We also added an ensemble of six dancer-performers. In fact, we were told, “You have to go further.” is when we added Sam Pinkleton, our choreographer. Lien: We built a theater from a vacant lot in about three weeks.Ĭhavkin: Importantly, one of the reasons - potentially the only reason - the show looks the way it does is that, both at Ars Nova and at every step of the way, we were never told “no” by our producers. In May, 2013, The Great Comet moved to a specially constructed 199-seat tent, nicknamed “Kazino,” in the Meatpacking District. In the tent, the audience drank vodka (which required a liquor license) and ate borscht (which petrified the costume designer). Mostly stuff I found in the basement that was miniature and could hide up amongst the pipes. In that tiny room, it’s completely overwhelming.Ĭhavkin: There were maybe one or two theatrical lights. In a fit of desperation one morning, I went to one of the 25 lamp stores I’d been going to every morning and bought the biggest, brightest globe bulb I could find, which is 400 watts. I looked at a model and I went, “Oh my God, how the hell is this going to be lit?” The room was so small, and the set was so large!Ĭhavkin: You ended up lighting it entirely with light bulbs and chandeliers. Peter was the second show I ever designed in New York, and I felt like I had to win a Tony in order to get the interview at Off–Off Broadway experimental downtown theater!īradley King (lighting designer): Rachel and I had done Vanya in the basement at Columbia, and I thought, Oh, this might be fun. Paloma Young (costume designer): I got an email that was like, “Are you interested in coming to interview for this job?” I had just been nominated for a Tony for Peter and the Starcatcher, and I was both sick and exhausted, but I was also like, This is the kind of show that I have been trying to get since I moved to New York. It would feel like the actors were floating!Ĭhavkin: After that workshop, Mimi drew me something that was like a snake, and I went, “Of course-it’s curving!” It’s a melodrama, and it’s about love, and it’s voluptuous, so obviously, it’s snaky. Then I thought, It’d be nice if it was just this curving promenade through the audience. The actors were using the whole room and walking down the length of the space, but I suddenly had a thought: If all the actors were, like, three feet higher, that would be great. I came onboard when we were doing the workshop at Ars Nova. Mimi Lien (set designer): Dave is my husband’s best friend. When talking about dream projects, he said, “Have you ever read War and Peace? There’s this sliver …” Then he got an Ars Nova commission to become composer in residence for 2011. Rachel Chavkin (director): This was the third show Dave and I had done together. Yes, this is Phillipa Soo - she originated the role of Natasha, before leaving to star in Hamilton. The first production, which opened in 2012, at the 87-seat Ars Nova.
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