If you’ve been to Broadway in the last few years, you’ve seen David Rockwell’s work — he did the sets for “Hairspray” and this season’s “Kinky Boots” and “Lucky Guy.” That last, says Rockwell, who also designed the city’s three Nobu restaurants, Rosa Mexicana and other temples of haute cuisine, really put his Tony-nominated know-how to the test: “It has about 30 scenes in the first act, and the challenge was to create a place that channelled the compression from a big, messy city to a smoke-filled newsroom in lightning-quick time.” Happily, Rockwell says, “Lucky Guy” star Tom Hanks was willing to do “whatever it took” to make the show come alive, even moving desks on and off stage. Here’s what’s in this designer’s library.
Family Table
by Michael Romano, Karen Stabiner
I’m a frequent customer of Michael’s Union Square Cafe and I’ve done two restaurants recently for Danny Meyer, so I love this book’s focus on social dining and the idea that a restaurant’s family meal is prepared by its junior cooks. I love the recipe for halibut with cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas and lemon.
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
by Jeanne Theoharis
I’m designing the exhibits for the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, opening in 2015 in Atlanta. In it, there’ll be a gallery about the people who helped the movement catch fire. I used to think Mrs. Parks stumbled into the movement, but this book gave me a deeper understanding about what it took for her to be a hero.
The End of Innocence:
Photographs from the Decades that Defined Pop
by Scalo Publishers
This is something I looked at when we did “Hairspray,” a story told through a chubby, rock-loving freedom fighter. These photos capture the energy and optimism of the ’60s and helped shape the set, including a red plastic house curtain shaped like a big hairdo.
Subway
by Bruce Davidson
An amazing photography book that looks at the gritty environment of New York in 1970, with some incredibly vivid images that inspired [the set of] “Lucky Guy.” I love the idea that Davidson’s mom built a darkroom for him and let him wander around the Chicago loop taking photos. I’m from Chicago, too.