"THE LOOK IS 'once upon a time' incarnate," Ben Brantley wrote in his New York Times review of "Farinelli and the King." Presumably, that made the day of Jonathan Fensom, who did the show's scenic design.
To be fair, it can be tough to separate the Belasco Theater's default 1910 opulence with the enchantment of Fensom's set. But let's try.
“Farinelli,” the story of a bipolar king (Mark Rylance as Philippe V, 1683-1746) who, unable to obtain Lithium or selective seritonin re-uptake inhibitors in the early 18th century, is cured –- or at least soothed longterm –- by music. Farinelli (Sam Crane when he talks, Iestyn Davis when he sings) is the angel-voiced castrato who is brought in to cheer up Philippe with arias-on-demand.
So logically enough, we are at court. Ceilings are high. Walls are paneled in dark wood and lavishly accented with gold leaf. There's priceless art just lying around, in this case a gilt-framed oil as tall as the average courtier. And oh, the chandeliers!
Scene Change
When the action of the play moves outside the castle, a pretty backdrop appears. Just the way they did it in Jacobean times.
In fantasy, we are also in a Jacobean theater. This Globe Theater production originated in London at the intimate (320-seat) Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, which the Globe website describes as "our indoor candlelit theater." And the candles have made the trip to New York.
Six grand candle-laden chandeliers dominate the set, so Paul Russell, the lighting designer, deserves major credit. Thanks to him, as Brantley wrote, “a feeling of twilight reverie pervades every scene.”
Fensom appreciates the synergy. "Candlelight really does pick up the stars on the ceiling and the gold bars on the columns," he told Gerard Raymond, a theater journalist, in an interview for TDF. (The candles are augmented by some electrical lights, but telling one kind of flicker from another is a neat trick. At least from Row J, it was.)
Fensom also designed the show's luxurious costumes and was pleased to discover that most colors look beautiful in candlelight, "except, bizarrely, red, which turns brown."
Coming to New York was not the scenic design's first move, of course. After its Wanamaker run, "Farinelli and the King" opened at the 800-seat Duke of York's Theater in London in the fall of 2015.
When Fensom was nominated for a 2016 Olivier Award for that set, he talked to Official London Theater about his design choices. They included bringing the stage forward of the proscenium arch, he said, and adding audience seating on two levels of the stage.
"To finish this transition," he said, "we draped all the balcony and gallery fronts with blood red baroque drapes." (Something similar has been done at the 1,000+-seat Belasco.) With the use of 17th-century theatre techniques, Fensom set out "to create the sense of being in a London theatre 350 years ago."
David Rooney, who didn't love the show that much otherwise, declared that effort a success. In The Hollywood Reporter, he wrote, "The evocative facsimile of original-practices staging — period instruments played by musicians in an upper gallery onstage, no amplification, candles favored over electrical lighting, richly detailed costuming using authentic materials — provides a great deal of pleasure."
WHO IS JONATHAN FENSOM?
Much of Fensom's work has appeared in his native Britain, but he has done the scenic design for four Broadway plays before this: “Faith Healer” (2006), “Journey’s End” (2007), “Pygmalion” (2007) and “The American Plan” (2009). He received a Tony nomination for “Journey’s End,” which is largely set in a World War I battlefield trench. Technically, Fensom’s Broadway debut was “The Lion King” (1997); he was the associate scenic designer.