AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The Tony Awards are tonight, and Broadway pros will be celebrating, even the ones essential to their productions but who are not recognized at the ceremony in New York. Every year for the past 25, reporter Jeff Lunden turns the spotlight on them. This year, he spoke with people who operate video cameras on stage, which has become a dazzling new trend up and down Broadway.
JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE: A 25-foot high LED screen fills the entire stage of the St. James Theater, where the Tony-nominated revival of "Sunset Boulevard," starring Tony nominee Nicole Scherzinger, is playing.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WITH ONE LOOK")
NICOLE SCHERZINGER: (As Norma Desmond, singing) With one look, I can break your heart.
LUNDEN: And with one look, you can see every pore on Scherzinger's face in black-and-white 4K video.
SHAYNA MCPHERSON: I'm Shayna McPherson, and I'm from Nottingham in the U.K., and I'm here on Broadway, doing a bit of camera stuff.
LUNDEN: McPherson is doing way more than a bit. In addition to dancing in the show's ensemble, she's the chief camera operator. Throughout "Sunset Boulevard," she stands on stage holding a camera rig and shoots live video. But at the beginning of the second act, the action moves onto 44th Street outside the theater. McPherson follows Tony nominee Tom Francis as he sings the title song.
TOM FRANCIS: (As Joe) I came out here to make my name.
MCPHERSON: I love it. It's a thrill. It's really, really fun. And, like, seeing everybody outside, even if they're not waiting for the walkaround - they're just normal people, just walking by. They're like, oh, what's this? Who's this guy walking? Why's there a camera? Oh, why is there security?
FRANCIS: (As Joe, singing) Sunset Boulevard, twisting boulevard, secretive and rich, a little scary.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUNSET BOULEVARD")
FRANCIS: (As Joe, singing) Sunset Boulevard, tempting boulevard.
LUNDEN: Half of the time, McPherson is walking backwards while a stage manager guides her. And they do this eight shows a week, even through rainstorms and snowstorms.
MCPHERSON: It's live every night. The raincoats, the puffer coats when it's a different weather - you know, we always have different plans, as well, just in case of any eventualities.
LUNDEN: Just one block away on 45th Street, there are five camera operators on "The Picture Of Dorian Gray," but they stay inside. The production stars "Succession's" Sarah Snook in a Tony-nominated performance playing 26 different roles.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY")
SARAH SNOOK: (As character) A portrait like this would set you far above all the young artists of England.
BENJAMIN SHEEN: I am Benjamin Sheen. I'm the camera operator, camera captain on "Dorian Gray."
LUNDEN: Trained as a theater director, Sheen has been with the show since it started in Australia and played in London before it came to Broadway.
SHEEN: There's a core team of five camera operators, and we switch between cameras, props. Sort of anything close by to Sarah, we're sort of operating, manipulating. We've got two steady cams so we can run around, basically dance with Sarah. And then there's three tripod cameras as well that are on cables and a few iPhones, as well.
LUNDEN: Sheen says there are 200 spike marks on the stage to make sure the cameras are in the exact spot for a shot because many times in the show, Snook acts with herself. Live video is mixed with recorded video.
SHEEN: You can't just be, like, close to the mark with the camera. It's like - it's got to be right on the mark because otherwise, the prerecorded version of Sarah won't line up with the real version of Sarah, and then the illusion can be broken very easily.
LUNDEN: That's something that's important at "Good Night, And Good Luck," the play co-authored by and starring Tony nominee George Clooney. He plays journalist Edward R. Murrow, and some of his on-camera work is mixed with actual 1950s footage.
JOE FORBRICH: My name is Joe Forbrich, and I am the camera operator for the TV news show within the play.
LUNDEN: Before every show, Forbrich goes on stage at the Winter Garden Theater to check out the camera, which looks vintage.
FORBRICH: We are now on the stage. Over here is the actual camera. This giant CBS behemoth of a camera is actually a plywood box that they fabricated in order to make it look like an old camera. And two of the largest lenses actually have modern-day 4K cameras, and anything below this plywood box is actual vintage, working camera base that it's hundreds of pounds. I believe that base is cast iron.
LUNDEN: As George Clooney looks in the lens, technicians offstage make the modern video, which is seen through various monitors and screens, look vintage, too.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK")
GEORGE CLOONEY: (As Edward R. Murrow) We will not walk in fear one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason.
FORBRICH: They're doing a real-time video filter, from what I understand. And they were concerned for a bit that there was going to be some delay, what they call latency, where the action would happen and then you wouldn't see it on screen till a quarter of a second later. And they were able to work it out.
LUNDEN: Previous productions haven't been able to work that problem out, but all three of these shows have made an incredible technical leap, providing a new way to experience theater on Broadway. For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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