal video of taxi projection sequence: http://youtu.be/qNpTG_F2-bo

Museum Of Natural History: Elizabeth Stanley and Clyde Alves

Carried Away: Clyde Alves and Company

Lonely Town: Tony Yazbeck

Carnegie Hall: Tony Yazbeck and Megan Fairchild

Do Do Re Do: Megan Fairchild and Lori Ann Ferrari

Claire's Apartment: Clyde Alves and Elizabeth Stanley

I Can Cook Too: Alysha Umphress and Jay Armstrong Johnson

Lucky To Be Me: Tony Yazbeck, Chip Abbott, Tanya Birl, Angela Brydon, Holly Ann Butler, Julius Carter, Kristine Covillo, Lori Ann Ferrari, Paloma Garcia Lee, Stephen Hanna, Eloise Kropp, Brandon Leffler, Jess Leproto, Cory Ligner, Skye Mattox, Michael Rosen, Samantha Strum, Christoher Vo, Cody Williams, Mikey Winslow and Stephn DeRosa.

Times Square Ballet: Clyde Alves, Tony Yazbeck, Jay Armstrong Johnson and Company.

Imaginary Coney Island: Tony Yazbeck and Company

Imaginary Coney Island: Megan Fairchild, Tony Yazbeck and Christopher Vo

Imaginary Coney Island: Megan Fairchild and Tony Yazbeck

Some Other Time: Alysha Umphress, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Elizabeth Stanley and Clyde Alves

Coney Island: Megan Fairchild, Phillip Boykin and Company

Finale: Alysha Umphress, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Tony Yazbeck, Megan Fairchild, Clyde Alves and Elizabeth Stanley.


"Designed in a spectrum of jelly-bean hues that makes vintage Technicolor look pallid, this is a parallel-universe New York in which hectic urban life acquires the pace and grace of a storybook ballet. It’s a bustling, jostling cartoon that also floats like a swan. Beowulf Boritt’s simple sliding sets, Jess Goldstein’s costumes and Jason Lyons’s lighting evoke the city as a super candy store in which all manner of sweets are on offer." -Ben Brantley, New York Times

" “Lonely Town,” staged with gorgeous minimalism on a bare Battery Park set as the Staten Island Ferry disappears into a pastel blue sky and the Statue of Liberty’s torch twinkles among low-hanging clouds... moments of visual simplicity like this one can be breathtaking. Rando and Boritt have done particularly inspired work staging “Come Up to My Place,” in which Hildy gives Chip a high-speed tour of Manhattan before showing him the real sights. The frantic sequence makes terrific use of projections in an otherwise low-tech design." -David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

"Gabey, Chip and Ozzie come bounding down the gangplank of their ship (highly stylized, as are all of Beowulf Boritt’s vividly hued sets) and break into a rousing version of “New York, New York.” The three sailors split up and head for the city’s iconic destination settings, all displayed with wit by Boritt." -Marilyn Stasio, Variety

"Beowulf Boritt has designed a shiny skyline set that’s even more spectacular than the one at Barrington Stage last year. It brings to entrancing life the half-imagined city of neon dreams that is the New York of “On the Town.” -Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal

" Beowulf Boritt's sets and projections are big and colorful without being overwhelming or cluttered. His interiors have a fun, off-kilter perspective, his museum interior is inspired and the delightful come-hither number "Come Up to My Place" is superbly done with just a car seat, projected cartoon streets and two hysterical, physical actors in Umphress and Johnson." -Mark Kennedy, AP

"lavish and clever visuals" -Mark Kennedy, AP, Best of 2014 year end roundup

"Beowulf Boritt's playful, imaginative scenic and projection design and Jason Lyons' vivid lighting deserve mention as well. The New York they create is mythical and old-fashioned but, like the flawed, yearning characters who sometimes wander among us, strangely familiar and accessible." -Elysa Gardner, USA Today

"Sets and projections by Beowulf Boritt and costumes by Jess Goldstein color the stage with a modern elegance that perfectly matches the tone of the production." -David Quinn, NBC 4NY

"Beowulf Boritt's set and projection designs are sparse yet expansive; they tantalize with the visual suggestion that the vast stage is always about to be filled with dancers, great dancers." -Robert Hofler, The Wrap

"Set designer Beowulf Boritt’s projections conjure the forbidding, comic-book canyons of New York both above and below ground." -Brendon Lemon, Financial Times

"Designers Beowulf Boritt, Jess Goldstein and Jason Lyons have turned the classic musical into a 1940's Warner Brothers style live-action animated feast, featuring a metropolis rendered in inky dark blue hues accented with blasts of bright colors." -Michael Dale Broadway World

"A youthful cast singing and dancing through set designer Beowulf Boritt’s Technicolor New York." -Adam Green, Vanity Fair

"scenic director Beowulf Boritt, and costume designer Jess Goldstein put on a spectacle like you've never seen." -Danny Groner, Huffington Post

"When he stands still against scenic designer Beowulf Boritt’s beautiful harbor-front set and sings “Lonely Town,” the result is stirring and truthful." -Lou Harry, Indiana Business Journal

" Beowulf Borritt provides a terrific set which immensely aids the comic book feel of the narrative and adds colour and an effective, ever changing kaleidoscope of locations." -Stephen Collins, British Theatre.com