Robin Wagner

Wagner, Robin [Samuel Anton] (b. 1933), designer. The San Francisco native studied at the California School of Fine Arts and created his earliest scenic designs for theatres in his hometown. In New York he worked for a time under Ben Edwards and Oliver Smith, then served as designer for Washington's Arena Stage from 1964 to 1967. By the 1970s Wagner was among the busiest set designers on Broadway with such memorable productions as Hair (1968), The Great White Hope (1968), Promises, Promises (1968), Jesus Christ Superstar (1971), Sugar (1972), Seesaw (1973), A Chorus Line (1975), On the Twentieth Century (1978), 42nd Street (1980), Dreamgirls (1981), Jerome Robbins' Broadway (1989), City of Angels (1989), Crazy for You (1992), Angels in America (1993), Victor/Victoria (1995), The Life (1997), Saturday Night Fever (1999), The Producers (2001), Flower Drum Song (2002), and Wicked (2003). Wagner's sets are known for their sense of movement, whether it is simply revolving mirrors, as in A Chorus Line, or the gliding towers of lights in Dreamgirls or the complex train units in On the Twentieth Century.