TDF Stages

Sunset Blvd. isn't the only show doing it!

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While the copious use of live video in Jamie Lloyd's stripped-down, screen-heavy Broadway revival of Sunset Blvd has been covered extensively in the media and on TikTok, it's not the only theatrical video game in town. This season has seen an explosion in the use of live video in shows, including Broadway's recently closed Tammy Faye and upcoming The Picture of Dorian Gray.

This trend isn't new. Theatre artists have been incorporating video imagery—live-streamed, prerecorded and projected—into productions for nearly half a century, particularly avant-garde shows and almost everything directed by Ivo van Hove. But with technological advances and the dominance of screen culture, it's clear the craze is evolving. Here's how four productions this season are using video in innovative and entertaining ways.

The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy [redux]

Confined to a closet-sized white box onstage, Joshua William Gelb, the solo star and co-creator of The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy [redux] at New York Theatre Workshop through February 2, simultaneously acts for the live audience and a single video camera. His farcical and frantic performance as a space traveler caught in a time loop is amplified and streamed on two large video screens flanking the playing space. The result is a captivating, metatheatrical journey in which Gelb engages with multiple prerecorded versions himself—watching him center stage is a completely different experience from watching the screens.

The concept for The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy took root during the 2020 global lockdown. Gelb made an intriguing discovery while trapped in his apartment: "I realized that my closet had the same aspect ratio as my iPhone and started conceiving of a way to convert it into a white box digital proscenium theatre," he recalls. That inspired him to found Theater in Quarantine and soon he was live-streaming performances from his closet to YouTube, even collaborating with other artists virtually.

Adapted from a short story by Polish sci-fi writer Stanislaw Lem and created in partnership with Sinking Ship Productions, The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy premiered on YouTube about four months into the pandemic, quickly becoming a breakout hit.

In the dark comedy's current incarnation, Gelb performs the play in an eight-by-four-foot box reminiscent of his original closet setup and is filmed by a single camera on a tripod. The production couldn't work without video since the story hinges on Gelb's character, Egon Tichy, interacting with other iterations of himself—some recorded during the very performance theatregoers are watching.

"We are excited about giving the audience the chance to experience a kind of double event," Gelb says. "There's the piece that we've been streaming to them, and then there's the live experience of watching me navigate a series of obstacles within such a small space to create this cinematic event. I like to call it theatre, but I'm also the first to concede that it might be something else entirely. My hope is that bringing it to the stage feels integrated and rewarding."

Symphony of Rats

The Wooster Group's Symphony of Rats, running through February 8, is a phantasmagoric entertainment that seamlessly incorporates video, a hallmark of the company's work since 1980. Directed by Elizabeth LeCompte and Kate Valk, it's a reinterpretation of a 1988 text by the late avant-garde playwright and director Richard Foreman.

"It's important to give Liz the credit she deserves for pioneering the integration of video and multimedia in theatre," says Valk, a founding member of The Wooster Group. "I think what is distinctive about her work is that the [video] isn't a design element that comes at the end. We work with televisions from the beginning. We are watching TV for inspiration—it is our style, our methodology. We've developed an aesthetic where the performer dances with the technology."

Symphony of Rats centers on a President of the United States who receives mysterious messages from an unknown source that may not be trustworthy. The audience is drawn into his fever dream as he journeys to other worlds via video. "There are a lot of fun games played with the televisions," Valk notes with glee.

According to Valk, collaborating with younger artists has helped The Wooster Group remain cutting-edge in the multimedia space for almost a half century. "They bring all their new toys with them and keep us up to date," she says. "Theatre holds a mirror up to life, and this is our life. Screens are so prevalent now and people are so accustomed to cameras."

Sunset Blvd.

Since Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Sunset Blvd., based on the movie of the same name, focuses on Norma Desmond (Nicole Scherzinger), a faded film star who longs to be back in front of the camera, using video on stage (and beyond) makes thematic sense. A central feature of director Jamie Lloyd's inventive Broadway revival at the St. James Theatre is a live-feed video setup, which projects a towering image of Norma onto a massive digital screen measuring nearly 28 feet high and 24 feet wide. "The most famous line in the movie is, 'I'm ready for my close-up,' so we get to utilize this in a way onstage that brings us closer to the minds of the characters," Lloyd explains. "This production was built for the stage but embraces all aspects of cinema—not just through the use of cameras and lighting, but also through cinematic techniques like dissolves, swipes and jump cuts between scenes."

The standout video moment comes at the top of Act II: a six-minute sequence Lloyd describes as "inherently theatrical because it is entirely live." During this segment, Tom Francis, who plays a struggling writer and Norma's boy toy Joe Gillis, is filmed exiting his dressing room, descending seven flights of stairs backstage and stepping out onto 44th Street. For three electrifying minutes, he performs the musical's title song while walking half a block outside the theatre—undeterred by traffic, inclement weather or rowdy onlookers. The audience watches his journey on a screen inside the theatre, and he returns through a side door to finish the number onstage.

This remarkable sequence involves a team of 17 cast members, eight security guards, a stage manager, two front-of-house staffers and a dedicated videographer. Ensemble member Shayna McPherson operates the camera that captures Francis' performance during this scene. "When I'm filming Tom, I'm actually walking backward," she explains. "I watch his body language to sense if he's slowing down, and then I adjust. It's like a tango—we're responding to each other, following, improvising."

Lloyd notes that there are unique challenges for this live-feed endeavor: "What would take several hours to achieve on a movie set happens live every single night of Sunset Blvd," he says. "There's an element of danger—it could go wrong at any moment. In fact, it's that sense of aliveness that gives it a real energy and purpose. It keeps it exciting and unpredictable every night, which is my kind of theatre."

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray, which will play a limited engagement at Broadway's Music Box Theatre from March 10 to June 15, stars Sarah Snook in a high-tech solo adaptation of Oscar Wilde's gothic novel that was a sell-out smash in London and Sydney. In this Faustian tale of a handsome man who trades his soul for eternal youth, the Succession Emmy winner channels 26 different characters while interacting with—and even manipulating—a dazzling array of visual effects. The result is a theatrical event that seamlessly synthesizes a bravura live performance, live and prerecorded video, and even smartphone technology.

Although it is a one-woman tour de force, as many as 20 others share the stage, forming an ensemble of camera operators, stage managers, costume assistants to facilitate Snook's quick changes and crew members to move set pieces around. Director Kip Williams, who also adapted the novel for the stage, describes the production as "cine-theatre."

"For me, what defines theatre, compared to other narrative art forms, is that it's a spatial art form," Williams explains. "What sets my use of cameras and screens onstage apart is that the screen has a spatial relationship not only to the audience, but to the performer as well. I constantly use that relationship to tell the story. Ultimately, that's what we do in theatre: We use space to tell stories to audiences."

As theatre increasingly adopts cutting-edge technology, what does the future hold for this centuries-old art form? Lloyd is excited by the possibilities. "Theatre was originally performed in daylight and, later, candlelight," he observes. "Then this thing called electricity was invented. Technology has always been a part of the theatrical experience. Remember when musicals were not amplified? It's not surprising that we are now embracing the latest advancements in technology," he says, adding that he's interested in experimenting with VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality). "There's a potential for a hybrid between these technological experiences and live performance that I think we should not only embrace but actively encourage."

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TDF MEMBERS: At press time, discount tickets were available for Sunset Blvd. Go here to browse our latest discounts for dance, theatre and concerts.

Sunset Blvd. is also occasionally available at our TKTS Discount Booths.