City of Angels is a musical that examines the nature of making movies in the 1940's. The show uses a convention where the audience is able to watch the characters in the novel being made into a movie, as well as the people in Hollywood who are responsible for the production.
The protagonists in these parallel realities, the movie and Hollywood, serve as foils to one another. Stine is the author hoping to see his novel successfully made into a film, and Stone is the main character in the book Stine has written.
Since there is much double casting from the movie world and Hollywood, it is important for the production to provide visual clues to the audience that indicate where we are in the show.
We achieved this in two ways. First, all movie scenes were in black and white. We looked to the film noire styles of lighting used in movies made in the forties and fifties.
We also used several different projection screens as background for different scenes in the movie. One was on wheels so it could be rolled from one location to another. Others were flown. I projected a variety of patterns on these screens to help establish both place and atmosphere for each movie scene.
We used fairly deep shadows in the movie scenes. Faces were shadowed more than typical musicals. Strong key light in a color corrected cool white that best recreated the film noire look were used.
Hollywood scenes were lit more realistically, with flattering color. Contrasts were softer, and scenes used more realistic sources of light.
We used four follow spots. The two from the front were spread farther apart than normal practice in order to provide some visual interest with shadows on one side of the face. If shadows were not wanted, both spots were used at different intensities.
The other two follow spots were located in high side positions. Spots from these locations gave us the ability to dramatically highlight performers from behind as they moved down onto the thrust portion of the stage.
We included working practicals in all of the Hollywood scenes. Practicals were designed to be set up and struck quickly.
The stage space was very large so lighting functions were limited to accommodate the amount of the stage that needed to be lit. Cool white key light was available for movie scenes. Lighting areas were enlarged to accommodate the number of lighting functions for Hollywood, including a warm front, cool front, and neutral top light.