The Medusa Fora

Hey, does anyone know what the background used for the live show is? i dont know if theyve always used it but i saw it in NYC on the 16th and was just curious

mflanagan wrote:Hey, does anyone know what the background used for the live show is? i dont know if theyve always used it but i saw it in NYC on the 16th and was just curious

It's a painting by Andrew Ranken dated 09-07.

In fact on stage right, behind where the piano sits, it's signed "AR0907". Funny the things you sometimes notice during a show.

DzM wrote:

mflanagan wrote:Hey, does anyone know what the background used for the live show is? i dont know if theyve always used it but i saw it in NYC on the 16th and was just curious

It's a painting by Andrew Ranken dated 09-07.

In fact on stage right, behind where the piano sits, it's signed "AR0907". Funny the things you sometimes notice during a show.

It's a close reproduction of the backdrop we used throughout the Fall From Grace tour in 1988/1989, also designed by Andrew. That set also had "flats" at the wings, but they never quite worked as we could never figure a way to adapt them to stages of different heights. With the backdrop, you just fly it in at different altitudes. The original stage set can be seen in the Town And Country and Completely Pogued films.

philipchevron wrote:

DzM wrote:

mflanagan wrote:Hey, does anyone know what the background used for the live show is? i dont know if theyve always used it but i saw it in NYC on the 16th and was just curious

It's a painting by Andrew Ranken dated 09-07.

In fact on stage right, behind where the piano sits, it's signed "AR0907". Funny the things you sometimes notice during a show.

It's a close reproduction of the backdrop we used throughout the Fall From Grace tour in 1988/1989, also designed by Andrew. That set also had "flats" at the wings, but they never quite worked as we could never figure a way to adapt them to stages of different heights. With the backdrop, you just fly it in at different altitudes. The original stage set can be seen in the Town And Country and Completely Pogued films.

One subtle aspect of this backdrop that I really enjoyed was the backlit windows what would light up during the slow numbers. Made me all nostalgic for when I was young and worked stage-crew an awful lot.

It's the small things about stagecraft that make an impression on me.

DzM wrote:One subtle aspect of this backdrop that I really enjoyed was the backlit windows what would light up during the slow numbers.

Yeah i noticed that in Belfast and Dublin at Christmas.

Also, when i was in New York in January, there was a painting on the wall of our hotel room that was almost identical to the Ranken backdrop. Bendy highrises at jaunty angles. Wonder did Andrew take his insparation from this (subconsiously)? I can't recall the artist.....

Fr. McGreer wrote:

DzM wrote:One subtle aspect of this backdrop that I really enjoyed was the backlit windows what would light up during the slow numbers.

Yeah i noticed that in Belfast and Dublin at Christmas.

Also, when i was in New York in January, there was a painting on the wall of our hotel room that was almost identical to the Ranken backdrop. Bendy highrises at jaunty angles. Wonder did Andrew take his insparation from this (subconsiously)? I can't recall the artist.....

It reminded me of the backdrop for David Bowie's (in)famous Diamond Dogs Show in the USA in 1974, but Andrew apparently was not aware of that production and, in any event, Bowie's did not have a train in the foreground. Cherry pickers, giant hands, scaffold bridges, chorus boys and Hamlet skulls yes, trains no. The show, David's first post-Ziggy production, came close to the lowest point of Bowie's cocaine addiction, and is commemorated in the album David Live: David Bowie At The Tower Theatre Philadelphia and, most gruesomely, in Alan Yentob's astonishing Cracked Actor for BBC TV's Arena strand. I strongly recommend both for connoiseurs of human train wrecks. Ach! So there was a train involved!