for ‘chorus line,’ a ‘moon shot’ of broadway lighting

SEPT.
1975 this is a digital version of an article from The Times Print Archive, before it starts online in 1996.
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The thin dancer walked up to the stage.
She threw her head back and covered her eyes here with her hands.
\"What\'s the matter, Sheila?
The director called out.
She replied, \"that light.
\"What color is it?
Is there something softer?
\"Most nights of communication in the\" Chorus Line \"laugh from Gershen Shevett, an electrician at the lighting booth at the top of the Schubert Theater.
He is unlikely to help, and \"Sam\" is unlikely to help, he is a computer electronic lighting board, making sure that the lighting design of the show is uniform every night, more nuanced than other Broadway theaters.
Sam represents a technological breakthrough in the New York theater, the first theater to illuminate Broadway performances.
Rest on the floor next to Mr.
Shevett is in a crowded lighting booth, and the memory board flashes a complex set of hundreds of numbers on the screen on his right, telling him about the lighting tips that are coming up.
But it is not necessary for him to look at the screen most of the time, because the motherboard will also trigger the appropriate light from time to let Mr.
Shervette is one of the most responsive audiences in the musical, not pushing back and forth levers to create ever-changing lighting effects.
Carol Bishop, the human element of Sheila, refused to continue shooting one night until the lights darkened.
Shevett does not experience the physical distortion necessary for the old hand board, but can slow down the lighting by gently pushing one of the two gears on the panel in front of him with a finger.
These gears downplayed one of Sam\'s programmed memories into another and provided lechersia\'s control for rhythm tips and human elements. Mr. advertising
However, Shevett must confirm with Sam the actual change of the light and the computer will automatically restore the original lighting program the next night.
If the macho starts to show a little weakness in human nature,
Shevett can use the electronic back panel on his left, it can set up a circuit at a time, a scene, it will continue automatically if Sam fails.
\"Team Chorus\" is a 75-year performance.
He has been working hard. maybe he is the most exciting.
\"It\'s a quantum leap from bronze to moon shooting,\" he said . \".
He spent three months studying the computer and got an ulcer in the process.
\"But you feel a new dedication, like an actor.
You don\'t think you\'re just a stage player anymore.
\"Purchasethmusmusser designed lighting for the show and advised producer Joseph Papp to buy a computer board.
\"I made the lights at Newman Theater on Shakespeare\'s day, and on last May,\" the chorus team \"opened for the first time,\" said Miss Musser . \".
\"There is a five-scene preset electronic board where light cues can move faster than resistors [1]manual]
Homeless people used on Broadway.
She continued: \"Investing $80,000 for the computerized lighting commission is a moral issue in terms of the economy in which we live or try to live, although in the long run, the use of the resistance board is not a great savings, since an electronic board can replace about six manuals for $9,000 to $10,000 per board, there is a savings in manpower.
But eventually the whole street is electronic.
This is just a starting question.
She said that if the old board was used, the light movement of 40 to 50 in the \"Chorus Line\" would have to be cut off because humans could not change the lighting as quickly as the machine did.
\"There is a lot of action in a performance like this, and it needs faster light,\" said Miss Musser . \".
\"It\'s a dance show, not a Broadway musical or drama.
You focus on movement and dynamics, not eyeballs.
\"Advertising saves time on the road. The board can also create slow, stable changes, such as the effect of the sunset, and subtle changes in the lights in 20 minutes.
While a show is on the road, the computer board also saves time to set up clues and requires less power and less electricians.
\"It will take two days to set up \'choirs in the new house,\" said Miss Musser . \".
\"With this, you can read the lighting design into the Memory Library in 43 minutes and it will run.
\"Although three electricians are still needed to operate the spotlight that follows a single actor and a man is needed to coordinate the entire stage lights, the new stage lights can eliminate the performance of one or two electricians.
\"However, it will help us as much as harm,\" said Vince Jacob, a recording reporter at the local number 1 of the International Theatre and stage employment alliance.
\"Our employees learn how to operate and repair these boards, which makes the work a little closer to us.
When a show went into a Broadway house, only four walls, lights and dimmers were rented.
While some producers such as Harold Prince and David Merrick have their own equipment, the lighting board is provided by the leasing company.
Frank Da Verna, the owner of a four-star stage lighting company at Bronx, which provides lighting for most Broadway productions, works with Miss Musser and the designers of the board, gordon Pearlman of electronic diversity
Before arranging the purchase of Miss Musser, she had worked on memory boards in Las Vegas and London.
\"But no one is as sophisticated as Sam,\" she said . \".
A version of the file was printed on page 40 of the New York edition on September 17, 1975 with the title: \"Chorus Line\" of Broadway lights \".