2010 Tonys to Feature Set Projections

In a New York Times feature out today, the longtime Tony Awards ceremony production designer, Steve Bass, reveals what is involved in translating a live Broadway aesthetic for the screen and what audiences can expect this year.  A key element for 2010: set projections.

In an excerpt from the interview, the Times asks:

SB: When you see a Broadway show it's like a painting. You look at if from the front. When you watch a TV show your view changes. It becomes the angle of the camera lens. We find ourselves not just looking at it from the front but the sides, which means we have to design things differently.

The biggest trick is in a Broadway theater you have wings where all of the cast and the props are waiting. In TV the camera turns and we can look into the wings, a view the audience wouldn't normally see. We have to design cleverly so as not to disclose all the secrets.

As for what is new about this year's design, Bass explains: "We are recreating a lot of the sets from the best plays and best play revivals in a 3-D digital program. They'll appear to be on stage but they're actually projections....We have a moment where some of the actors will come out and speak about their plays. As they speak the environment will change behind them. A screen on stage will recreate the scenery from the designers' original visions. That will be augmented with real props that match as closely as possible to the originals."

To read the full report in the New York Times, click here.

The 2010 Tony Awards will air live on CBS, on Sunday, June 13th 8:00 - 11:00 p.m. (ET/PT time delay) and are presented by the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

Hosted by Tony nominee Sean Hayes, the evening will feature performances by Green Day; Glee's Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison and performances by the Tony-nominated Best Musicals American Idiot, Fela!, Memphis and Million Dollar Quartet and the Tony-nominated Best Musical Revivals La Cage aux Folles featuring Kelsey Grammer, A Little Night Music featuring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Ragtime. Casts from the musicals Come Fly Away, Everyday Rapture, Promises, Promises and Ragtime will also be performing throughout the evening.

Presenters for the 2010 Tony Awards will include: Paula Abdul, Antonio Banderas, Justin Bartha, Patrick Breen, Laura Bell Bundy, Laura Benanti, Cate Blanchett, Michael Cerveris, Kristen Chenoweth, Barbara Cook, Viola Davis, Michael Douglas, Kelsey Grammer, Brian D'Arcy James, RoseMary Harris, Patrick Heusinger, Katie Holmes, Scarlett Johansson, Angela Lansbury, Anthony LaPaglia, Laura Linney, Lucy Liu, Jane Maxwell, Idina Menzel, Helen Mirren, Alfred Molina, Matthew Morrison, Chris Noth, Bernadette Peters, David Hyde Pierce, Daniel Radcliffe, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Sanchez, Tony Shaloub, Liev Schreiber, Will & Jada Pinkett Smith, Stanley Tucci, Denzel Washington, Racquel Welch and others.