Oscar Show Opts for ‘Spare Elegance’ Instead of Glitz

When the producer of the 62nd annual Academy Awards offered his first input to the show’s production designer, he let two words provide the guidelines for the scenery and lighting--”spare elegance.”

Four-time Emmy-winning art director Roy Christopher took that lead and producer Gilbert Cates’ international theme to design a set that promises to nix the traditional glitz of past shows.

But while the show’s look will be decidedly non-Hollywood, Christopher assures movie fans looking forward to the worldwide telecast on March 26 that it will meet Cates’ elegance directive.

A construction crew of about 150, including 50 painters, has been working since early January to create the scenery, valued at about $500,000.

“The basic set is composed of etched silver with columns that will look like frosted glass with a single filament of neon going up them and some antique gold banding,” Christopher explained.

The stage will evolve into 40 to 50 different looks in the course of the three-hour program, with some elements descending into place from the rafters and others rolling in from the wings.

Standing watch over the proceedings will be six 25-foot-tall silver-carved silhouettes of the prized Oscar statue, each suspended from a curved track enabling them to shift positions.

There will be staircases on stage for presenters’ entrances, but Christopher said they are considerably shorter than those used in past years. Producers, under the gun from networks to cut time from the broadcast, determined that the leisurely strolls down the stairs were making the program run long.

In addition to the customary parade of presenters and recipients, the telecast will include lavish production numbers displaying samples from best costume design nominees and performances of the five candidates for best song.

Less than two weeks before the show, a harried Christopher was tight-lipped about the design for the number from the animated feature, “The Little Mermaid,” choreographed by Paula Abdul.

The 62nd Oscar night will be Christopher’s sixth as production designer and his sixth at the Los Angeles Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.