Stage Review: American Song Contest 2022

The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the largest musical competitions in the world, each country expending effort sending their songs and performances may it be the host country or even the smallest of participants. The coordination needed for such an international gathering and broadcasting is nothing short of technical magic and this evolution shows contest after contest. Even in this generally European affair, few can't help but wonder how it will work if the United States of America gets added into the equation, a question few care to answer but this year the American Song Contest tries to give an idea of both how such a contest would work in the US and how big the country is. Not so much as to question the show's format or entrants, this essay will comment on its biggest visual aspect: the stage.

The contest takes place in a studio, giving it a smaller space and enclosing side walls, rather fitting as part of the concept is that of a road trip. The main background screen is a split screen placed in the middle of the stage, thus hiding stage space behind it instead of simply splitting for entrances, it even adds to its utility of hiding an impressive piece of lighting. Returning to the split screen, it floats when closed, and its placement gives way to entrance effects. When open the otherwise dark void is filled by an arrangement of lights that can stand on its own.

You'd be hard-pressed to find something in modern stages that can be called a centerpiece thanks to screens, but this contest has a feature that can take this description. GLP supplied the stage with brand-new impression X5 washlights in a circular arrangement, rather fitting for the lamps to debut in a debuting show. 

Floor lights only take up an inner part of the stage to give it a regular shape. On both sides of the stage the stage extends as wing entrances, something one can only pull of properly in a studio. The entire look is dictated more by the space limitations than anything, but the approaches taken to compensate for its small size is great to say the least.

The otherwise featureless expanse is compensated more by props than screen visuals, which gives less spectacle to the background and puts them closer to the performer, though all this is more directorial this approach gives the show an identity distinct from Eurovision.

Another feature nicely exploited is the fact that there is a bedroom's worth of space between the main background and the back end of the stage. Some performances used this to great effect by treating the split screen as a giant pair of sliding doors.

Whether this would become a regular design (regular local talent-type shows tend to standardize) or the would be variations for every season (a laud to the Europeans), the first season's stage has served its job well visually as the songs stand up well for America's first foray in making a song contest.