Masque Seem stays around

Theatrical shingle Masque Seem can easily attest that Broadway does not seem like previously. While purists may bemoan an upswing of amplification, which now includes wireless mics and digital audio Masque, that has been around for 75 years, was around dads and moms of phonograph seem effects and slide whistles, states topper Geoff Shearing, grand son of among the founders.The Nj-based company -- which supplies audio tech and support for current Primary Stem shows including "The Phantom from the Opera," "Mamma Mia!" and "It of Mormon" -- feted its durability by having an March. 17 shindig in the New Amsterdam Theater, and it has drawn on designer Milton Glaser to produce a wedding anniversary logo design.Masque was founded by three former stagehands in 1936. Through the '50s, reel-to-reel seem grew to become prominent. The decade also saw early forays with wireless mics. Computer systems made headway within the seventies -- as did rock musicals -- giving rise towards the complicated amplification package now common across the Rialto.Equipment rental fees take into account Masque's primary business, and also the ever-altering needs of theatrical audio have stored the organization on its toes. The pace of technical developments means obsolescence is really a bigger problem than ever before. "Within the '20s and '30s they'd rent exactly the same device until it used out," Shearing states.Inside a move motivated through the omnipresence of wireless tech, Masque bought Florida-based Professional Wireless Systems in 2002. 5 years later, the organization started supplying sound system installation for performance-centered construction and restoration projects, including Gotham venues New Victory Theater, Le Poisson Rouge and St. Bartholomew's Chapel.Masque gm Stephanie Hansen lists "Bonnie and Clyde," "Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway" and also the Brooklyn rock-opera "Stop the Virgens" one of the company's approaching projects. Such shows join a listing of credits that stretches to the initial "South Off-shore" and "Oklahoma!"Shearing and Hansen have discovered such durability is showing to become an resource. "It is a very niche business," states Shearing, whose rivals include Seem Affiliates, founded 1946, and PRG, founded 1982. "Everything relies upon the truth that we now have this live seem experience." Contact Gordon Cox at gordon.cox@variety.com