Top 10 Tours of 2012: 1 Madonna
Annie’s Storybook Sets
David Korins loves Annie, and knew that he had a huge responsibility in designing sets for the first re-imagined version of the famed 1977 musical, whose numerous hit songs (“Tomorrow,” “Maybe,” “It’s A Hard Knock Life”) are embedded in our cultural DNA. The current Broadway incarnation is the third production of the beloved show, and the first not directed by original director/lyricist Martin Charnin. Director James Lapine chose Korins as his scenic designer, and the latter felt quite honored to be a part of a team that wanted to make the show equally engaging for adults as children. Known for creative scenic work on shows like Godspell, Passing Strange and The Pee-wee Herman Show, Korins wanted to help redefine the musical — originally inspired by a Harold Gray comic strip, about little orphan Annie, plucked from an abusive Lower East Side orphanage to spend the Christmas holidays with rich and powerful Daddy Warbucks, who then becomes her benefactor — for a new generation.
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The Grey Cup: North America’s “Other” Big Football Halftime Show
There’s a visual glow — a kind of Electric Aura — around Toronto. It’s the energy of precision planning — a year ahead of time — that goes into a show with seven and a half minutes to set up, 15 minutes of adrenaline-pumping performances, and three frantic minutes on the clock to clear the field. The Canadian Football League celebrated the 100th championship with the SiriusXM Grey Cup Halftime Show Nov. 25. Along with 50,000-plus Toronto Argonauts and Calgary Stampeders fans on site at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, millions in Canada, the U.S. and beyond saw the Grey Cup and halftime show via TV and the Internet — making the event the most-watched Grey Cup and halftime show in CFL history.
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