Teche in Broadway

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LgzXwpePTTU#!

The first video I watched was of this scene from a play called "Man of La Mancha."  The scene starts wth this man and woman standing in the middle of a darkened stage, and the only light available is that of the spotlight in the middle of the stage, illuminating them both. As the man starts singing the light continues to hang over both the actors, but as the man becomes more passionate about what he is saying in the song, the light reaches an apex of luminosity, where it only covers him.  You can still see the woman, but now her entire body is draped in shadow, so the brightest part of the stage is where the man is standing and singing.  Then when the climax of the song ends, the lights fade to what they were before, as the man continues to sing, but this time he is the only focal point. The woman still stands in the background, but he is the one you are paying attention to as he finishes his song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sSTm321Is7o

This video took place in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and featured the cast of the Broadway version of "Annie."  In this video, the Teche came in the form of costume design and color symbolism. A few seconds in, it became obvious to me that the director wanted to keep the viewers eyes trained on the young actress playing Annie, as it should be obvious to anyone who watches this.  She's wearing red, while the other performers are wearing either darker clothes or, in the other children's cases, matching school uniforms. There are some performers, however, that do come in for a brief part towards the end of the video, that are wearing some pretty loud costumes.  I believe they did this because they wanted you to focus on the dance number where these performers come in, instead of directly on Annie.  This theory would make sense, because for this short dance number Annie is nowhere to be seen.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZiwQ3OHJb3I#!

The teche that is visible in this video is that of the set/background.  In this performance, the set, which is an intermediary placed between the backdrop and performers, is in the form of a giant keyboard.  At the beginning of the video it is lifted up above the stage in order to introduce more dancers onto the stage.  Then, later on in the video, it is lowered back down behind the dancers.  This is a pretty simple way to manipulate a set.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=e6skpCNIoes#!

In this video, the teche appears once again in the form of lighting.  Not only is there a pixelated screen in the background, that is showing all of these cool designs along with the performance, but the lighting over the stage is constantly changing.  At first, the entire stage is well lit, so the band and performers are all visible to the audience.  Then the lighting starts to change to a dark shade of red that blankets the entire band, but avoids reaching the performers up front, so they are still well lit. Then the lighting goes through another metamorphosis. The lighting becomes even darker so the audience can just barely see the silhouettes of the band in the background. However, what's truly incredible is that the contrast between dark in the background and light in the foreground gives the coolest effect.  The brightness of the light in the foreground doesn't increase at all, but because the background is incredibly dark, the foregrounds lights seem quite a bit brighter by comparison. I find it amazing how professionals can manipulate lighting.  I would have never thought that such basic technology could bring about such outstanding effects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CsKH2tqoFJ8#!

This video shows a song from the broadway play "Wicked."  The song that is featured here is titled "popular" and it is sung by Glinda "the good witch" to "the wicked witch" Elfaba about making her popular in school.  So because this scene has 2 big characters on stage, it would make sense to have 2 spotlights, so the audience will be focusing on both characters, and not the scenery around those characters.  In fact this is the case.  The stage is darkened except for these 2 focal points, so there won't be any unnecessary distractions from the story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=S6swLYqUcBk&noredirect=1

Honestly, I don't even think I have to explain what's going on in this one. All you have to do is watch it and you'll know why I decided to include this video in this post.  I mean, there are so many lights in here, which look to be comprised entirely of digital or LED lights. I'm not positive of that though, there could be some bulbs in there as well.  So the entire stage is lit with these massive lights, and all of the performers are visible to the audience, and depending on the ups and downs of the song, the lights dim or brighten accordingly. Its quite an amazing stage set up that is visible in this video.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kMwotYjG0Ak&noredirect=1

So here's the last one.  I decided to include this one here because I wanted to do one that I actually had a stake in.  I mean, the other videos I have watched up to this point were awesome, and I enjoyed watching them, but I am not to familiar with broadway and musical theatre. So when I found this one, which includes some actors that I am familiar with, I could not resist.  So first off, this video stars Neil Patrick Harris. However, it also includes Stephen Colbert and John Cryer, both of which I did not know had done musical performances before.  Now, on to the set.  The set was put together beautifully.  The background was a city skyline, completely lit from the back.  Then there was the lighting on stage, which was composed mainly of blue, and shades of blue.  Also, the performance ended with a throwback to vaudville, which was just great.  This video was amazing, and I encourage anyone who visits my page, if you watch just one video, let it be this one!