Sets taking up Space

which design elements matter most?

Broadway stages have many cubic feet.

Wicked at the Gershwin theater - the biggest Broadway theater.

The Gershwin’s stage is 200,000 cubic feet. Humans take up some of those feet. In the above photo of Wicked I am seeing 20 performers taking up about 1,000 cubic feet. Humans <1% of the stage space.

I have never seen Wicked. Do the gears move? Do the lights move? The humans definitely move. We tend to look at moving things and find eyes. In this composition, the semi circle of the gear thingy gets my first moment of attention, then the mix of humans in green. That is probably what happens in real life, too. A moment for the strong sparkly lines of the set - then we find some focus in that big horizontal line that is the ensemble of humans - then the yellow color moments - then the red hair - and, finally, those sunglasses on the redhead…until she moves and we start over.