Thursday, November 27, 2008
Broadway Shines a Light on Green Movement
Backstage: "Lyricist Howard Johnson once wrote that there's a broken heart for every light on Broadway, but New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the theatre district are trying to turn the Great White Way into a source of healing."
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5 comments:
It's great that broadway is making a move to be more environmentally considerate. I do find it entertaining that the same moves that are made publicly to gain support are also complained about privately within the entertainment community. For example to use of more efficient lighting is a hot topic now. Most lighting designers seem to say that the technology isn't there yet to let tungsten lamps go. As far as making sets out of more environmentally friendly materials, Broadway doesn't build all that many new sets each year, so the impact is minimal. I suppose everything helps but if the producers want to make a real difference they should evaluate their touring productions and the carbon footprint that have.
Is this a move to be more ecofriendly, or just a move to save money in a recession? Either which way, good for Broadway.
Am I the only one who thinks "The Great White Way" is less than a stellar name for Broadway?
As a lighting designer I applaud the fact that people are looking at new ways to make entertainment more eco-friendly. Unfortunately Aaron is correct that as far as affordable and usable technology, there is just not enough there to replace the tungsten lamp. I have heard of shows where the primary goal of the lighting design was to consume less energy, where tons of leds and even some compact fluorescent technologies were involved. Though even on this production there were still quite a few moving lights, which can utilize a lower wattage lamp to get the same brightness. though since they are not dimmable are on all night. New technologies are on the way to making entertainment more eco friendly, though I don't think we are there yet.
I love that many groups are now starting to go green in their methods. It may be more expensive at first, but in the end, oil ends up paying off by the health of the people in that nation and the price for energy after certain increases in technology have been made.
i think this is great because not only will it decrease carbon emissions for broadway, but it will also decrease many of the expenses for broadway. perhaps this is part of the reason so many theatres are enthused. but who cares? as long as broadway is going green i don't care what the reasoning is.
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