I just hid a speaker behind the column right next to it. Good enough for me at that distance. The music in the play fades in and out of the reality of the room, across time and memory and so on, so its source could and should be hard to pin down at times anyway. I underscored the whole play with various renditions of the old standard "A Bird in a Gilded Cage", choosing from recordings in period for Dad's record collection where appropriate, and from later recordings that follow Tom through time as he relates his memory. Since there's always a Victrola in a season of theatre, I've kept for years a collection of needle noises and now a Victrola-ish EQ saved on our M32. Nothing exposes the artifice of a carefully hidden effect speaker like a "now brilliantly remastered in stunning HD audio!" track supposedly coming from a well-used phonograph.
Were the candles in the candelabra real or electronic??
The candle effect was real, designed in cooperation with our fire marshal. This one is a little more complex than some given blocking, proximity to flowing costumes and the newspaper called for "to catch the drippings". Happy to share an example of a successful hazard assessment and safety plan if anyone wants to know how to impress their AHJ so they can have nice things. Beeswax has a good burn rate and color, and smells wonderful.
Did you use a 90 volt source alternating at 25 Hertz to make the phones sound correct when rang??? ( Compared to how incorrect phones sound if / when rang by a 60 Hz. source. )
Inquiring minds (and nosy old geezers from Canada) want to know.
The calls in this show are all outgoing, so no need, but I've never built the circuit before because I've always had access to a Tele-Q with variable frequency 12-60Hz. Check your notes - I think 20Hz would put us in St Louis, whereas 25Hz would give it a British accent. In this show (for which I was not prop master) the phone had no cord and just floated around on that table - a pet peeve of mine but fine in the spirit of the particular play - nobody cares to call on them, and the cord's cut anyway. Amanda definitely talks to herself and hears voices talking back.
Having a director who's attuned to various angles of lighting is a joy, if / when you're fortunate enough to work with one.
Well, my usual directors are good at listening when I ask to tweak blocking to be less a blockage, but when appropriate I also tend to focus side light at not-quite-side angles so it can squeeze around L/R blockages. Booms often pan upstage 5-15 degrees, high sides often pan downstage sometimes as far as being a diagonal back angle more than side. Especially in anything Tennessee Williams, those slashing angles are useful for talking about conflict and distance and longing and all that.