6 Memorable sets of Kerry Butler's Broadway career

It was a little over 25 years ago Kerry Butler have her Broadway debut in Blood brothersand the loving and versatile actor now has a dozen shows on her Broadway Résumé, including currently Barbara Maitland is playing in the new musical BeverjuiceBased on the Tim Burton film of the same name, currently in the Winter Garden Theater.

Those who saw the show marvel at the extensive theater playground David Korins created, and Butler calls it ‘one of the most spectacular sets’ she has ever been on.

“The whole opening is so beautiful in the cemetery, and then, when the house comes down, even my look, I wonder, ‘Where in the world they had a place to store all the different sets of coming pieces,’ she says. “I like how enormous the house is and you can see the influence of Tim Burton’s style.”

The home also transforms throughout the play and almost becomes its own character, and Butler says the incredible designs of each version are proof of the incredible imagination of Korins.

“It’s one set, but it has so much different look, and each is more surprising than the next,” Butler says. “I was definitely awe when I first saw it and am delighted that I am a part of it.”

The Beverjuice Set is just one of the many innovative sets Butler had about her career, and she worked with some of the top designers in the business. One of her favorite parts about working on a new show is the unveiling of the miniature set during rehearsals. “It’s so exciting to see how everything is going to work if you have no idea how they’re going to pull out a few things,” she says.

Here she takes us from the Memory Lane to some of her favorites.

Beauty and the animal
Scenic design: Stan Meyer

As a substitute for Belle, Butler was not involved in the musical from the beginning, but remembers clearly what it was like to step on stage and view the breathtaking Disney set for the first time.

‘Beauty and the animal come closest to how i feel Beverjuice Because there was so much magic going on with the set design, ‘she says.’ There was a large castle and part of the castle turned, so it wasn’t always the same, which is now the same with us. ‘

In the first scene of the show, Butler’s Belle has to walk through the city with a book, while the houses come from the side, and (during one performance) while its ‘Little Town, it is a quiet village’, the houses crashed into each other, and it was not so quiet that day! But audiences were so in love with the set – like Butler – that it was quickly forgotten when the show was running.

Hair spray
Scenic design: David Rockwell

The first scene of this fan favorite in 2002 contains a bed, seen from the bird’s eye on the Chamber of Tracy Turnblad, complete with all the 60s teen paraphernalia. The scenery designer David Rockwell provided this innovative perspective and created the appearance of Baltimore of 1962, complete with driving houses in the working class, an areas that have a record label, a TV studio and a tap-dancing prison house.

In Hair sprayButler played Tracy’s best friend, Penny, and she remembers the first time she was introduced to the plan for her first song in the show. “When they were the mirrors for ‘mama, I’m a big girl,’ the girls’ heads beat through the mirrors. You can’t suggest that such things like you read the show, and I like to see a playful imagination of a designer, ‘she says. “It was so much fun.”

Xanadu
Scenic design: David Gallo

Disco -balls, Greek gods and roller skating. Not the easiest variety of ideas to get married together but Xanadu Set designer David Gallo offers an unforgettable space for the 2007 show in which Butler played the Greek Demi-Godin Clio, who also walks around Venice Beach as the Australian mortal Kira-on role skating!

“The nice part of the set was that the audience was on stage, and it was set up like an arena in Greek mythology, and you couldn’t escape the audience,” Butler says. “I remember all these ramps, because it was a roller skate village. It was like a big playground. ‘

Catch me if you can
Scenic Design: David Rockwell

Butler worked with Rockwell for a second time for this production that lived too short, but which Butler has gifted her favorite Broadway solo to date: “Fly, fly away.”

“It was a sleek and minimalist set because they had to go between the television broadcast set and real life,” she says. ‘David made things very kind and contemporary where a bed would jump out, but then it has an old-fashioned TV series with realistic pieces. This is a show I will always remember. “

Gore Vidal is the best man
Scenic design: Derek McLane

As the one non-musical credit on Butler’s impressive list, she played as Mabel Cantwell in this political drama in 2012 in 1960 Philadelphia. Derek McLane envisaged the faux hotel suite institution for this one.

‘There was very nice detail, and Derek had to note the period and political [ambience]. These were beautiful hotel suites we were in, and I can remember that there were so many pieces, “Butler said:” They also decorated the whole theater to look like you were at one of these political rallies, so it was colorful and delicious. ‘

Butler loved the entrance every night when she, Angela Lansbury, and Candice Bergen put themselves on a bench in the wings and their three characters would be thrown into the scene. “Just before the scene, I was always so excited to hear Angela and Candice talking and telling stories,” Butler says.

Average girls
Scenic design: Scott Pask

The team behind Tina Fey’s Average girls The show called on those who grew up with the 2007 film and set designer Scott Pask to record multimedia via projections. While the scenes with a lightning speed passed from one set to the next, projected backgrounds on two curved walls consisted of 644 square LED tiles driving the audience traveling from North Shore High School to the mall to the memory of Africa.

“It was the biggest use of screens I did,” Butler says. ‘What [director] Case [Nicholaw] It was incredible with the open set and the screen behind it was incredible. The screenplay was like a movie, with all these quick scene changes, which normally doesn’t happen on Broadway. Casey and Scott have done an incredible job to make everything work. “

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Photos: A sneak look at Beetlejuice on Broadway