It
was exciting to be part of this musical by Cincinnati artists
Janet Vogt and Mark Friedman. Whle the work had been given numerous
staged readings, it had never been fully staged. We were the
first to give it full treatment. Janet and Mark gave us quite
a design challenge as they structured their musical very closely
to the novel from which it was taken. This meant it was very
episodic and spanned several years of time. Janet's lovely score
was nearly seamless, and asked that one scene flow into the
next as fully, quickly and elegantly as possible.
In terms
of approach, Janet and Mark stressed to our team the importance
of simplicity. They had never envisioned this as a spectacle-driven
piece. The audience was meant to share in the memory and imagination
of Anne as she initially invites the audience to "Come
away to Avonlea." The director suggested that she wanted
a pretty sizeable cast and would also love levels. We all agreed
that the production might not need more than levels and a collection
of folding chairs, but the realities of production began suggesting
other needs. Anne needed a bed, Marilla needed to keep busy
in the kitchen, and in one of the few dance numbers ("Puffy
Sleeves"), the chorus needed to dance with objects found
in the General Store!
The design,
then, divided the stage into diffeent levels which, with light
shifts, could represent different locations. We returned often
to the Cuthbert house, so we suggested it with a small kitchen
area and a small bedroom area for Anne.Furniture travelled on
slipstages, and Anne's bedroom window flew in, all elegantly
timed with the music. I made use of flown scrim panels to create
"flashbacks" that were part of both Anne's and Marilla's
memories. The image of Green Gables itself, used as the show
curtain and as the exterior of the house, was also painted on
scrim, allowing Anne to appear behind it in the opening moments
of the play.
© 2003
by Gion DeFrancesco
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