For the current Broadway production of M. Butterfly, instead of taking the grander scenic approach that the original production of M. Butterfly did for its original run in 1988-1990, Julie Taymor, of Spider-Man and Lion King fame, effectively scaled down her version by using a series of onstage panels that are 12 feet high by six feet wide. Scenic designer Paul Steinberg has them slide, turn and rotate to create different scenery. This is a more old-school direction than taken by many current Broadway shows which track on set pieces through automation. While some furniture is brought on for key scenes, the panels here are slid on, turned around and folded in and out through the efforts of crew and cast members – a low-tech twist on the high-tech trend toward theatrical automation.
– Bryan Reesman, from “Inside Theater,” PLSN, Dec. 2017, page 42
