Existing comment:
Transporting the Audience:
The Library of Congress is widely acknowledged to be the single greatest repository for documentation on the American musical stage. It houses the archives of the vast majority of American composers and librettists, as well as many directors and stage personalities who are central to the history of American musical theater. Recently, these holdings have come to include the work of many leading set and costume designers, whose art provides a framework within which to explore the relation between the visual elements and the production as a whole.
The best of theatrical design takes audiences out of their time and place and magically sets them in an entirely different world. The variety of designs on display attests to the ability of stagecraft to capture our attention and then bring us along on a journey -- whether to Edwardian London or pre-World War II Berlin or mid-nineteenth-century Japan or dazzling twentieth-century Broadway. |