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Music is a universal language that appeals to people of all ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, cultural communities, political ideologies and across national boundaries. It should come as no shock, then, that many plays, musicals and theater productions have musical themes. Dance recitals, school events and photoshoots often use music as a unifying power for the communities they serve.

Backdrops By Charles H. Stewart offers nearly thirty unique backdrops using music as the theme, such as notes, musical instruments, dancers, and sheet music, to set the stage for your next performance. Let’s explore a few options to take your production to the next level.

Set the Scene with a Musical Vibe

Whether your organization is hosting a dance recital, comedy night, theatrical performance or an awards night, a musical backdrop can set the tone for your event.

Musical Notes

Music inspires us all, whether we are celebrating a milestone event or mourning the passing of a loved one. Musical notes symbolize this inspiration.

This Record Warp III Backdrop features wavy musical notes, floating records, and yellow stars throughout.

This Musical Space Backdrop shows tumbling CDs and musical notes set against a colorful space background.

Instruments

This Classical Novelty Backdrop features many recognizable orchestral instruments, including strings, brass, and percussion. In the background, musical notes appear.

This Piano Border Novelty Backdrop features piano keys around the border with two trumpets spotlighted in the center.

Dancers

This Just Dance Backdrop depicts silhouettes of dancers with spotlights.

This Rock Concert Backdrop features the silhouette of a rock band and crowd against a smoky purple background.

Music is widely recognized as a universal language, effortlessly connecting people across ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, cultural communities, political ideologies, and national boundaries. This unifying power makes musical themes a natural fit for plays, musicals, dance recitals, and other theater productions. Backdrops By Charles H. Stewart supports this connection by offering nearly 30 unique backdrops featuring musical notes, instruments, dancers, and sheet music to set the stage and elevate any musical-themed event or performance.

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, step right up! Dim the lights, queue the popcorn, and prepare to be transported to a world of wonder in our Big Top center ring! Today, we are looking at circus backdrops that can transport your audiences to the spectacular world of high wire acts, acrobatics, death-defying spectacles, animals and more!

Whether your theater group, dance troupe, or school is hosting a circus-themed musical or play, a dance exhibition with a circus theme or a celebration such as a carnival, birthday party or photoshoot, Backdrops By Charles H. Stewart can provide the perfect backdrop setting for your special event. Let’s explore the many circus-themed backdrops available.

The Greatest Show On Earth

Once known as the tagline of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the “Greatest Show on Earth” moniker has become synonymous with circus entertainment around the world. From swinging trapeze artists to feats of wonder, the circus has touched many of us in our childhoods. Here are just a few of the more than twenty backdrops available here at Backdrops By Charles H. Stewart.

Acrobatics

Twists, turns and death-defying leaps are features on these backdrops ideal for a dance recital, circus-themed birthday party or school special event.

This Circus Tab Backdrop features circus performers performing acrobatic stunts in silhouette.

This Cirque Tab Backdrop depicts colorful, abstract contortionists performing for the crowd.

The Big Top

An image often conjured when envisioning the circus is a large red-and-white-striped tent, lined with lighting and ribbons to attract the attention of passersby.

This Circus Interior Backdrop features an interior view of a tent like this, with the three center rings and special guests in the background.

This colorful Circus Backdrop showcases clowns and other performers showing off their skills under the Big Top.

This exterior view, titled Circus Tent Exterior Backdrop, is an ideal welcome to the circus. It features a red and yellow striped circus tent showing different circus act posters such as bears, elephants, tigers and, of course, clowns and acrobats.

This unique Circus Wagon Split Backdrop features a circus on the go, with a colorful wagon for lions, tigers, and bears as it travels from town to town. It displays a large sign reading Greatest Show On Earth as it rolls to the next performance city.

Backdrops By Charles H. Stewart offers a wide range of circus-themed backdrops for events such as dance recitals, theatrical productions, and carnivals. We’ve showcased just a glimpse of the “Greatest Show On Earth” collection, featuring dynamic acrobatic silhouettes, classic Big Top interiors and exteriors, and the charming Circus Wagon Split design. To explore the full range of over twenty available backdrops and find the perfect setting to bring your circus-themed vision to life, visit the Backdrops By Charles H. Stewart website today!

Thoughts of Las Vegas conjure images of neon lights, all-night casinos, and round-the-clock entertainment. The famous entertainment and hotel strip is filled with over-the-top excess and indulgence, earning it the nickname “Sin City.” Many a play and musical has been set in Las Vegas or a Vegas-type city, where the glittering lights juxtapose the seedy underbelly of what fame can be.

Guys & Dolls, Casino Girl, Lucky Stiff, Honeymoon in Vegas, and Gambler are just a few of the productions that use gambling or Las Vegas as the setting. Let’s explore the many backdrops of this category offered at Backdrops By Charles H. Stewart.

The Vegas Strip

The place most commonly associated with Las Vegas is the “strip,” a famous 4-mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, just south of downtown Las Vegas. It is known globally as a hub for luxury resorts, casinos, entertainment, dining, and nightlife, featuring iconic landmarks such as the Bellagio Fountains and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, as well as themed hotels recreating world cities.

This Las Vegas Casino Backdrop features some of these famous and fabulous Las Vegas hotel casinos.

This backdrop, the Las Vegas Casino Backdrop, features typical gambling items such as casino chips, a roulette wheel, and playing cards.

This Las Vegas Backdrop is another option featuring all of the famous Las Vegas casinos on the strip, including the iconic Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Venetian, Bellagio, and Golden Nugget signs.

This Las Vegas Backdrop depicts a night scene featuring various casino hotels, including the Luxor and Caesars.

Casinos & Stages

Casinos and entertainment venues are essential to Las Vegas’s identity, which is known globally as a hub for luxury resorts, gambling, and round-the-clock entertainment. Backdrops featuring casinos and live entertainment stages are the epitome of the city’s nightlife and iconic attractions.

Live entertainment of showgirls or famous performers/singers would make for an ideal backdrop. This Showgirls Backdrop is currently on sale for $500.00 and features beautiful showgirls who grace the stage in their dramatic costumes.

For performances seeking a simpler backdrop that showcases the stage, this Cabaret Drapes Backdrop features elegant red drapes with light orbs.

This String of Gold Backdrop features strings of gold coins for that shimmering effect with a black background and would be ideal to set the stage for a dance recital, play or musical.

From the glittering spectacle of the famous Strip to the intimate setting of a stage or casino floor, a Las Vegas backdrop is the epitome of excitement and glamour, perfect for a wide variety of theatrical productions. By selecting a dazzling, high-quality backdrop from Backdrops By Charles H. Stewart, you can instantly transport your audience into the vibrant, non-stop world of “Sin City” and capture the essence of its unique entertainment culture for your next show. Be sure to explore the full collection today and find the perfect glittering scene for your production.

When most people think of a farm, they think of an iconic, rustic red building surrounded by animals such as cattle, pigs, chickens and of course, a barnyard dog. The thought evokes a powerful image and a sense of nostalgia for American agricultural heritage. The American farm and barn are found in many plays and musicals throughout American history.

Let’s explore the imagery of barn and farm settings for your next rustic production, whether it is a scene from The Wizard of Oz, as Dorothy is swept away by a twisting tornado or Footloose, where small-town teens learn how to dance from a big city kid. Or perhaps your school is preparing for a production of other plays and musicals with scenes that depict agrarian life, such as Our Town, Oklahoma or The Music Man.

Barn Backdrops to Set the Stage

Farms historically symbolize a simpler time, when settlers planted crops, raised their children in nature and were self-sufficient with cattle and an agrarian lifestyle. Farms and barns also harken back to a time of resilience, independence, hard work and leaving a legacy by living off the land.

Performances such as The Music Man, Oklahoma, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Footloose explore these themes, and our backdrops help create an atmosphere that draws audiences in and keeps them engaged throughout the production. Here are a few of our barn/farm backdrops to help your theater group set the stage for a fantastic performance.

Barn Exteriors

For theatrical performances that aim to showcase the exterior of a farm environment or its actual structures, these options, along with many others, can be rented from Backdrops By Charles H. Stewart.

This Red Barn Theater Backdrop features the exterior of a “Red Barn Theater,” with an extensive theater schedule, a wishing well, and an open door leading into the theater. The red color is iconic and evokes the historic nature of barns and farms.

This Farm Backdrop features a traditional farm landscape, with a farmhouse and barn, a wooden post fence, and an overgrown cornfield under bright blue skies. It is ideal for The Wiz, The Wizard of Oz, Oklahoma, and Honk!

Another option for an exterior farm scene is this Farm Backdrop, featuring a traditional white farmhouse, an adjacent barn, and cornfields with a large tree.

Interior Barn Scenes

For productions with scenes within the interior of a barn or farmhouse, here are a few options for your backdrops.

This Shed Interior Tab Backdrop shows a crowded barn interior with a hay loft, farm equipment and a wagon.

Another Shed Interior Tab Backdrop features a barn interior with a hay loft, a wood pile and a wooden wagon.

This Barn Interior Backdrop features a rustic wood barn interior showing a loft with hay.

This Barn Interior Backdrop features a rustic wood barn interior with a loft and many pieces of farm equipment.

From iconic red barn exteriors to rustic wood interiors, a barn or farm backdrop provides a versatile and meaningful setting for a wide range of theatrical productions, from beloved classics like Oklahoma and The Wizard of Oz to modern favorites like Footloose. By choosing an authentic, high-quality backdrop from Backdrops By Charles H. Stewart, your theater group can effortlessly set the stage, draw in your audience, and bring the rich symbolism of American agrarian life to your next performance. Explore the full collection today to find the perfect rustic scene for your production.

Crystal-clear water, soft sand, rocky shorelines, white puffy clouds and miles of water as far as the eye can see. Beaches, seashores, and waterfront scenes are a common theme in theater productions. How are you planning to transform your stage into a beachfront oasis? Backdrops By Charles H. Stewart offers over 30 options for seaside staging.

Productions such as Pirates of the Caribbean, The Little Mermaid, Carousel, Mamma Mia and Pirates of Penzance all have one thing in common: scenes that depict the ocean, beaches or waterfront living. Let’s explore the many options of beach stage settings from rocky shorelines to tropical paradises.

The Beach at Sunset

There’s nothing quite so romantic as the beach at sunset, as you watch the glow change colors and then disappear. Backdrops by Charles H. Stewart offers several options for scenes transitioning from day to night.

This Tropical Sunset Tab Backdrop lets audiences feel like they are right there, watching the sunset over the ocean in this lush setting.

This Island Sunset Backdrop offers another option for setting the stage with a beautiful sunset over a sandy, tropical beach.

This Tropical Sunset Backdrop offers a slightly different sunset hue, with palm trees silhouetted against an orange-and-yellow sky.

Rocky Coast Beaches

Not all beaches are the same. Some feature soft, white sand, while others have ragged, rocky coasts. Here are a few that depict the rocky shore for your beach setting.

This Rocky Coast Backdrop features several rocky cliffs and free-standing rock formations in the ocean, surrounded by blue water and wisps of clouds in the sky.

This Rocky Coast Backdrop features a translucent seacoast and sky, set against a rocky landscape. There is a 3′ black border across the top as shown.

Sand and Sun: Beach Fun

For theatrical performances that center on beach fun, we offer several options for depicting beach blankets, umbrellas, and beach toys.

This crowded and colorful Atlantic City Boardwalk Beach Backdrop shows the busy boardwalk as well as the Steel Pier, sandy beach, ocean waves, and beach tents.

This serene Tropical Beach Tab Backdrop gives a panoramic view of a sandy beach with palm trees and umbrellas.

This beautiful Bali Hai Backdrop features a tropical beach with a distant island rising from the water.

To view all of our beach backdrops featuring sunsets, beautiful stretches of sand, rocky outposts and crystal clear waters, visit our backdrop listing by category and search for beaches.

Praised for its bold and somewhat sexy choreography, Chicago the Musical is both a celebration of the Jazz Age glitz and glamour and a scathing rebuke of how superficial the pursuit of fame can be. From vaudeville theaters to jazz clubs and from the gritty streets of Chicago to the cold courtroom scenes, Chicago offers a look inside Broadway’s longest-running American musical.

Let’s take a look at both the glamour and grit behind this beloved musical and how your theater can set the stage to bring your audience right inside every incredible choreographed moment.

The Story of Chicago

The musical Chicago is set in the 1920s and follows aspiring chorus girl Roxie Hart, who murders her lover after he threatens to leave her. She hires the slick lawyer Billy Flynn to make her a celebrity through sensational headlines, which puts her in direct competition with established vaudeville star Velma Kelly, who is in jail for murdering her husband and sister. It is there that Roxie meets Velma, and their competition for the limelight begins. By the end of the storyline, both women find that their celebrity status is fickle, as audiences quickly move on to the next sensationalized scandal.

Setting Your Theater for Chicago

The scenes that chronicle the story of Roxie and Velma shift from jazz clubs of the 1920s to courtrooms, jails, the streets of Chicago and vaudeville theaters. Here are just a few of the many backdrops available at Charles H. Stewart to showcase your performance of Chicago.

The Streets of Chicago

There are many options for setting the stage for the streets of Chicago, including graffiti-sprayed walls, underpasses and skyline images that will help your audience be transported to the Prohibition Era in Chicago, Illinois.

This Under the Bridge Backdrop features the underside of an elevated highway or elevated train, such as the Chicago “L.” It also shows the steel supports under the bridge, depicting the cold and sometimes dirty side of city living.

This Cityscape Backdrop features a black-and-white view of city buildings.

This City Street Backdrop shows a street-level view of storefronts, brownstones, coffee shops, restaurants and apartments.

This Night Skyline Backdrop features a beautiful evening skyline with city lights reflecting off the waters of Lake Michigan.

Jazz Club & Bars

Since Chicago is set during the height of the Jazz Age and a time of prohibition, jazz clubs and bars play a role in setting the stage for the production.

This jazz backdrop, titled Jazz Music Backdrop, is currently for sale. It presents a black-and-white depiction of some of the greatest jazz musicians and singers ever to grace the stage.

This Pub Interior Backdrop features a wood-panel interior, a wooden-beam ceiling, and the bar on the left.

Theaters

For scenes where the main characters show off their choreography chops, this theater backdrop is great at bringing the audience into the 1920s theater environment.

This Center Stage Backdrop features floor lights, spotlights, and front-stage curtains.

Courtroom Scenes

For scenes where the two leading ladies head to court for their crimes, this Courtroom Interior Cut Backdrop is ideal, featuring a wood-panel interior with a central cutaway and two large Corinthian columns.

To view all of our backdrop options for Chicago, visit our show suggestion page or use our search feature to look up specific backdrops for your performance.

Palaces are historically symbolic structures that harken back to a time of royalty and kingdoms that ruled many regions around the globe. Palaces symbolize power and authority, often used in plays and musicals to represent kingship or rulership. They also depict a high level of opulence, grandeur, and status that is commonly in stark contrast to those living just outside the walls of the structure.

Palaces are depicted in many plays and musicals throughout history, including some of the more recent and popular performances such as Camelot, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Dracula, Beauty and the Beast, Annie, My Fair Lady, Sleeping Beauty, Damn Yankees, and Phantom of the Opera, just to name a few. Many children’s stories feature fanciful palaces where the hero must overcome a malevolent antagonist and eventually “live happily ever after” in their palatial home.

No matter the storyline of your production, if it contains a palace setting, Backdrops By Charles Stewart has over 80 options of varying styles, colors, and elegance for your choosing. Let’s explore some of the options that will help set the stage for your next performance.

Make a Grand Entrance – Grand Staircases

From Cinderella to Beauty in Beauty and the Beast, a regal staircase is a must for making a grand entrance. Deep royal colors like purple and red, as well as sweeping staircases, are ideal for introducing main characters and pivotal moments during performances.

This Palace Ballroom Tab Backdrop features a grand staircase inside the palace with red drapes, rugs, and arched landings.

This Palace Staircase Backdrop depicts a grand staircase with ornate, gold curtains. It also features statues and fresh flowers befitting a palace entryway.

This Palace Interior Backdrop features a gold palace interior with a center staircase and royal purple curtains.

Palace Ballrooms

From elegant balls to exquisite dinner parties, palace ballrooms are often the setting of fairy tales and musicals alike. Picture Belle and the Beast dancing amid the chandeliers!

This Palace Ballroom Backdrop features a nighttime view of a grand ballroom with rows of large glass windows, marble columns, and luxurious drapery.

This Palace Library Backdrop features an ornate palace library with a never-ending inventory of books and shelves. This backdrop is ideal for Beauty and the Beast!

This Palace Ballroom Backdrop shows an ornate ballroom with gold leaf, red ceiling, and large windows.

This Palace Interior Backdrop features an ornate palace interior with gold chandeliers and purple draperies.

Explore all the fantastic palace backdrops offered at Backdrops By Charles Stewart. From sweeping staircases to polished ballrooms, backdrops can make your performance come to life!

Welcome to the world of sweetness, where candy canes are the size of trees and colorful gumdrops brighten the stage for your next performance. Whether it’s a production of the popular Nutcracker ballet or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, sweets like lollipops, chocolate rivers, cakes, and gingerbread houses will play a prominent role in setting your stage.

Backdrops by Charles Stewart has dozens of candy-themed backdrops to help your musical, play, dance recital, or ballet come to life. Let’s explore some vibrant, fun candy and sweetness backdrops for your performance.

Candyland

This classic children’s board game features colorful stops along the path, including Gumdrop Mountains, Peppermint Forest, Licorice Castle, and the final destination, Candy Castle. Some locations on the board game, such as Chocolate Swamp or Molasses Swamp, are meant to slow players down from reaching the end of the game. Other parts of the game feature shortcuts that help players reach the finish line before their competitors, such as the Rainbow Trail.

This Candyland backdrop depicts a world with larger-than-life candy canes, a flowing chocolate river, lollipop bushes, and homes constructed out of candy, making it ideal for performances that center around candy or dance recitals with candy-themed music.

Gingerbread House

Whether your performance includes the fairytale story of Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm or the holiday favorite The Nutcracker Suite, showcasing a gingerbread house should be a prominent part of your setting.

This Gingerbread House Exterior Backdrop is an ideal scene-setter, depicting an edible gingerbread house decorated with candy canes, gumdrops, and peppermints.

Or your performance could use this Hansel & Gretel Gingerbread House Exterior Cut Backdrop that showcases a cottage in the deep forest with a cut doorway and window. The oven door is also open so that the witch can be pushed into the oven, as is common in the fairytale ending.

Palace of Sweets

The “Palace of Sweets” or “Kingdom of Sweets” is a setting in the ballet The Nutcracker, where the main character, Clara, arrives after traveling through the Land of Snow. It is often shown as a fantasy land with cakes, cupcakes, a multitude of candies, and sweets of all different colors and sizes.

This Palace of Sweets Backdrop features a whimsical palace with frosted cakes inside candy-cane archways.

This Palace of Sweets Backdrop features candy cane columns, oversized candies, and chocolates on a pink background.

Chocolate Factory

Performing the much-loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? You will need to set the stage to tell the story of a destitute young boy who wins a golden ticket to tour the mysterious and magical chocolate factory of Willy Wonka.

This Chocolate Factory Backdrop shows the inside of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory with a chocolate flowing river, a chocolate waterfall, and a candy landscape.

Planning your next performance that includes sweets, candies, or desserts? Explore the many fantastic candy backdrops available at Backdrops By Charles Stewart for your next play, musical, ballet, or dance recital.

Faith, religion, and spirituality are at the heart of many plays and musicals on Broadway and in community theaters. Shows like Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Footloose, Godspell, The Book of Mormon, The Sound of Music, and The King and I feature distinct references to religion and showcase religious landmarks, such as cathedrals and churches.

Broadway theater not only features diverse themes of faith and religion, but also explores spiritual journeys and finds common ground between faiths. These themes can range from overtly religious stories, such as biblical adaptations, to character-driven struggles with doubt or the idea that theater itself can be a spiritual experience.

Religiously themed musicals and plays have the power to inspire, touch, and enlighten audiences with their powerful music and moving messages. Let’s explore some of the more than 25 backdrops appropriate for faith-based performances or stories that are Biblically based.

Cathedrals & Churches

Cathedrals and churches have a deep, intertwined history with theater that dates back to the origins of theatrical performances in religious dramas. The architecture of cathedrals also influences modern theater design, while some churches have adapted spaces for performances.

This Church Interior Backdrop features a Gothic interior with stained glass windows. This backdrop is ideal for Phantom of the Opera, Pippin, and Hunchback of Notre Dame.

This European Cathedral Exterior Backdrop showcases a European piazza with buildings to the right and left and a cathedral in the center.

This Church Interior Backdrop features a stone cathedral interior showing an altar, arches, and large windows.

This Church Interior Backdrop is another option for the inside of a cathedral with large stained glass windows.

This Farm Landscape Backdrop features rolling farmland at night, with tilled earth and a white chapel at its center. A 2′ black border surrounds the scene as shown.

Religious Landmarks Around the World

Religious and historic landmarks around the globe are often the focus of plays and musicals, including locations like Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and India’s Taj Mahal.

This Bethlehem Tab Backdrop depicts a barn in the desert with the Star of Bethlehem pointing the way to the newborn son. It also represents two camels, signifying the arrival of the three wise men, as mentioned in the Old Testament.

Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall is considered one of the most significant sites in Judaism. This Wailing Wall Backdrop shows this famous holy ground.

This Jerusalem Arches Backdrop is another option that shows old stone structures from the Holy Land.

Explore all of our religious-themed backdrops that will support your production. Talk to our team about delivery and scheduling options.

Proudly renting theatrical backdrops to the United States and Canada for over 100 years.