Renowned designer Lloyd Burlingame has released his new memoir, Sets, Lights, and Lunacy: A Stage Designer’s Adventures on Broadway and in Opera (Design Adventures, ISBN: 9781489587527, Full color illustrations, available in print and ebook editions).
Sets, Lights, and Lunacy is the story of Burlingame, recipient of the prestigious Robert L.B. Tobin Award for sustained excellence in theatrical design; designer for more than 40 Broadway shows who worked extensively off Broadway, in opera and regional theatre; and head of the Department of Design for New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts from 1971 until 1997.
Sets, Lights, and Lunacy focuses on The Great White Way of the '60s and '70s, delivering a unique and humorous perspective on the history of the theatre, including the heyday of prolific producer David Merrick, collaborations with such well-known directors as Franco Zeffirelli, George Abbott, Peter Brook, George Roy Hill, and Peter Hall. Burlingame also touches upon opera and designing new productions for such divas as Beverly Sills, Martina Arroya, Joan Sutherland, and Leontyne Price.
Much more than a memoir, Sets, Lights, and Lunacy is Lloyd Burlingame’s love letter to the stage, as Stuart Vaughan states in the book’s introduction, “behind the keen humor and sharp observation lie [Burlingame’s] prescriptions for preserving sanity and joy throughout a life in the theatre. See his designs and read his stories for fun—and for how to keep your head when all about you are losing theirs.”
A native of Washington, D.C., Burlingame has lived in Manhattan for more than 50 years. He is also the author of Two Seeing Eye Dogs Take Manhattan. Visit Sets, Lights, and Lunacy: A Stage Designer’s Adventures on Broadway and in Opera.