Frasier returned with more freshness than familiarity. It’s a new age for Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), as well as a new environment. ‘Production Designer Glenda Rovello updates Frasier’s world, his new home in Boston, to suit the man who prides himself on his exquisite taste.
Rovello is known for her work on shows such as Will & Grace and Two Broke Girls. Back in the ’90s, she actually dreamed of working for original Frasier production designer, Roy Christopher. It’s a bit of a full-circle moment for Rovello, who’s now nominated for Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Program (Half-Hour).
“I was such a big admirer of the original production designer,” Rovello told Immersive. “I truly respected and admired Roy Christopher‘s work tremendously. And so, when I got that first pilot script, I was just so excited because I loved Frasier, just the look of it. After I read it, it was nothing but opportunity.”
Recently, Rovello spoke with Immersive Media about a few of those opportunities.
How did you want to bridge the past with the present for Frasier?
Well, it’s been 20 something years since, so I did look at a few episodes. I was familiar with them. While Frasier was in his first Seattle apartment, he was a big fan of postmodernism, which is something that we don’t do any longer. It’s not something that we emulate, or at least the design community is still promoting in any way. While those trappings were gone, I did look at his collections. He had pre-Columbian art, and so Amy Feldman, the decorator, found some very nice pieces.
We maintained the things that he loved in the past, and there were echoes of them in his new space. But more importantly, what are we seeing in current interiors? I’ve always admired a company from Kansas, it’s called Porter Teleo. They do hand painted wallpaper, and they have this one that looks like a Rorschach test. I knew I wanted that.
It was something that I’ve seen for a few years now. It’s not something I could just use on any show because its cost makes it something that requires a real commitment. I just thought it was absolutely perfect for Frasier. The furniture that we selected I wanted it to look like things that you would see in showrooms today.
The writers wanted to be able to talk about design. So, they wanted Christian Lacroix pillows. I talked to their showroom and got the approval and the pillows. Then I just started with, what can we afford and what has that design gravitas? It’s Mario Bellini chairs and the Kelly Wearstler fabrics. We just started accumulating things that not only enhanced our interior, but also helped the writers talk about it.
The wallpaper is hilarious, but it’s never played as a sight gag, know what I mean? It’s just naturally funny for the character.
Thank you. I happen to think it’s very beautiful. I think it’s very beautiful, but there are many people who think it’s a visual pun. It absolutely is. It’s not the most subtle Easter egg, but I guess it’s not an Easter egg at all since it’s right in your face. I guess that’s a personal thing. Some people will just see it as just this neutral background, although I don’t think it’s neutral at all. I think it’s a very beautiful backdrop.
Frasier sees himself as a man with good taste. Do you think Frasier has good taste as well?
Yes, I do. In no way did we put anything in that set that we thought would undermine that. Down to the glasses that are on display, again, we wanted to be able to give the designer credit. Those are Tom Dixon glasses. He’s a current designer who does a lot of lighting, but he also works in glass. He made a collection of glasses. It’s just a bunch of layers of things that we think are fine, not fine as an adequate, but fine as an elevated.
How do you keep potential for physical comedy in mind when designing?
Well, we usually start with a pilot script, but then I also try to think about the future and what could eventually happen. In that particular apartment, oftentimes in sitcoms you’ll see now, it’s kind of an open space. The kitchen is part of the living room, and while we have big openings to the kitchen, we also built a wall. It was something that we talked to the writers about. They wanted more separation, yet I also wanted it to look like a current apartment.
The separation between the living room and the kitchen evolved. I really love what we have come up with. There’s a center wall in a very large opening. More importantly, we also have an upstage ability, so that we could enter the kitchen downstage and then exit it upstage. In the future, and they’ve used it many times, there can be that farce where someone’s looking in and they don’t see each other and they kind of go house in the round. So, we have that. I just thought it would be useful for this comedy in the future.
Do you relate to Frasier at all when it comes to taste? Anything you designed for production that was genuinely to your taste?
Yeah. I really like texture on the walls, for sure. I love wallpaper. It’s no secret, I love wallpaper because I love what it does behind our actors. This space, if I put wallpaper on it, it’s so much less silhouette and less harsh. I love what that does. It diffuses the background. I love that.
Any specific antique pieces for Frasier that you were happy to find for the show?
Yes. On the wall that it’s adjacent to the dining room table, there are two ceramic pieces on the wall. They’re brutalists. What I liked about them, it’s probably something that he saw in his youth, maybe in the seventies, and he always liked that period, and I liked how masculine they were. They also provide a lot of color and texture. Those pieces I love.
They’re not a hundred years old, but they’re vintage. What else is vintage in the set? There’s a reference to a wing chair, but it really is modern, because it has a steel base. But we picked it because we liked the callback to a wing chair. Amy and I went out and we went to a local manufacturer who does very high end, beautiful furniture, and they let us select pieces so they are current.
Back in the day, you really wanted to work with Roy Christopher. It never happened sadly, but did you have any conversations with him over the years?
It was a wonderful short conversation. He and I were up for an Emmy one year. It was my first nomination, and he saw me before we went into the ceremony, and he really complimented me. I didn’t know that I was even on his radar, but it was great to meet him in person. He just gave me probably the highest compliment that anyone can.
Frasier is available to stream on Paramount+.
