I was at Citi Field the other day. Those that know me know that there are only two things that rival my passion for theater (1) Television Shows and (2) the greatest game ever played, baseball. And just like I am hoping for an underdog win from Reasons to be Pretty (or Dividing the Estate) the New York Mets, the eternal underdogs or the most self-defeating team in baseball are the recipients of all my fandom.
Now I am tempted to write an entire post about the difficulty and trials of being a Mets fan but that would be off topic for this blog. (But I had to put a few pictures from our inaugural trip to the stadium into this post.)
What I wanted to write about was something that struck me as odd at the stadium. We had been our seats on the second tier for a few minutes when I noticed something I hadn’t seen in a stadium. To my right and to my left hanging from the level above us were big screen TVs. I thought how stupid is this, it is one thing to have TVs by the concession stands and of course the jumbo-tron on the scoreboard, but hundreds of 50 inch flat screens in the stadium seating seemed well pointless. You are there to watch a game that is right in front of you. Come on.
And then there was this great catch in far right field and my head snapped to the left to watch the outfielder make the catch close up on the TV screen. I was mortified and embarrassed until I realized most of the people around me did the same exact thing.
Needless to say this integration of live video and live performance is now the norm in rock concerts. And after some quick research on-line I found that it is becoming the norm in outdoor venues and stadiums. And it got me thinking…how long is is until we walk into a theater and see TV screens suspended from above so that you can catch a close up on an actor’s face or a screen in embedded in the seat in front of you? I was at first repulsed completely by the notion. What a ridiculous idea, how defeating would that be to the theater-going experience. Then I thought about it a bit further. I thought about those third tiers of Broadway and touring houses. I thought about the far side seats with restricted view. I thought about how during some shows I would love to be able to be right up close and personal.
I was discussing this with Sam who will be guest blogging this summer during her “World of Theater” internship, and she brought up a great example – Rock of Ages. This was the type of show where the experience could actually be enhanced with this type of technology and it would make sense (I even wonder if it is being used – I was down front when I saw it) or what about Rent on tour in some big 2000+ seat house? And although the idea is still more or less odd to me, I started wondering if we would see it soon in theater, perhaps it already is being used and I don’t know about it.
I don’t think it will ever appeal to me to have an audience member be able to watch a straight play on an TV in the back of the seat in front of them or worse zoom in i-Phone style on a touch screen TV, but maybe there is a place for it in some theatrical events.
Of course this was all part of a larger philosophical discussion between Sam and I about the current definition of “live” and how technology will affect the theater which I will expand on more tomorrow (or at least not while I am riding Metro North back to Connecticut at 11 at night. By the way, saw Billy Elliot tonight, more on that tomorrow!)
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