A recent trip to Broadway in the Big Apple took me to five of the season’s top shows to see what equipment is used when the stakes are high.
Literally million dollar shows, successful musicals often gross over a million dollars a week. Next February’s off-again, on-again Spiderman, sees songwriter U2’s start-up costs estimated at around $40 million.
Broadway sound designs must provide clear, crisp, detailed sound to every seat in the house for patrons who pay average prices approaching $100.
Digital consoles now dominate Broadway, and are currently the rule, rather than the exception, with DiGiCo’s D5T having arrived several years ago and preferred for top shows, Yamaha’s PM5D-EX beginning to replace the PM1D, Studer’s Vista 5 coming on strong with new theatrical software and Digidesign’s Profile providing a compact solution with plug-in options.
Favorite loudspeaker products include those from Meyer Sound, d&b audiotechnik, L-Acoustics and EAW. Compact line arrays are popular as center-clusters above proscenium arches. Point-source two-way loudspeakers at each side of the stage on the orchestra level and above for the balcony fill in the sides and create accurate imaging.
While small front-fill loudspeakers across the stage lip generally just reinforce vocals, in other coverage zones, it’s not unusual to employ dual loudspeaker systems for vocals and orchestra instruments, allowing the vocal system to be optimized for body mics, while the music system is tweaked to sound natural without getting in the way of the words.
The balcony is frequently treated as a separate acoustical space, often reinforced from a closer overhead house truss.
Under-balcony loudspeakers have been a regular feature for so long that some Broadway houses are permanently wired with loudspeaker cable, and d&b’s E3 has become a darling. Surround systems are now a standard in modern designs, regularly using JF80 compact two-way loudspeakers. Subwoofers commonly have pairs split upstairs and down to provide even coverage throughout the house.
Following is a detailed look at the sound for some of the finest musicals currently on the Great White Way.
Billy Elliot the Musical
Based on the 2000 film, with music by Sir Elton John, Billy Elliot the Musical opened in 2005 in London, where it won awards for best musical, actor, choreography and sound design. This year Paul Arditti won the second ever Tony for Sound for his design, while also nominated for his design of the play Mary Stuart.
In total, Billy Elliot won 10 of its 15 Tony nominations as well as 10 Drama Desk awards, including Best Sound. Hot show? Though the audio vendor is Masque Sound, even Geoff Shearing can’t get tickets.
The Imperial Theater (cap. 1,435) is where I first met Bob Biasetti when he mixed Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – one of the first on a DiGiCo D5T – in the same house-left rear mix position. The orchestra level holds about 800 with one fairly large balcony above.
Biasetti mixes Billy Elliot on a DiGiCo D5T, with a TC control surface, with a Yamaha DM1000 sidecar used for sound effects. Outboard effects include two TC Electronic M3000 reverb for principal actors and chorus, plus five Lexicon PCM 91 for orchestra, drums, surround and some special playback effects.
A redundant pair of Mac Minis run Q-Lab with a pair of MOTU 828 Mk II interfaces for multi-track music, SFX 5.6 runs on dual Masque custom PCs for sound effects, and an Apogee Big Ben digital word clock keeps things synch’ed.
The main loudspeaker system employs an 11-box center cluster of Meyer M’elodie for vocals, with an MSL-2 on either side for orchestra reinforcement to the rear balcony. A house truss also supports six UPA-2Ps for the rear balcony delays.
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Down on the orchestra level at each side of the stage two more M’elodie cabinets supply vocals on top of an MSL-2 for orchestra reinforcement, plus a Meyer UPM-1P to fill the outside area, supported by a d&b B2 subwoofer.
Above at each side of the stage, the balcony is covered from dual five-box M’elodie arrays, each with another Meyer MSL-2 and another UPM-1P. Filling the far outside seats in the balcony on each side are a UPA-1P and a UPM-1P, plus another d&b B2 subwoofer on a platform.
Across the front of the stage are 10 Meyer UPM-1Ps, while a pair of Meyer MM-4s fills around the conductor at its center. Under-balcony loudspeakers consist of ten Meyer UPM-1P at the balcony’s lip and two rings of eight d&b E-0 loudspeakers beyond them.
The surround system consists of three EAW JF80 compact loudspeakers on each side, six across the back and the same arrangement for the balcony upstairs, plus a row of six more across the front of the balcony for covering orchestra level seats in front of the balcony. CQ-1s are built into the set’s back wall for effects.
In the trap room below deck, a Yamaha M7CL is automated for the Aviom monitor system used by the pit musicians, getting inputs from a half-dozen XTA DS800 active splitters.
A Yamaha DM2000 uses a dozen Yamaha D8HR 8-channel mic pres for the 96 piezo-electric contact pickups sunk into the stage for tap shoes. Also shoehorned in downstairs are Yamaha DME 64 digital mix engines and the Meyer Galileos.
“The system is EQ’d and delayed with the DME64s, except the Melodies, which are EQ’d with the Gallileo,” Arditti commented. “I like to use the crosspoint delay matrix function in the DME to delay each loudspeaker in each vocal zone, which provides more coherent vocal imaging.”
On deck, John Cooper and Stephanie Vetter assist Mike Wojchik – when he’s not subbing for Biasetti – with wireless. There are 48 channels of Sennheiser 1046 wireless receivers and 5012 transmitters, used with DPA 4061 body mics. Sennheiser e300 G3 IEMs are used for wireless playback to Billy’s prop radio and cassette player.
Rock of Ages
The Brooks Atkinson Theater (cap.1,100) is a half-block west of the Times Square TKTS booth, hosting Rock of Ages with about 650 seats in the orchestra level’s three sections and half as many in the mezzanine above. It’s an intimate theater, fitting of this show’s club atmosphere and previously was the home of Grease.
Peter Hylinski’s sound design was nominated for a Tony, along with five other Tony noms. His design for Shrek is running a half dozen blocks north on Broadway next to the Late Show’s Ed Sullivan Theater, and he’s assisted by Associate Designer Keith Caggiano, with equipment supplied by PRG’s Mount Vernon shop.
Fourth-season American Idol finalist Constantine Maroulis plays an aspiring rocker working as a busboy at the fictional Bourbon Room club on West Hollywood’s Sunset Strip. Thirty ’80s cover tunes are interwoven with a reasonable plot.
Narration is by the club’s mullet-headed sound guy, and the show is loaded with period clichés. Guitarist Joel Hoekstra is also a member of Night Ranger, whose song “Sister Christian” is in the show.
Jesse Stevens mixes the show on a 96-channel Digidesign Profile. Outboard equipment consists of a dbx 120-xds sub-harmonic synthesizer, a TC Electronic D-Two delay and an Eventide DSP-4000 harmonizer.
In-line outboard processing consists of two channels of Empirical Labs Distressor on the leads, two more principals on Summit DCL-200 compressors, with another for acoustic and a Universal Audio 1176 plus a Tube-Tech PE-16 on electric bass.
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The Profile also employs many plug-ins, including multiple instances of Revibe plus a TC Electronic Nonlin2 on snare. Waves’ C4 multi-band and Renaissance compressors are used on the principals, and URS’ 1970 Classic console compressor and limiter is used on guitars and on the ensemble as a buss compressor, as is Digi’s Real Tape Suite.
Backstage Craig Van Tassel mixes monitors on a maxed-out Yamaha 48-channel M7CL. The guitar players use Sennheiser ew300 G2 IEMs with a Professional Wireless GX4 combiner to help them cut through the neon on the walls of the set, while the bass, drums and keyboard players use hard-wired IEMs.
Meyer UPAs are used for side-fills down-stage, and pairs of EAW UB-12 and d&b E-8 are mounted in the stage, plus a Meyer M1D catches actors up on the club’s staircase.
Band inputs all go to a pair of Cadac M-16 pre-amps while vocals go to a pair of 8-channel Aphex 1788 mic-pres, which all act as the splitter for the two consoles. Tommy Grasso assists with audio on deck. The actors wear Sennheiser HSP-2 headset mics, which are based on the MKE-2, and the six principals are backed up with MKE-1 mics added to their booms.
The main system consists of upper and lower, left and right main arrays of Meyer M’elodie – a six-box array for the balcony and five boxes for the orchestra level – plus a d&b Q-10 for dialog. On a Front of House truss above are three pairs of Meyer CQ-2 loudspeakers, and three Meyer 700HP subwoofers are mounted in the center. Two more 700HP subs are in the otherwise unused orchestra pit.
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The surround system consists of EAW JF60 loudspeaker under the balcony, JF80 loudspeakers in the balcony above, and a row of seven JF80s is across the front of the balcony for under-balcony fill.
The surround system is completed with a pair of d&b E-9 loudspeakers on each side of the orchestra level and another pair upstage are used for effects. A pair of small Meyer UMS subwoofers at the back of the orchestra level near the mix position help compensate for the theater’s natural bass trap.
South Pacific
It’s the first-ever Broadway revival of South Pacific, the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that originally won 10 Tony awards.
In 2008, sound designer Scott Lehrer was the first recipient of the Tony for Sound Design, and South Pacific won 5 Drama Desk and 6 other Tony awards. There are a plethora of hits before Act I is half over: “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Bloody Mary,” “Nothing Like a Dame,” “Bali Ha’i,” “Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair” and “I’m In Love With a Wonderful Guy.”
The Vivian Beaumont Theater (cap. 1,080) on the Lincoln Center complex’s north side on West 66th Street is Manhattan’s only Broadway-class theater not located in the Times Square area. It has an unusual semi-circular, five section “stadium” configuration with a five row loge just above. The orchestra sits beneath a retractable thrust stage, which opens before each act.
There are two consoles at 10-year veteran Marc Salzberg’s mix position. A Cadac J-Type with 15 VCAs and programmable inputs handles the principle actors’ mics.
Eight of its 15 VCAs are linked to the DCAs of a 4-layer, 96-channel Yamaha PM5D-EX with a MIDI interface from Masque’s Gary Stocker. The first layer handles chorus mics, the second mixes 16 channels of Q-Lab sound effects, while the third and fourth control orchestra mics.
A unique yet simple device is Lehrer’s use of Yamaha DME-64 DSP matrixes to pan the principles’ mics via delay according to their position in one of seven stage zones: L-C-R, up- and mid-stage, plus a single upstage zone. The additional delay for characters up- and off-stage provides subtle realism to the sound reinforcement. It seems simple, but is surprisingly effective.
The national tour opened in September at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theater, and Lehrer has redesigned the show around a Studer Vista 5 console.
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The overhead system consists of a semi-circular “exploded” array of a half-dozen d&b audiotechnik C-7 loudspeakers for orchestra reinforcement, plus five over-and-under pairs of 75- x 15-degree d&b Q-1 loudspeakers slung from the catwalk for vocals.
Left and right proscenium arrays are a Q-Sub, above two Q-1 loudspeakers, with a 75 x 40 Q-7 beneath and a Q-Sub below on the deck. Front-fill loudspeakers consist of four Meyer M1Ds, two d&b E-0 and a pair of Meyer MM-4 around maestro Lassen at center.
Over the stage pairs of Meyer MSL-4 pointed down from the catwalk and the grid provide overhead sound effects. On the deck a pair of Meyer CQ-2 provides up-stage sound effects, while another pair overhead provides the orchestra. Side-fills are a pair of EAW JF80s down-stage and a pair of JF200s up-stage. The surround system consists of double sets of EAW JF80 and JF60 loudspeakers behind the orchestra and loge sections, powered with Yamaha M5000 amps and driven by a Lexicon 960.
One practical sound source is a four-horn 360-degree array of Altec multi-cell horns used for a PA effect in the second act’s Thanksgiving show. Another practical sound source is driven by Sennheiser e300 IEM G2 wireless receivers and 12 V car amps for radio transmissions.
The actors are mic’d with DPA 4061s except for Laura Osnes’ Nellie Forbush character, who wears two Countryman D3, since she has to “Wash that man right out of her hair” with soap and water on stage, and then deliver another 20 minutes of dialog. Besides main and backup mics at his hair-line, operatic singer Paulo Szot, who plays French expatriate Emile de Becque, has a third mic to catch his chest resonance.
West Side Story
The Palace Theater (cap. 1,743), hosting the latest revival of West Side Story, on the corner of 7th Ave and 47th Street, faces west towards the newly renovated Duffy Square’s discount TKTS booth on the north end of Times Square.
The Palace last hosted Legally Blonde and is one of the grande dames of Broadway. The tall, wide Palace has a 16-row mezzanine halfway over the 1,000-seat orchestra level, with an 8-row balcony above that.
“Tonight,” “America,” “Maria,” “I Feel Pretty” and “Somewhere” – classic songs by Bernstein and Sondheim, yet there’s really only been one revival in a half-century. Arthur Laurents’ urban legend of the Sharks and the Jets is based on Romeo and Juliet, and Jerome Robbins’ choreography asks much of its cast, dancing and singing throughout.
Sound design is by Dan Moses Schreier, who’s won several Drama Desk awards, as well as a first-round Tony nomination for Gypsy last year. His associate designer is David Bullard, with sound equipment supplied by PRG’s Mount Vernon shop.
The sound system has a small Meyer M’elodie center cluster for vocals, with a 700HP subwoofer above. To each side of these for orchestra reinforcement are a CQ-2 with a UPJ underneath for down-fill.
To the sides of the stage proscenium opening both high and low are two sets of a d&b Q-7 for vocals, each beside another UPJ for orchestra, with a single JBL bullet tweeter adding sparkle to vocals up on the mezzanine level. A house truss above the mezzanine supports three Meyer UPJuniors for vocals and a pair of UPJ’s for orchestra.
Over the pit and across the front of the stage are a half-dozen d&b E3 loudspeakers for reinforcing wind instruments, paired with the same number of d&b E0 loudspeakers for vocals. Under the mezzanine are two 8-box rings of d&b E3 loudspeakers, with another ring above the mezzanine under the balcony.
Lucas Indelicato mixes the show’s 42 wireless mics, 42 orchestra inputs and 4 channels of playback on a Studer Vista 5. While other digital consoles could have accommodated this number of inputs, there’s always the chance that the input list can grow during rehearsal.
Reasons for the console’s choice were the Vistonics control surface and the Studer sound quality, plus the fact that the last input bay can be isolated for dual operation. Indelicato demonstrated a few of the new V4.2 software’s benefits for theatrical mixing, pointing out actor libraries, and VCA/muting that can be re-assigned cue by cue.
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Playback of the show’s sparse sound effects – sirens and bells, plus the pre-show announcement – comes from figure53’s Mac-based Q-Lab, and in Act II it plays back a mambo through an on-stage Juke Box in Doc’s candy store, recorded by Schreier from 12 orchestra musicians.
The 30-piece orchestra represents nearly every instrument, with only guitar and cello reproduced as keyboard patches. Just like the 1957 out-of-town premiere at Washington, DC’s National Theatre, the two percussionists are in the mezzanine-level opera boxes above and to each side of the stage.
Both percussionists, the pianist and the conductor employ Aviom systems for monitoring, while the other musicians simply listen.
Indelicato is assisted by A2 Sebastian Schulher and deck audio Michelle Hout, who wrangle the Sennheiser SK 5212 miniature body-pack wireless transmitters. The many principals, who dance throughout, are double-mic’ed with both DPA 4061 and the new MKE-1, which Indelicato finds more natural for actors who are already a bit “spitty” and better for softer voices.
The hybrid approach allows provides a backup of another make should one get sweated out.
Hair: The Revival of the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical
Hair was 1969’s Best Musical. “Aquarius,” “Let the Sunshine In,” “Hair,” “Good Morning Starshine” and “Easy to Be Hard” became top singles, covered by artists of the day.
After marking its 40th anniversary in September 2007 with three shows in Central Park, it returned the following summer for a hugely successful four-week engagement and the Broadway revival opened last March, returning as 2009’s Best Revival.
The Al Hirschfeld Theater (cap. 1,437) seats about 850 on the orchestra level and half as many upstairs. Sound design for Hair is by Acme Sound Partners’ Sten Severinson, who did much of the work in Central Park, and Nevin Steinberg, with audio equipment provided by Sound Associates of Yonkers.
Scott Sanders mixes on a DiGiCo D5-T with the 16-fader TC theater control surface. The show’s 30 songs and multiple characters require upwards of 10 of the D5T’s 16 VCAs to be assigned to vocals for each scene.
Outboard effects include five TC Electronic M-3000 reverbs and a Lexicon 960 configured with two engines employed for surround effects. Q-Lab supplies impressive sound effects running on a pair of Mac Minis each with a pair of MOTU UltraLite interfaces for 16 channels of playback.
A center cluster of a dozen L-Acoustic d-VDOSC reinforces the vocals, with a single ARCS and a CQ-1 on each side of this array for the band, all hidden behind a scrim. On each side of the stage is a pair of ARCS for band reinforcement, with a Meyer Sound UPA-2P beside it for vocals, covering the orchestra level. A platform over this loudspeaker position is used frequently by actors entering and leaving the stage via the balcony.
Up higher for the balcony, another ARCS again reinforces the band, with an L-Acoustic 108P for vocals. Beside these a single L-Acoustic 112P covers the extreme offstage balcony seats.
The balcony is amply covered from a Front of House truss with left and right arrays of four Meyer MICAs below a 600HP subwoofer for the band and a single Meyer CQ-1 at the center for vocals. Since the band is on stage, there are four more 600HP subwoofers in the pit.
Under-balcony loudspeakers consist of two rows of eight d&b E-3 loudspeakers, and EAW JF80 loudspeakers are used for the show’s substantial surround effects.
The naked brick back wall of the theater is painted in a ’60s op art sunrise and the only set on stage is the band. Drummer Bernard Purdie, who played in the 1969 original, sits on the back of a green 1955 GMC half-ton pickup, with the bass and guitar players on platforms over its cab and hood, and keyboards and percussion on a riser beside it.
Monitors are mixed by Jim Wilkinson from a DiGiCo D1 on stage-right, consisting of a Meyer UM-1 for the bass player and UPM-2s for keyboards, and newer UPM-2Ps for percussion, drums and guitars. The five-piece horn section seated on a back-wall catwalk just above them, shares three EAW JF60s.
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On stage, three more JF60s are recessed under the floor behind steel grilles down-stage center, plus four more behind grills upstage. Overhead at mid-stage, a four-box Meyer M1D array pointed straight down creates a large sweet spot that the cast clearly enjoy.
Bonnie Runk and Michelle Guttierez assist on deck with radio mics and there are 18 Sennheiser EM-3532 receivers above the stage-right monitor position with the new Sennheiser SK-5212 micro-miniature transmitters that have become the latest standard on Broadway, and can be hidden in hair when there’s no wardrobe.
DPA 4066 headset mics provide a great audio advantage and freedom of movement for a cast that not only has multiple entrances and exits from the audience, but often performs from the house as well, with some lines delivered right beside loudspeakers.
If you want to see a show on Broadway…
The heart of Broadway’s theater district is Times Square. One of the best secrets is the TKTS booth that is run by the non-profit Theater Development Fund (tdf.org), selling day-of-show tickets discounted 20 to 50 percent.
Opening in 1973 in a trailer, it’s been a temporary structure that moved under the Marriott Marquis in 2006 when construction began on their new permanent box office.
Facing the Olive Garden across 47th Street are a dozen ticket service windows. On the other side, its roof consists of 27, 15-yard wide red translucent steps facing south across Duffy Square’s towards Times Square proper, giving residents and tourists alike a haven of calm respite at the center of the universe.
It won Travel + Leisure magazine’s 2009 Design Award as “Best Public Space,” and a 2009 Design Award by the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
The most popular shows – Billy Elliot, Jersey Boys, Lion King, and Wicked – are never discounted, because of high demand, but most others can be found.
The only drawback is that when you get to the front of the line, you can no longer see the shows listed on the display board, so you need a “plan B” if your first choice is suddenly sold out. They open at 11 a.m. for matinees and 4 p.m. isn’t too early to arrive for evening shows.
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Those looking for a single ticket often get the best seats. It’s not unusual to find front-row singles an hour before curtain, especially on weeknights. The best news is that TKTS now takes credit cards.
The renovation of Duffy Square and the new TKTS booth has also been accompanied by the closing of Broadway to traffic from 42nd to 47th Streets, creating a pedestrian mall where crowded sidewalks would often force pedestrians into traffic. The late afternoon ambience is a refreshing change from the rest of the city’s rattle and hum.
Mark Frink is Associate Editor of Live Sound International magazine.
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