American Cinematographer - March 1985 - 83

Richard Stucker

Videotaping Live Theater
However,

A

major dilemma that has always
plagued live theatrical stage perform¬
is that once the curtain comes
down, the production will never be seen
ances

again with that particular interpretation
or staging or direction, except in the
memory of the playgoer. Now imagine
the best, the most representative, the
most controversial, or simply the most
incredible stage performances on Broad¬
way, off-Broadway and in regional the¬
aters across the country being recorded
on film and video tape multi-camera
style, thus capturing these treasures
forever!

For the past

six years I have
enough to be the video
director during the taping of some price¬
been fortunate

less

events.

Most have been recorded

packed-house performances, usually
under existing theatrical lighting, cut
and mixed live without any post produc¬
tion, and - with few exceptions - all
are broadcast quality. Yes, Virginia, live
stage productions for television do exist,
and they can be viewed - with limita¬
tions
at the New York Public Library's
Billy Bose Theatre Collection at Lincoln
at

-

Center.
The

more

than 330 produc¬

tions

currently in the Theatre on Film
and Tape Collection (TOFT) have been
recorded for as little as $200 (the first
production shot in black and white in
1970) to well into five figures for last
year's recording of A Chorus Line the
night it became the longest running
Broadway musical. But more about that
production later. It must be emphasized
here that the vast majority of these
recordings are paid for by a few grants,
endowments and corporate donations
and, occasionally, by the producers,
writers, etc. of the productions. For in¬
stance, TOFT has just been given a
sizeable grant from the Ford Foundation
to record four regional theater produc¬
tions

a

year

for the next four

years.

these contributions are very scarce

But

and
thus, video taping budgets are tight.

some

of the

world's best theatrical

productions are
being recorded. Once a selected produc¬
tion has closed, theatre professionals,
students and researchers from around
the world can, if qualified, come to
Lincoln Center to see how that produc¬
tion

was

etc.,

staged, directed, interpreted,

thanks to the efforts of TOFT's

project director, Betty Corwin, and her
small but dedicated staff. In addition,
almost a dozen unions involved in com¬
mercial theater have sanctioned the Li¬

brary

as

the only institution in the

United States permitted to tape live per¬
formances without payment to those
involved with a production.

Obviously, recording live the¬
performances under existing
lighting conditions, with multiple cam¬
eras positioned in a very limited number

atrical

of locations in the audience, with no
rehearsals or camera blocking sessions,
no

rough audio mixes and usually

no

post production whatsoever could make
some

people feel that the challenges

would be insurmountable at best. But
somehow we manage to record the
seemingly impossible. As an extreme

example, one production was even shot
a night-scope camera - very inter¬
esting. Suffice it to say that it was preIkegami 'D', 'E' and 'EC' technology.
The first video recording that
I directed for TOFT was She Stoops to
Conquer at the Guthrie Theatre in Min¬
neapolis back in 1978, and since that
time I've directed the majority of the
recordings for TOFT.
Once a play has been se¬
lected (by an impressive group of the¬
ater dignitaries, based on a list of
criteria as long as my arm, which I
won't expound upon here), I generally
with

view the

production at least three or
usually fairly easy to

four times. I'm
spot

in

an

audience

-

the bearded

weirdo

scratching and sketching
furiously on his spiral note pad in the
midst of the

March 1985

the annoyance

of those theater veterans
glaring at me on either side. The crews
we use view the plays at least once to
familiarize themselves with the charac¬

general blocking, musical and cho¬
reographed sequences.
In general, our primary pur¬
pose is to document the production as
performed, staged, directed, produced,
designed, choreographed, etc., etc., as
best we can, given our limitations. Ours
is not to interpret but, if anything, to
reinforce
wherever possible and as
subtly as possible - that theater's pre¬
ters,

A

typical two

camera

setup on the

orchestra level when
camera

positions

limited

as

are

in this

sold-out performance
of

My One and Only.

-

sentation. Seldom do

we

craftsy production devices
fects

unless

they

or

use

artsy-

special ef¬

enhance

the

documentation.

big-buck seats, usually to

American

Cinematographer

81
American Cinematographer - March 1985

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