Up next in 10
Video: David Korins Unpacks His Three-Show Season
Apr 26, 2024
We are talking scenic design with David Korins who seems to have designed every blockbuster show on Broadway. This season, he lent his creativity to Tommy and Here Lies Love. In the past seasons, he has designed everything from Hamilton, Beetlejuice, and Dear Evan Hansen to the Academy Awards, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, and Bruno Mars performances, and even the set of Watch What Happens Live!
View Video Transcript
0:00
Are you ready? It's the Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon
0:16
Well, hey everybody. Welcome to the Roundtable. My name is Robert Bannon. I'm so excited you're here with us. We are a show that talks about artists and art, and we're always so excited to have people on. We've had some of the best singers and actors
0:30
and dancers and directors and writers. But what about the other people that put on a Broadway show
0:35
or a TV special or the Oscars? What about the person who designs the show
0:42
designs the set, designs the look? So much of the commentary that's done on Broadway message boards
0:50
and TikToks and Reddit pages is about set design and costume design and the looks of it besides the performers
0:58
and the music. So today, I thought it would be fun to have award-winning designer, David Korens here
1:05
who has designed every single Broadway show that you love and have endured over the past few years
1:10
plus has worked with some of the biggest pop stars in the world. And that's a little bit of a different take on a different look on what it takes to make art
1:16
because not everybody is at the front of the stage, singing and acting and dancing their faces off
1:21
Somebody's got to design all the great looks that we get to see. I love that you're here
1:25
If you are new to the show, well, welcome. My name is Robert Bannon. you can find out more about me on Instagram at Robert M. Bannon or go to Robert Bannon.com
1:33
And you could also see our show every single day over at the Broadway Podcast Network or on the YouTube channel, aside from being on Broadway World
1:40
So we're a little bit of everywhere and anywhere for you with the best of art and artists
1:46
So grateful to be able to talk to you. David Corenz is here. Get a pen and paper
1:51
If you're somebody who likes to design or if you're somebody who likes to create, there may be a job in art for you
1:58
So you've seen David's work, if you've watched television, if you've seen film work, concert work
2:04
Broadway work, he's got awards, he's got, he may have made the most famous set of stairs
2:09
that have ever existed on Broadway, that Alexander Hamilton marches down every single night
2:15
From Gaga to Elton John to the best of Broadway, David Corns is here, and this season
2:20
he's put in some work. He's worked on Broadway, and we're ready to get the whole scoop on how you design
2:26
I hope I buy a house, and he designs that too. David, welcome to the show. Hey there
2:32
That's it. I'm listening to you blueprints and say, do you make magic happen to this house, David
2:37
Thanks for being here. Sure. This is the maiden voyage of this Tommy swag that I have
2:44
I'm thrilled to be wearing it. It was my opening night gift from the producers. And this is a world premiere
2:51
Well, I'm excited. David, how does the ideas, I know you have a team of people that you work with
2:56
but you are the David of. this design team. And people come to you, producers come to you, I'm assuming, and they say
3:03
we're doing Tommy, we're doing Here's Lies Love, we're doing these, and we want you to take the
3:10
space. How do you, how does it work? How does, what's the steps that gets your designs on a stage
3:15
on Broadway? Well, I, I always feel like, even though when you get a terminal degree from
3:24
in a theater school, it's an MFA, Master of Fine Arts. I always feel like the theater is a collaborative art form
3:32
And to me, yes, I'm one of many on the design team
3:36
Every single show that you see is co-created by a tremendous amount of people
3:41
It's not the kind of thing that you can go into the barn in your backyard, not that I have a backyard or a barn, and go make something and toil away at it
3:50
and then show it to people. It is a group effort. So it always starts with the writing, you know, in a musical, obviously the music and the writing, and then the director's vision
4:01
And we as a creative team are always working in service of whatever their vision is
4:05
And oftentimes they will give us a little tiny kernel, a little seed
4:11
They'll plant that. And then we all kind of together join in to try and grow that idea into the ultimate vision that the audience sees
4:18
Well, I was just saying before in the introduction to us that
4:22
When you go on to read all of the, the Broadway and the theater lovers comments on social media
4:29
if it's message boards, if it's Reddit, if it's whatever, so many people talk about, besides the music and the performance, it's the look of the show, the design of the show
4:36
the set of the show, the world that you put us in when you design a show
4:40
Are you the person that, like, makes the little diagrams and they live in the rehearsal space
4:45
And when people are, you know, rehearsing over at the studio, like, they're envisioning what you're tinkering away on
4:52
Yeah, yeah, sure. I mean, early on in my career, I would try to explain to my parents what it is that I do for living
4:58
And I would say if you rip off the top of the theater and you dump it upside down and shake it, anything that falls out that's not an actor is sort of the work, you know, that's what we're responsible for
5:07
So, yeah, when you go into a rehearsal room and you see renderings and models and stuff, that's the stuff that my studio turns out
5:16
And we talk about those things a lot as tools of communication, right
5:20
The it's not you don't you don't win any points for how beautiful your renderings are or how well made your models are
5:28
Those are tools to help the director, the choreographer, the other designers, myself, the performers understand how people are going to move through space, what it's going to look like, what it's going to feel like, and ultimately to get the entire community of the show kind of lockstep in the ultimate vision of what we're going to try and make on stage
5:48
Yeah, we do storyboards. They usually start with little tiny thumbnail sketches
5:53
and then eventually get more and more and more dimensionalized. And we kind of map out every single moment of the show
6:03
what it's going to be beat by beat by beat. Certainly when you're in those rehearsal rooms
6:07
you see scene by scene by scene by scene. But the work is done early because then we add performers to it
6:13
they come up with their own ideas and ultimately by the end, they know the design, they know the one
6:18
world of the show better than we ever did because they live in it every single night
6:22
That's, it's so fascinating. You help us, you know, leave the realism of our lives behind and then
6:28
for two and a half hours get transported to this world. And it's really due to the universe that you
6:33
create. And I'm sure it makes the artists better artists because they get to live in that world
6:38
as well. So when you're working for Tommy, for example, when you're with Des McEnough, who's a legend
6:43
who's an iconic director, the show is playing right now. So grab your tickets
6:48
When you work with him, and then I'm assuming you work closely with the lighting design or sound design as well so that you can cohesively build this world
6:59
Completely. I always like to enter into a collaboration where it's like best idea wins
7:05
If I haven't worked with another member of the creative team before, I let them know early on
7:10
None of the ideas are precious to me. I'm in service of the entire narrative
7:14
Like, let's go. Give me set design notes. If you're the costume designer, let me know
7:18
know, and so yeah, it's a beautiful, hopefully collaborative spirit. Tommy is some of my favorite moments of the collaboration
7:30
and also in the show in general, are moments where you do not know where the projections leave off and the scenic design starts
7:36
or the lighting design leaves off, and the projections of the senior design is
7:41
In fact, in Tommy in particular, there are pieces of scenery that are projection surfaces
7:48
There are pieces of scenery that are actual light bars. And so it really is a completely collaborative spirit
7:55
And it's a true collaboration. With regard to Des, I have to say, I cannot imagine what it would be like if I was a director
8:04
And by the way, a co-writer of a show that went on to go win a whole bunch of Tony Awards to reconceive of it 30 years later
8:13
Oftentimes a revival is done by, you know, a whole new visionary. Des to his credit asked me about five and a half years ago if I wanted to work on the revival of Tommy
8:22
And Tommy is by many considered what the original Tommy is considered by many the most visually groundbreaking show of all time
8:34
I did not see the original, which I actually think helped me because I didn't have it stuck in my head
8:39
But Des really came to that work in a completely open and collaborative spirit and said I know that the show was a huge success I want to make a whole new version of the show for 2024 And he systematically at every single beginning of the meeting said like yes
8:56
this is what we did before, but how can we come at this in a new way
9:00
And that takes real focus and rigor to kind of unimagin what you had already once imagined successfully
9:08
And also like a playful, extraordinary spirit to be able to think, like, let's do this again
9:15
and not rest on our laurels. And so it really is like the height of collaboration there
9:20
that production of Tommy. Well, here we have some shots. I don't know
9:26
Right. That was amazing. We have some shots for you of there
9:30
There's a good example of lighting tied with projection, tied with set pieces
9:37
You can we go? I have a little memory lane of your work. Ooh, really
9:42
I do. I do. I mean, we have, we have atomic. excited and scared
9:47
We have, this was such a, Here's Lies Love. That was such a unique experience
9:54
I'm sure for you, a challenge because you rebuilt an entire fear
9:58
Yes, well, a huge challenge. And actually, speaking of collaborations, this projection design on that show
10:03
is also Peter Negreini, who did both Tommy and Here Lies Love this season
10:07
So we collaborated very, very closely all year long, but also, you know, for five and a half years on Tommy
10:13
and for 13 years on Here Lies Love. Here Lies Love was an, now I feel bad that I'm wearing this shirt while I talk about
10:19
here Lies Love, I'm just kidding. You know, it was a, definitely by far the most extreme effort I've ever had on Broadway because
10:31
it was the most ambitious Broadway show I had ever seen with regard to physical production
10:38
We, as you said, took out every single seat in the orchestra pit and completely reconfigured
10:44
the space. We probably worked for well over 5,000 hours alone just with the architects to work
10:51
through new permitting, new life safety, new fire egress, new audience seating. You know, we built an
10:58
entire theater inside of the theater, something like 60,000 pounds of steel structure
11:04
thousands of linear feet of lighting equipment, hundreds of linear feet of projection equipment
11:11
that literally fully wrapped around the, the, the, entire audience. And the audience stood for the first time on Broadway. Three hundred and
11:21
15 or so audience members stood on the, what was the floor, but actually the orchestra pit as well
11:27
in a completely movable feast, immersive experience. And it was a real shame. It didn't last
11:34
longer, but in a way, because the show had four previous productions to Broadway, right
11:39
I ran twice off Broadway, huge hit at the public theater, went to London, massive
11:44
hit and also in Seattle, it was kind of a crowning moment for us to get to Broadway and to have
11:50
the first all-Philippino cast on Broadway ever was an extraordinary, extraordinary thing to have
11:56
happened and be part of the season. Yeah, it was the most unique, fun. It was, I don't know how
12:01
to describe the show, a concert, a history lesson, a little bit of everything. Yeah, I mean
12:07
it was, it was, in fact, a little bit of everything, right? It was in a musical experience. It was a
12:12
brand new Broadway musical. It was also, you know, it was a think piece on its feet, right? And it was a
12:21
cautionary tale against the fragility of democracy and people rising up against dictatorship
12:28
It was a lot of things. But what it was was incredibly special for me. Yeah, absolutely. And when we go
12:35
through the, I'll do Broadway first. Some of your, we've joked about Hamilton before, but I'd said it's
12:40
the most famous set of stairs. I think it is a set of stairs on Broadway
12:45
I was reading an article that you did with some fancy newspaper, and you were talking about Lynn coming in and sitting in your office
12:52
and coming up with ideas. Like this, did you, when was the moment you realized Hamilton was going to be what it was
13:00
Well, you know, it's funny. I still don't know what Hamilton ultimately is
13:05
It continues to grow and change and evolve in the eyes and the hearts of everyone around the country and in the world
13:10
I learned pretty early on in my career to not get caught up in what others think
13:18
You know, you like to hear about it. You like to talk about it. But the truth is, if the creative team is excited about something, then that's good enough for me
13:26
So early on, I knew when I listened to just, you know, the piano recordings of it with Lynn kind of banging away at the piano
13:34
I loved it on the page. I loved it when it was called the Hamilton mixtape
13:39
And I thought, oh, this is really special. I knew when we had a matinee performance at the public theater and Michelle Obama and Madonna and Busta Rhymes and Zalman Rushdie were all in the audience at the same time, that there was something else going on
13:56
And it was like a regular old matinee. And I thought like, oh, boy, there's like a hundred and 99 people in this room
14:01
And it's literally getting people from all walks of life. I knew that was special
14:06
And then when we opened up on Broadway and I, you know, in the advance. of the show and this ticket sales just like went through the roof, we thought, okay, we're going to be
14:12
around for a while. But in every single market that we brought it to, the first place we went to
14:16
after Broadway was Chicago, and then we went to London. There were always some challenges
14:23
You know, I remember Lynn rewriting lines for the show after we were already this massive mega hit
14:31
because the London audience didn't know what the Potomac River was or didn't really know that it was
14:36
funny that the vice, you know, that John Adams, you know, was different or similar to the vice
14:43
president, right? And so there were little nuances that he continued to work at and we all continue
14:48
to work at. In fact, I like to joke about Hamilton that that staircase that you love so, so much
14:53
That set is the set from the public theater that we literally put together with contact lenses
15:00
and dental floss and gaffe tape. And it wasn't until we moved to Chicago. Did we actually get to build
15:05
something that was, you know, ready for prime time. So, you know, that, that Broadway set
15:10
ironically, is like, you know, sticks and pieces that we kind of scabbed together when we
15:15
didn't know we were hit. I love it. I'm, I'm here for it. I want to recreate. I'm going to
15:20
hold a Home Depot and recreate it. I mean, there's a. I mean, super, super hot take. If you go
15:26
stand on the, on the set of Hamilton, the entire backside of all the railings is like taped up
15:33
because it was so fragile and chipped away and splintering that it was ruining the costumes
15:39
and all those beautiful Paul Taswell costumes and all those skirts and addresses and everything
15:44
They were getting frayed from the ladies kind of rubbing against the back of the splintery scenery
15:50
And so it's all, it's not, you know, it's good thing theater is in that instance
15:54
You know, the theater, the show is only seen from one angle, which really helps us. If that was the Here Lies Love version
15:59
we'd be in deep trouble. Well, you were talking about Tommy. and projections, and the same with Here Lies Love
16:07
The first time I really saw projections done in a very unique and telling way was in Deerevin Hansen
16:14
Oh, look at, wow, you are sharp with this trigger. This trigger finger is right on
16:18
Yes. By the way, also Peter Negreeney, that same collaborator, those three shows are all done with Peter
16:26
and Greeny projection designer. Yeah, dear of Enhanson, gosh, very near and dear to my heart
16:33
that show. I was hired by Michael Greif and the producers and the young at that point
16:40
only a little bit known, Pasig and Paul, who have now since gone to, you know, explode and done like all the most extraordinary things. And the challenge right there was in the
16:50
words, right? We have to show the internet. We have to show what it's like to, you know
16:56
crowdsource and create a groundswell of support on the internet for good and for bad, right? When
17:02
rumors fly on the internet and so it's written right there into the show um we knew that
17:08
projections were going to take um pretty front and center with that but they but all of those panels
17:16
and all those screens and all that projection design also helped to kind of render some architecture some locations and then of course at the end spoiler alert although it's no longer on
17:23
broadway it all goes away and reveals this beautiful natural um you know organic shaped orchard and i think
17:32
there was the kind of dichotomy and the juxtaposition of having this inky black world with projections and slick world go away and give us you know little apple orchard saplings That was really kind of the you know the real revelation of space
17:48
and the thing that I think landed the design at the end of the show. Well, that's what I love
17:52
is that your work when I was researching you in particular, and we, it's TV and award shows and
17:58
pop stars and all aside. But theater in particular, like you have these shows where you're very
18:03
new and modernized technology with projections and lighting and the set pieces
18:10
But then you have shows that you've done, which are just tried and true full built sets
18:14
Like Mrs. Delfire is on tour right now. That's a set. Like that's an old school
18:18
Yeah, that is an old school set. And by the way, speaking of collaboration, my initial impulse for that show was much, much more abstract
18:28
And Jerry Zax, our fearless director, you know, was really, excited to try and give us a big Broadway musical, you know, and, and part of that, I think
18:42
is whenever you do a show like a Beetlejuice or a Mrs. Daufire, which, well, there it is
18:50
nailing it, you know, you have to ask yourself the question, why are we making this incredibly
18:55
popular IP or property into a piece of theater? And the why of Mrs. Daufeyer was not answered
19:02
necessarily with the set design, but answered with all of the super delicious choreography
19:07
and other things that you just can only show theatrically. Beetlejuice shows the reason why in a totally different way, and part of it is that picture
19:16
that you showed, Alex Timbers in the very first conversation. And that one took us about six years or longer to make that design
19:22
He said in his very first conversation, the house needs to be a character
19:28
You know, the house is its own character, and we get to see that character literally make a costume change
19:35
We see it as the Maidland's owned house. We see it as the Dietz's owned house
19:39
We see it as the Beetleju's haunted house. And it's a story about people being trapped in an environment
19:45
And that environment needs to feel complete, right? The house wouldn't work the same
19:49
It was a kind of abstract representation of a house. It needed to kind of have four walls of a ceiling and a floor
19:56
And well, it works. And listen, it works for anyone's age. My godson, who is six years old, I mean, he watches it on YouTube, slime tutorial, secret, you know, secret hidden camera footage of needlechew every day since we've seen it years ago
20:11
So your work lives in the world you put it in. So when you take Beetlejuice is, are you doing just the set
20:19
Are you doing some of the props? Are you, where does the line ends with what you do and someone else does
20:25
Well, in the case of Beetlejuice, we, so we as the set designers tend to have ownership over all the props and the kind of visual landscape of things that are built
20:39
In Beetlejuice, we had the great Michael Curry who did, you know, the puppets
20:46
And the puppet integration with the set design was really like a handed glove kind of a thing
20:53
And then there was also a magic component and a special effects component
20:57
If Here Lies Love was the most ambitious project I've ever done on Broadway
21:02
Beetlejuice is by far the trickiest because every single piece of scenery has
21:07
onboard lighting, there's projection on it, there's a puppet hole or something
21:14
there's a special effect, there's a piece of automation. That show was incredibly, incredibly complex
21:22
And so there was actually a team and kind of its own vertical or discipline in every one of those
21:29
And then we were the set design department kind of integrated it all
21:33
And that made it really, really challenging. But also, you know, when you get to work with someone like Michael Curry or Jeremy Chernik
21:40
those guys come with extraordinary ideas. And, you know, I've designed some puppets in my life, but Michael Carrey is, you know, he's the guy
21:49
I love the collaboration of it also. So for you and your personal career, when you went to school and you graduated and you started to work
21:58
and I'm assuming was theater what came first? Yeah, theater was first
22:02
What was the moment where it transitioned from just theater to television sets or pop star concerts and specials and an award show
22:14
I'm not just talking about award shows. I'm talking about like the Oscars award shows
22:18
There it is. Yeah, you're not talking about, you know, the North Jersey. Jersey regional theater at a VFW hall
22:25
You're talking about the Academy Awards. Yeah, you know, I, theater was my first love
22:33
I love that you start with a blank space and everything is scaled to a six-foot person
22:40
and the way in which you, the narrative plays out is really, that story is told through the revelation of space
22:49
through lighting and through direction and choreography. It's different in film and TV because you've got a lot of layers of ways to filter and tell information, right
22:59
So there's a director of photography, there's an editor, right? So I could zoom in on someone's eyeball or someone's, you know, fingertip or something, and you can't look away from that
23:10
That could fill the entire screen. In theater, that's not the case, right? We use other things to kind of focus the eye
23:17
And I really early on was excited by all mediums of storytelling
23:21
So we do at my studio immersive experiences. We did immersive and go and all the, tell me you're not going to have a picture of that
23:28
Boom, geez, just like that. You know, people are going to think that we plan this, but truthfully, I had no idea this is going to happen
23:36
If I did, I would have had a T-shirt under every one of these for every project. Why, you're a designer, David, that's why
23:43
That would have been really good. I do have, like, two drawers in my house filled with, like, show swag
23:48
I got to say. And I never, ever, ever wear any clothing with writing on it
23:54
So this is like a real world premiere. Anyway, I early on just loved the idea of storytelling in all sorts of different mediums
24:02
And so I would do friends of mine bookcases and weird concession stands for like Williamstown Theater Festival
24:10
And I loved working in concerts. The thing about working with concerts is it's like doing a play
24:19
but it's just about music and it's just about you know music is like the perfect
24:25
through line straight to your heart right the emotional center and so kind of getting to just
24:30
think about doing something like a three-dimensional music video is an exciting idea to work
24:33
with a pop star or do concerts and so we do all mediums um of of the entertainment industry
24:39
and it's because a i think that if you just do theater you just do production design or
24:44
something like that um you tend to use the same materials it is
24:49
tends to be the same audience, perform, a relationship. And I'm really interested in learning in all those different verticals
24:55
because something like Greece Live, which we did, tell me, no, no
24:59
I saw your finger move. Oh, wait, what's happening there? Oh, wow, you've got a lot of things here
25:03
Oh, that was the wrong slide. It was, there was a lot of work there
25:07
I'm sorry, David. That was the wrong side. You could play a game. What was on there
25:11
My God, what did I see? I saw Peewee. Pewee's there. I saw passing strange
25:16
It was a collage. I saw Chinglish. which is a deep cut
25:21
We didn't know what was going to come up on your, we're going to find Greece Live
25:25
Well, now we know what's going to come up because we've seen all the images. What I will say about Greece Live is
25:30
that's a really great combination of, Tommy Kale, who directed that, who also, you know, I worked with many, many times
25:38
And we had just finished Hamilton. And I said to him, it would be really interesting to show what theater does so well, right
25:46
obvious scene changes, moving pieces, like a whole wall, right? You're focused on the wall with the camera and it slides away and you see something else
25:53
or the whole wall rotates around if someone steps through it to reveal a whole new world, which we do in theater all the time
25:59
But they never do it in film and TV. And let's do all the things that film can do that we can never do in the theater, right
26:07
So the example that is like at the end when they go to the carnival, we're in a soundstage
26:11
and then the doors open up and we have a whole carnival set up outside
26:15
In the theater, we talk about it a lot like, oh, wouldn't it be so great to like rip the back wall
26:20
the theater off and see for miles and miles and miles. Well, in Greece Live, it was a really beautiful conversation
26:25
you know like a conversation in what you do in theater and what you do in film and how do you use those storytelling methods and do them together And I don think I could have done that if I had just been a you know if I just been thinking about production design
26:38
but because I work in all these different disciplines, I was able to kind of mix those things up really kind of seamlessly
26:44
We, it was, that's what was great. Greece Live, the cast is killer
26:48
but what they did with the direction and how they moved the camera that was a seamless, it was like a real live movie set where we moved set to set
26:55
And it was so much more than just the three walls rolling in scenery
27:00
You really created an immersive experience. I had a something for Greaslap, but it was labeled wrong
27:05
Oh, look at that. Wow. That's a little rendering. Come on. I was doing so great
27:09
I was so excited about my. No, no, that's good. That was showing another part of the process
27:14
That's a rendering. You know, that was one of the things that we did to show kind of color and mood
27:18
It wasn't a finished product, but it was okay. When you, many, many people watch every single night and see your work
27:25
We could watch your work every night on Bravo. You know, you've done the television
27:29
You've done the television stuff. Like that's a small space. What is it like
27:34
Let me tell you, first of all, I got that job because I actually was doing a pilot for another TV show
27:40
This is Watch What Happens Live. And Andy, it was a show called Fashionality
27:45
It never aired. It was on Bravo. And it was kind of like where the crossroads of culture and, and, and, and
27:55
fashion and there was a segment kind of like Andy Rooney used to have on like 60 minutes where you would
28:01
cut to like Andy's desk and he would sort of like talk we had a section on that show um for Andy Cohen
28:07
and Andy Cohen was like uh like you would cut to him at his office at Bravo and he would talk about like
28:13
you know whatever this is before the real housewives but something like that um that little section
28:20
became watch what happens live we got his own show and that became watch what happens live and I
28:25
went to his apartment and I sat in his apartment and we talked a little bit about what we wanted
28:29
the show to look like and he was like I kind of wanted to be like a clubhouse meets my apartment
28:33
and so the bookshelves and watch what happens live are I took photos and I recreated a version of
28:40
that many of the dressing pieces of dressing and the chotchkes and things like that are actual
28:46
objects that were from Andy's house and I think that that rug was a gift I might be butchering
28:53
the story but I don't think it was I think it's a gift from Joe Montello to him. That rug was a gift. And I think we took it from Andy's house
29:02
and it's there. And that is an example. And I want a live studio audience. And I was like
29:09
but we're going to do this in a, that is a storage closet. That room is a storage closet. And we
29:14
cleared it out and we made it a 30 person TV studio. And now that, and ironically, when you talk
29:20
about the difference of like the reach, I remember talking to Tommy Kale, the day of Greece
29:25
live airing and he said you realize that like more people will see Greece live tonight than we'll
29:31
see Hamilton in seven years. And you know, here we are. I don't even know how many years later
29:38
from you watch what happens live, but that show, you know, a million people see it a week
29:42
Yeah. So or something. I don't know. It's crazy. When you're when you, well, on a day to day
29:49
basis before we let you go, because we've, I love walking down this memory lane and I want people to see
29:53
Tommy. I'm seeing Tommy on Wednesday. We're filming this on a Monday, so I'm excited to check it out
29:58
Now we'll be looking through a whole other set of lenses to see what David has tinkered with
30:02
and played with to make us live in this space. On a day-to-day basis, how do you differentiate
30:07
your day? Is it meetings? Is it design? Is there certain hours? Is every day different
30:12
How do you schedule it? Sadly, my days are spent basically sitting in this chair on Zoom calls
30:20
unless we're in production and I'm on site doing tech rehearsal or we're loading something in
30:27
I just came back from a kind of crazy trip to Las Vegas in which I'm working on several
30:32
different projects, including overseeing a load in of something and overseeing an actual
30:36
performance of something. But in general, I'm sitting on Zoom. And I kind of think about it like from 10 to 6, I'm working for everyone else
30:44
I'm showing up. I'm managing up to my clients, to my collaborators
30:49
I'm showing them work and I'm managing my team. And then after that, I'm sitting down and I get to be creative
30:56
And so it's, you know, inspiration strikes early in the morning. I get up
31:00
I shut off my phone for at least an hour, if not longer
31:05
And I just have me time and creative time. And the same thing happens after hours
31:10
But the way it works is, you know, you got to show up for your collaborators
31:15
And that happens, you know, during business hours. Well, we will be looking for your name on every credit
31:20
on all the award shows, on the Grammy specials, and the playbills, and come Tony Time
31:27
We'll be looking forward to seeing the awards. It's really great for us
31:30
We get to spend so much time with directors, choreographers, and actors, and singers, but you create the environment and the world that we fall into to make all of the magic happen
31:40
And it was so nice to be able to hear a little bit of how it happens. Well, thank you
31:43
It's really great to meet you. It's such a weird and interesting and satisfying way to spend a life to get to
31:50
work with some of these people and to really help them tell the best version of their stories
31:55
And I, you know, I'm thinking about Tommy now to be able to bring that show about trauma and
32:03
isolation and then ultimately how community saves someone. It's like more poignant now in a post-pandemic
32:09
world than I think it was even 30 years ago. And there's a moment, ironically
32:14
at the end of the show where the entire cast comes downstage and just sings, right? Just sing
32:20
They sing extraordinarily. There's no scenery. There's no lighting. There's no projections
32:26
They're just standing in a row. And it's one of the most extraordinarily effective pieces that I, moments on stage that I have ever seen
32:39
It is so moving to people. They stand up. They are moved to stand up
32:44
It's not the end of the show, right? They are moved to stand up. And it happens not once
32:48
It happens consistently. And interestingly, as a person who makes scenery and environments from my life
32:55
it's the moment that, like, in some ways, is the best moment in the entire show. There's no pyrotechnics except for, like, human connection
33:00
And so, you know, it's great that I get to be front row in the making of these things
33:05
But ultimately, the thing that, like, moves people is that human connection
33:09
And so that's extraordinary. And yes, and that's what art is about
33:14
But it's aided a lot by the work that you do and you create. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it only feels good because I'll always
33:19
the scenery was there and then it goes away. Exactly. Exactly. I'm making sure you, you know, don't undercut your check here
33:26
David, David is, you can follow David and all the design and he pops up everywhere
33:30
You could be Lady Gaga and you could be the next Broadway show, et cetera. Everyone calls David
33:35
So follow David on Instagram and you want to know more about the studio and the work
33:39
You can go to cornstudio.com as well and get the information for and stay up to date on all the things that are going on over there
33:47
And I would say I would force you to help me. But I don't, I mean, what are we going to do at 54 below or I buy a house
33:56
You know, I'm going to send you a couch fabric and say, David, what do you think? Is this good
34:00
I mean, listen, a lot of people are like, oh, we can't afford you. I'm not going to call you
34:04
And I always think, like, can you afford not to call me? Okay
34:10
Think about it. Well, you know, we put it in that way
34:15
I'm ready. I'm so grateful for you to spend some time with us today
34:20
Thank you so much for the work. Thank you. Thank you for having me. This is a real pleasure. Thanks
34:24
Pleasure. Thank you for being here. Can you afford not to call? Well, on my teacher's salary and my day life, I'm sure I can't afford him
34:31
But if you have a theater piece, if you have an immersive piece, if you have a television show or something, that's the person, y'all
34:38
Come on. David Korens. What a fascinating conversation. So when you have kids that want to go into theater but they can't sing or they can't dance or they can't act
34:45
or they want to be a part of it, or they're just the kid that gets the stage crew. Well, the stage crew can turn around to design the Oscars
34:51
You know, it's an amazing, amazing story for sure. Make sure you follow and say, go support art, go support a show today
34:57
Thank you so much for being here. We love being on Broadway World. We love being a part of the artistic community where artists talk about art
35:02
I look forward to joining you next week every single Friday right here on Broadway World
35:07
and every single day over the Broadway podcast network. Follow me, say hey, at Robert M. Vannon, and join us on the roundtable
35:12
Until next time, everybody, there's more love than there is hate. there's more good than there is bad and there is more joy than there is sadness
35:18
We just sometimes have to find it. The best is certainly yet to come. Until next time, thanks everybody
#Broadway & Musical Theater
#Fashion Designers & Collections
#Music & Audio
#Performing Arts
#Vocals & Show Tunes