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All Photographs by Carol RoseggBecause of the two height levels of the set, more foldback than usual was necessary.something in the percussion then I hit percussion and now thepercussion faders are right there. If I’m ever looking for anything,nothing is more than one button way, which from a live mixingstandpoint is tremendously helpful.What was something new that you learned on A Tale Of TwoCities?That I can actually create stage monitors with a lavalier headmic. If you’re familiar with traditional concert performance whenpeople are using handheld mics, there is always foldback —speakers that face the performers because they need to hearthemselves. It’s very unusual on Broadway. There are alwaysspeakers on stage because they need to hear the orchestra, andyou might give them a hint of their mic, but it’s very unusual toactually give them foldback. In this show the singer requestedconcert-level foldback on one number, and it was a challengebecause you have a mic on the middle of your forehead, so anythingyour ear hears the mic hears. It was tricky.There are actually 14 monitor speakers built into the set of ATale Of Two Cities. The show actually has speakers that are builtinto the deck that are grilled over — side speakers, top speakers— and they’re programmed by scene. Depending on thescene, an actor might move from upstage to downstage whilethey’re singing, and the monitoring will move with them. There’sno miscellaneous, extra monitoring onstage. At times there are30 people onstage singing with 30 open mics, and they pick upeverything, not just the people singing. We had an issue with thesnow machines because in one Christmas scene the machinesare tremendously noisy and there’s no masking on the show. Wewere in tech one day and it sounded like a hovercraft had justbeen introduced to the stage.The only other thing on this show that was very different was,because it’s a multilayer show and you have people at differentheights, their monitoring from the orchestra was very importantbecause it needed to also be at the same heights with them, orthey sang out of time. If you have somebody downstage centerstanding almost right over the conductor, they’re hearing theorchestra three feet away from them, and if someone is 18 feetup in the air and 20 feet upstage, they’re hearing the orchestraa beat later. We started to notice it in rehearsal and realized thatit was just the time of the acoustic sound traveling to their ears.They were time with what they were hearing. So, we ended upactually putting monitor speakers upstage at different heightsthat also go on with each scene, so when they’re singing upthere they’re not hearing the acoustic sound, but the speaker,which is in time with the downstage front acoustic sound. Nowthe chorus is singing in time.“Because it’s a multilayershow and youhave people at differentheights, theirmonitoring from theorchestra was veryimportant because itneeded to also be atthe same heights withthem, or they sang outof time.”— Carl CasellaNick Wyman (left) and James Barbour in a moment from A Tale of Two Citieswww.stage-directions.com • December 2008 17