Tony-Award winning scenic designer Derek McLane has designed more than 40 Broadway shows and currently has three shows running at the same time: Almost Famous, MJ The Musical and Moulin Rouge, for which he won the Tony for Best Scenic Design Of A Musical.
His new book, Designing Broadway, How Derek McLane and Other Acclaimed Set Designers Create the Visual World of Theatre, co-authored with Eila Mell, was published on November 22, 2022. Together with other leading set design and theatre talents, McLane invites readers into the immersive and exhilarating experience of building the striking visual worlds that have brought so many of our favorite stories to life. Discover how designers generate innovative ideas, research period and place, solve staging challenges, and collaborate with directors, projectionists, costume designers, and other artists to capture the essence of a show in powerful scenic design.
Live Design chats with the authors of this handsome book, which would make a perfect gift for anyone interested in the theatre and theatrical design.
Live Design: Why did you decide to create such a book?
Eila Mell: One of the most exciting things about going to a show is that moment when you walk into the theater and see the set. It immediately gives you a hint as to what’s to come during the course of the evening. The audience has a unique relationship with the first set because we sit there looking at it for a half hour or so before the show even starts. I wanted to explore what went into the creation and the ideas behind the design. I knew that Derek was the right partner for this book, as his sets are all so different and exciting. It was his idea to include other designers as well.
LD: How did you pick which productions and designers to include?
EM: We decided which of Derek’s sets we wanted to feature and then chose shows that answered similar questions. For example, we explored Derek’s use of color in How To Succeed… and then talked to David Rockwell about his use of color in Hairspray. We are so proud to have about 70 interview subjects or contributors in this book. Many of our contributors are set designers, but we also feature costume and lighting designers as well as producers, directors, playwrights and actors.
LD: What do you want the readers to take away from the book?
EM: I hope that the readers get a sense of what goes into the collaborative process of design. Design is not about looking pretty,; it is a part of the storytelling. The book is not written exclusively for design students! It is for any fan of theatre.
LD: What makes a production "iconic"?
Derek McLane: An iconic design is one that is so strong and so right that it is inextricably linked to your memory of a show. Not all good designs are iconic—they don’t need to be. Robin Wagner’s design for A Chorus Line is one of those; Boris Aronson’s set for Follies is the same, Ming Cho Lee’s design for K2, John Napier’s set for Starlight Express. When we think of those shows, we conjure those designs.
LD: How does the set define the tone of the production?
DM: The set design defines the tone is so many ways—the mood it makes you feel, or the memories a space, or it’s details evoke. Perhaps it reminds you a place you’ve been? A set design can also define the ‘rules’ or logic of a production. For example, in the design for Come From Away, the use of plain wooden chairs to create an airplane at the beginning of the show immediately establishes the visual vocabulary for that show. Or John Lee Beatty’s set for the recent Plaza Suite established the realism of that hotel suite, the layout of the rooms and the logic of who was where at any moment.
LD: How did you collaborate, what is the process?
DM: Set designers collaborate with a lot of different people, starting with the director. At the core of that process is coming to a shared vision of the story. As a set designer, the collaboration starts with conversations, but quickly moves to sketches and models—an opportunity for a director and possibly other designers and producers, to suggest new ideas, revisions, requests. For me, this is the part of the process that is most exciting, brain storming a way to stage the play.
LD: Who curated the photos for the book; who worked with a graphic designer on the handsome layout...
EM: We worked together to choose all the photos in the book. Many were taken by Monique Carboni, who was a huge help. We also worked together with our book designer Alex Camlin, who needed very few notes on his beautiful layout.
Publisher: Running Press Adult (November 22, 2022)
Language: English
Hardcover: 272 pages
ISBN-10: 076248036X
ISBN-13: 978-0762480364
Item Weight: 3.75 pounds
Dimensions: 9.45 x 1.15 x 11.35 inches