NPR: Can you imagine choosing just 43 of the more than 20 million objects in the Music Division of the Library of Congress? Intrepid curators have created a small exhibition that lifts the curtain on how magic and spectacle are achieved on bare theater stages. It's called Grand Illusion: The Art of Theatrical Design and it includes drawings, sketches, watercolors, posters, and scale models created over hundreds of years.
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Collections like these are invaluable, as they really showcase our backbone, our DNA as theatre artists. Theatrics and musicals have been such a part of global cultures, serving as both a mirror to contemporary times, as well as relief from reality, as the article pointed out about Depression-era shows. Remembering not only where we came from, as those who will create and cultivate future productions, but what shows have meant to audiences over the years is critical to our future successes.
I am glad to know that these sketches and compositions are seeing the light of day, and are receiving such exposure to the public eye. While some of the productions mentioned (i.e. My Fair Lady) have fallen prey to the label "crowd pleaser", this exhibition restores much of the humanity to such shows. The nuances seen in Lerner's handwriting reminds us all that instead of a show created for the sake of money, these were shows created by people for people.
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