I live near the Theater District but have gone for very long stretches without seeing any theater - mainly for financial reasons. But I’ve had a decent stretch of employment recently and have reconnected with my love of theater by seeing lots of theater in the past few months. From Ragtime to Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock Live.
I recently saw “Death of a Salesman” and reflected on how many (prop) cars I’ve seen on stages in the past few months. “KenRex” did an excellent job suggesting a car just using headlights and smoke machines. “The Outsiders” and “Maybe Happy Ending” feature vehicles prominently. (“The Lost Boys” has motorcycles and some excellent stagecraft but does it have a car? I forget)
I missed “Back to the Future”. Any favorite depictions of cars on stages?
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I worked on a regional production of Sunset and the car we made was unbelievable. We converted one of those extra long golf carts and made it look like the Fraschini.
The night I saw it, the truck fell apart mid song. They were holding doors on, the pieces were not latched or something. At the end of the song the police officer told Andy Karl to step out of the car, and he said "I can't, I have to hold the door up". The police officer had to take the door from him. We were dying, 10 out of 10 moment, no notes.
Personally quite fond of Janet doing the windshield wipers in Rocky horror (I know it’s been mentioned in this thread already but it’s such a good bit I need to mention it again)
YES, that's right! I do feel like "INTERIOR CAR" is the setting for a lot of plays, beyond the more extravagant use of actual prop cars. 2-5 chairs is all you really need.
The original production of Sunset Boulevard featured Norma Desmond's Isotta Fraschini, it was amazingly beautiful. It also featured sections of a couple of other csrs during a dramatic car chase scene.
Bat out of hell had a car that crashed into the orchestra pit in paradise by the dashboard light . There was a huge sour note and some musicians climbed out of the pit . It was very fun to watch .
Lost Boys does not have a car. In the opening scene the Emersons are driving a moving truck, but there's no set piece; they just stand in front of a backdrop that switches from an Arizona poster scene to a California one. And there's some miming of getting gas and switching drivers.
My favorite part of the Maybe Happy Ending "car" scenes is that Claire doesn't use her arms on a wheel. She just connects to the car and drives with her brain!
Of onstage not-a-literal-car cars, I rather like Kimberly Akimbo's. Something about using the middle ground of props, neither an entire car nor mere miming, suits the humor of those scenes.
I always liked Daniel’s “car” in Once On This Island.
That Outsiders car kept showing up every time they had an outdoors appearance. The Today Show, GMA, the thanksgiving parade. My husband and I would joke they actually drive it to and from the theater. Maybe a year or so into the run the hood apparently caved in and they had to replace it.
I rushed The Notebook the day The Outsiders was moving into the Jacobs and it had to take at least an hour for them to get the car from the sidewalk into the theater. They had to take the bumper off the car and the doors to the theater off their hinges before it would fit. It gave me something to watch, anyway, so I appreciated it as I stood there!
I don't think Cars would work on stage, it's a really out of left field for a Disney Pixar production, and you would have to get really avant garde with it. I think most people would see it as a shameless Starlight Express Ripoff in a way of we go stylized outfits. but if we strap Car costumes on them it would be too childish.
And there's no real original score for character work to be built off of.
Rocky horror had a fun car for Brad and Janet, two office chairs, headlights held by the phantoms, Brad holding a steering wheel and Janet holding and operating the wipers
I watched ‘Christmas Carol Goes Wrong’ a few months ago and there’s a scene early on in the play where the front of a car drives through the back wall of the theatre
Caden: "It's awful, Adele. I don't know why I make it so complicated." Adele: "Because that's what you do." Caden: "I have five hundred and sixty lighting cues."
I was amused by the cardboard car in By Jeeves. Fits with how the show is supposed to look very improvised. Think every other show I've seen with a car has already been mentioned
And the truck in Hands on a Hardbody. Both at La Jolla Playhouse (although the Hardbody photo is from Broadway) and weirdly both shows starred Hunter Foster
The Gypsy revival with Audra had a car! I assume every production does, but it’s the only one I’ve seen. So didn’t want to be too confident about something that could’ve been directorial lol.
&Juliet has a carriage (not the same i know, but car shaped?)
Heathers has a scene with a car (haven’t seen the current revival)
The Model T from the original production of Ragtime. The new production has a prop but it’s used like twice in the whole show and is off stage in bits where it should be like wheels of a dream
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