• Reuters, Tuesday, June 1, 2010 10:22 PM

A current round of shows depend on million-dollar multimedia displays like never before, bringing video upstage after years of being relegated mostly to backdrop status. New musicals like "Sondheim on Sondheim" use sophisticated swirling computer screens that flash thousands, wile "Everyday Rapture" features YouTube for comic effects. "Sondheim," for instance, includes a montage of people, from celebrities like Barbra Streisand to budding singers, lending their voice to the composer's famed song, "Send In The Clowns."

Rock band Green Day's "American Idiot," "Enron" and "Fela!" project news broadcasts of war, conflict, corruption and politics that boldly make video more than just a small part of set design. "Sondheim"'s onstage screens are run by a complicated computer system offstage, costing close to a million dollars -- similar to the cost of "American Idiot"'s three video projectors and 43 Liquid Cry. Balancing the use of video with the live action is one of the challenges of modern-day theater, stal Displays (LCD) encased in televisions that hang stationary.

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