Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2009 - 73

book

reviews
roll touring, to the monumentality of operas such as Il
Trovatore, presented at the bregenz Opera Festival, to a
bon Jovi concert, or to amazing shots from the German
clone production of The Lion King.
The book is a visual document of different events,
but it is missing some important information about the
stage designs themselves and about their creators. Everything is reduced to images with very frugal information. Except for a thin introduction (one page) about the
reasons for creating the book, a short biography, and an
index of the productions at the end, it is all spectacular photography of
spectacular productions.
despite this, the sense of detail in larmann's images offers a perspective on the scenographic aspects of the productions. The book could be
a source of research about the limitless possibilities of stage design when
big budgets are involved. It shows as well the immense influence of the
media and technology in contemporary stage design. larmann is attracted
to documenting large-scale sets using the latest media technologies, such
as huge lEd surfaces of all shapes and sizes or big background screens
with projected videos, pictures, or graphic animations. That's why a big
part of the book is dedicated to concert tours, television shows and special events. There are images from such productions as George Michael -

25LIVE, U2 - Vertigo, Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium
Arcadium, Robbie Williams - Close Encounters, Pop
Idol, Depeche Mode - Touring The Angel, and even the
opening ceremony of the 2006 Asian Games.

Contemporary European trends
One of the merits of the book is larmann's selection of
some works representing contemporary European trends
in stage design, especially in opera. Productions such as
Tosca in the Snow, produced by bregenz Opera Festival
in lech am Arlberg, Austria, in 2007, Il Trovatore at Water Stage, bregenz,
Austria, in 2006, Turandot at veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany, in
2005, and The Flying Dutchman, produced on the domplatz in Erfurt,
Germany, in 2002, illustrate perfectly the European trend of monumental
staging in unconventional spaces.
Tosca in the Snow, directed by dorothée Schaeffer and designed by
Florian Kradolfer, was staged in a natural environment during the winter
with sets created from snow. The monumental industrial sets for Il Trovatore, designed by Paul Steinberg and produced on a stage erected on
the bregenz lake, was selected for the USA entry for the 2007 Prague
Quadrennial. Turandot, directed by the Chinese director Zhang Yimou
at Gelsenkirchen in an indoor stadium accommodating thousands of

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2009
