Jesse Tyler Ferguson Performs Shakespeare Despite Downpour, No Sound

Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Hamish Linklater onstage at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park

The show must go on.

The cast, crew and audience at The Public Theater’s staging of William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors put that adage to the test last night when the heavens opened over Central Park’s open-air Delacorte Theater a third of the way into the play.  Midsummer rain is a common occurrence for the beloved summer tradition that is Shakespeare in the Park, so the production paused until the thunderstorm let up.

That’s when the crew discovered a setback worthy of an Act Four plot twist: The soundboard had sustained water damage and was completely fried. The stage manager was about to cancel the show when stars Hamish Linklater and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who each pull double duty as one of the play’s two pairs of twins, had an idea.

THEATER REVIEW: The Comedy of Errors

“Did George C. Scott have a body mic when he did The Merchant of Venice back in 1961 at this same theater?” Ferguson wrote in a Facebook post recapping last night’s unforgettable performance. “Let’s finish the show wireless. Unplugged!”

The company manager agreed to proceed, and Linklater and Ferguson ran out on stage to deliver the good news, urging the 600 remaining audience members (out of a capacity crowd of 1800) to move close to the stage to hear.

“What proceeded was one of the most magical hours of my life,” Ferguson wrote. “The brilliant [actress] De’Adre Aziza started where we left off, with her jazz-influenced version of Sigh No More, the audience snapping along to keep the beat. When [cast member] Emily Bergl knocked a gun out of Tyler Caffall’s hand the entire company, in unison, yelled ‘BANG’ and then produced the dying cat sound that was meant to follow.”

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Even when the downpour resumed the show continued. “Hamish called it the greatest game of ‘Chicken’ ever played,” Ferguson wrote. “The audience wasn’t leaving because we kept going and we continued on only because the 600 strong stayed put. Everyone was soaked but at this point, who cared. (Apologies to our brilliant costume designer, Toni-Leslie James, who probably cared a little.)”

The play is a comedy, but the performance left Ferguson in tears. “The audience stayed completely still and silent to hear the final words of the play,” he wrote. “That’s when I lost it. You never would have been able to tell because I was soaking wet, but I started to ugly cry.”

“I was so moved by this shared moment," he continued. "It truly personified why I am fueled to put on silly costumes and wigs and pretend to be someone else in front of a collected group of strangers. When we finally reached the end of the play the audience exploded into applause. We didn’t bow, though… all we could do was applaud right back to THEM.”

 

Jesse Tyler Ferguson Performs Shakespeare Despite Downpour, No Sound

Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Hamish Linklater onstage at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park

The show must go on.

The cast, crew and audience at The Public Theater’s staging of William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors put that adage to the test last night when the heavens opened over Central Park’s open-air Delacorte Theater a third of the way into the play.  Midsummer rain is a common occurrence for the beloved summer tradition that is Shakespeare in the Park, so the production paused until the thunderstorm let up.

That’s when the crew discovered a setback worthy of an Act Four plot twist: The soundboard had sustained water damage and was completely fried. The stage manager was about to cancel the show when stars Hamish Linklater and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who each pull double duty as one of the play’s two pairs of twins, had an idea.

THEATER REVIEW: The Comedy of Errors

“Did George C. Scott have a body mic when he did The Merchant of Venice back in 1961 at this same theater?” Ferguson wrote in a Facebook post recapping last night’s unforgettable performance. “Let’s finish the show wireless. Unplugged!”

The company manager agreed to proceed, and Linklater and Ferguson ran out on stage to deliver the good news, urging the 600 remaining audience members (out of a capacity crowd of 1800) to move close to the stage to hear.

“What proceeded was one of the most magical hours of my life,” Ferguson wrote. “The brilliant [actress] De’Adre Aziza started where we left off, with her jazz-influenced version of Sigh No More, the audience snapping along to keep the beat. When [cast member] Emily Bergl knocked a gun out of Tyler Caffall’s hand the entire company, in unison, yelled ‘BANG’ and then produced the dying cat sound that was meant to follow.”

PHOTOS: TV's Most Celebrated Funnymen

Even when the downpour resumed the show continued. “Hamish called it the greatest game of ‘Chicken’ ever played,” Ferguson wrote. “The audience wasn’t leaving because we kept going and we continued on only because the 600 strong stayed put. Everyone was soaked but at this point, who cared. (Apologies to our brilliant costume designer, Toni-Leslie James, who probably cared a little.)”

The play is a comedy, but the performance left Ferguson in tears. “The audience stayed completely still and silent to hear the final words of the play,” he wrote. “That’s when I lost it. You never would have been able to tell because I was soaking wet, but I started to ugly cry.”

“I was so moved by this shared moment," he continued. "It truly personified why I am fueled to put on silly costumes and wigs and pretend to be someone else in front of a collected group of strangers. When we finally reached the end of the play the audience exploded into applause. We didn’t bow, though… all we could do was applaud right back to THEM.”

 

CineEurope: 'Hunger Games: Catching Fire' To Get Auro Mix; Barco Urges Sound Standards

BARCELONA -- Barco’s Auro 11.1 immersive sound system will be used for Lionsgate’s upcoming The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Ender’s Game.

Since its introduction in early 2012, Auro has been used on eight films and will have been used on 17 additional titles by the end of the year, Barco said during a presentation Tuesday at CineEurope. The company also expects more than 50 planned titles by that point.

During the presentation, Brian Claypool, Barco’s senior director of strategic business development, urged the industry to unify on a single open standard for immersive sound, saying “I don’t think the studios want [a format war].”

“All the studios feel the same -- open standards is the way to go. We don't want multiple versions,” Jim Beshears, head of postproduction at DreamWorks Animation, told The Hollywood Reporter following the presentation.

DWA is releasing its upcoming Turbo -- which was previewed this week at CineEurope -- in both Auro and Atmos, and the studio needed to make two separate mixes. (The film was mixed by two-time Oscar-winning rerecording mixer Andy Nelson and Emmy-nominated rerecording mixer Michael Babcock, working with three-time Oscar-winning sound designer Richard King.)

NATO and UNIC have both called for standards, and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers are also looking into the issue.

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Barco and DTS are urging the use of DTS’ open standard MDA (Multi-Dimensional Audio). Claypool told THR that the MDA technology seems to be a “foundation” that stakeholders are looking toward for a potential standard.

However, Dolby -- whose Atmos is a competing immersive sound system -- disagrees.

Speaking with THR Tuesday at CineEurope, Dolby’s senior worldwide technical marketing manager Stuart Bowling said, “We are not against an open standard, but our position is Atoms was a collaborative effort with filmmakers. … Open standards may seem like a good idea on the surface but may be counter-productive as it can stifle innovation.

“The filmmakers may not like having technology that could change [their creative intent],” he added.

Beshears believes these new sound systems could usher in new creative possibilities.

“We’re on the cusp of a new way to design soundtracks,” he told THR, pointing to robust audio postproduction systems such as ProTools combined with immersive sound.

Auro is currently installed in 67 auditoriums worldwide (including 15 in North America) in addition to 15 audio postproduction theaters. Claypool said the company has commitments from exhibitors that would put Auro in a total of 200 screens worldwide by the end of the year.