CMU School of Drama


Monday, April 08, 2019

‘Hamilton’ Set Designer Goes Whimsical, Using Sotheby’s Galleries as a Stage

The New York Times: David Korins, a creative director and designer whose work includes the set design for “Hamilton,” had a challenge: designing an exhibition for Sotheby’s from the large, varied family collection held at the historic Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, England. He said he wondered, “How can I bring the experience of a really permanent, physically permanent place to New York City and give guests the feeling of what it’s like in the DNA of that experience?”

2 comments:

Reesha A. said...

David Korins has such a rich background in the works that he is created, most notably the set design for Hamilton. Given this, one would imagine a very practical and calculative designer who would want to control every aspect of the design that they are creating, so that they can ensure that the audiences are feeling what the designer wants them to. But this article smashes that idea in my mind.
When I think about this, I am almost completely blown away by Korin's technique to keep the experience as free-flowing and environment inclusive. The way he talks about integrating every part of the gallery into his exhibition seems like a novel idea to me but as he describes it further, it makes the intention behind using that technique more clear, which speaks of success. I also love how he relies on the audiences themselves to feel what they want to feel in addition the the environment that he has created, which speaks of how natural he would want the overall experience to be for the audience.

Shahzad Khan said...

Got to disagree with Reesha here, I'm really not that big of a fan when it comes to David Korins, not necessarily because of his designs(but kind of though) but because of the style of art and theatre he perpetuates. I for one was not impressed with his Hamilton set (could have been any show from that time period), his Dear Evan Hansen set (the most important part was an unseen xbox remote), nor his most recent Academy Awards set (it was laffy taffy). I for one think that he gets a lot more hype for being a so called visionary and genius, when in reality his designs fall short. I don't really know why more people don't see it, I think that giving David Korins a literal art exhibition is the literal definition of feeding his ego and calling him one of the best broadway scenic designers when in reality he's just kind of ordinary.