BUSINESS Copyright Lighting&Sound America April 2012 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html

Masque Sound’s Diamond Jubilee

Inside one of Broadway’s longest-running productions

By: David Barbour

In October, Masque Sound held a In addition, Masque Sound has carpenter. In 1936, of course, there cocktail party to celebrate its upcom- provided its own unique solution to was no sound reinforcement for ing 75th anniversary in 2012. The the conundrum that has compro- Broadway shows, and the idea of a event took place at the New mised so many companies in this dedicated sound designer wasn’t Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street. It industry: how to grow and diversify even a distant dream. But someone was a felicitous choice: Once the without turning into a faceless corpo- had to provide the effects—the ring- standard-bearer for Broadway glam- rate entity. Broadway is a much more ing telephones, radio broadcasts, off- our, the theatre fell into decline, complicated and expensive place stage noises, and thunderstorms— endured years of servitude as a grind than it was in the ‘30s, but, then as that were necessary parts of nearly movie house, and was restored by now, the big winners are those who every production, along with the the Disney Organization. Today, it is understand that this is a business backstage paging systems that kept one of the most attractive and covet- built on service and relationships, not shows running smoothly, and this was ed of Broadway venues. Masque a slavish devotion to the bottom line. enough to get Masque Sound off to a Sound can hardly be said to have fall- It’s a lesson that has stood the com- running start. en into disrepair, but, like the New pany in good stead as it has moved Each of the original partners Amsterdam, its fortunes have been beyond the core business of supply- brought unique skills to the venture, inextricably linked with those of the ing sound gear for Broadway shows. notes Geoff Shearing, Masque Broadway theatre. The world of Idiot’s Sound’s current president. His grand- Delight; On Your Toes; and Red, Hot The founding trinity father managed the shop and and Blue! (to name three signature Masque was founded by a trio of Landsman handled the business end. hits from 1936) is very different from Broadway stagehands: Mac Saltzman, he adds, “was an electron- today’s home of Jersey Boys, Mary Landsman, Sam Saltzman, and John ics visionary.” As an example, he Poppins, Memphis, and Shearing. The Shearing family was adds, “We were in the closed-circuit The Book of Mormon, yet Masque already deeply involved in theatre; television business in the 1930s, has remained an integral part of the Shearing’s father, Arthur, was a prop broadcasting surgeries to medical Broadway scene for the better part of man at the Metropolitan Opera, and students.” (Few people realize it eight decades, a long-run record that Shearing himself had rotated through today, but broadcast television was a few companies can match. various Broadway scene shops as a reality in the late ‘30s, and its wider

The company’s 70,000-sq.-ft. headquarters in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

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implementation was scuttled by the retained their interests in Masque. son says. The resolution was that the onset of World War II.) The next two decades saw the major Landsmans would take over Masque The new Masque Sound had one expansion of sound on Broadway, Sound. A bank loan was obtained, big advantage over the competition— with pioneers like Jack Mann, Abe and then, Geoff recalls, “The employ- there wasn’t any. “At the time, there Jacob, and, a little later, Otts ees staged a revolt. It was rumored was no comparable company,” says Munderloh, developing audio sys- that they even contacted the bank” to Geoff. (Sound Associates, tems that were remarkably sophisti- express their displeasure at the deal. Broadway’s other major long-running cated for the time, including the use The Landsman’s financing fell through sound supplier, opened for business of the first wireless microphones. and the Shearing family became the in 1946.) In fact, it’s not too much to Although the Broadway Internet sole owners of Masque Sound. say that Masque’s founding partners Database lists Masque Sound as This, of course, was an excellent arrived at a critical moment, when providing sound design services as time to be in the sound business, as hand-made sound effects gear (think early as 1947—for the Broadway the Broadway musical was undergo- thunder sheets and rolling wind debut of J. B. Priestley’s drama An ing yet another transformation, this machines) were giving way to elec- Inspector Calls—it was in the ‘60s time by the arrival of Andrew Lloyd tronic reproduction methods. And, of and ‘70s that large-scale reinforce- Webber and the team of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schoenberg, pio- We control costs, and we maintain a stable neers of the through-composed pop- “ opera format. Shows like Evita, Les work force. People always comment on how Misérables, and Phantom of the clean and organized our shop is. When you Opera—all of which made little or no order our gear, it’s clean, in working order, and use of dialogue—required new, highly processed sound designs to allow has been QC’d thoroughly. We feel good about audiences to understand their lyrics. being the preferred supplier of many At the same time, American musicals, like Dreamgirls, further expanded on designers. — Hansen ” the pop-opera idea, drawing on American pop music styles. The course, there were bigger technologi- ment systems came into their own. stage was set for the rapid expansion cal developments to come. Geoff Shearing’s father, Jack, one of of the sound designer’s role, provid- As the 1940s passed into the the original Broadway sound design- ing new opportunities for companies 1950s and sound reinforcement for ers, designed a number of shows, like Masque Sound. musicals gradually became a stan- including The Great White Hope dard practice, Masque was at the (1967), with James Earl Jones; the The third generation ready, providing the shotgun mics smash hit revival of No, No Nanette Geoff Shearing, who took over from and supersized loudspeakers that (1970); the Tony-winning musical The his father in 2007 and represents the were employed in those days. Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971); the third generation of Shearings, was (Among the company’s clients were ultra long-running Grease (1972); already steeped in the business of the original productions of Oklahoma! Seesaw (1973), staged by the great Broadway sound. “I worked Phantom and South Pacific.) Even then, the Michael Bennett; and Over Here! of the Opera and toured with Les Miz, company had acquired its nimble sur- (1974), which brought the Andrews mixing and so forth,” he says. “I vival skills. For example, speaking of Sisters to Broadway and featured a walked into Les Miz and people knew the World War II years, Geoff company of future stars, including my grandfather.” He adds, smiling, Shearing says, “Masque did a lot of John Travolta, Treat Williams, Ann “He was infamous for working without USO shows, including Irving Berlin’s Reinking, and Marilu Henner.) a shirt, with a cigarette dangling out revue, This is the Army, on By the early ‘80s, however, Geoff of his mouth.” Even with the family Broadway.” As a result of this govern- Shearing says, there was increasing entrée, he had to prove himself, of ment-related work, he says, “the tension between the shop, John course, and, speaking of both the company had access to gear at a Shearing’s bailiwick, and the business business and art of sound design, he time that many others didn’t.” side, overseen by the Landsman fam- comes across as uncommonly Change came in a major way in ily. When John Shearing died in 1982, knowledgeable. Recalling his days the ‘50s, as Saltzman died, leaving Jack Shearing “delivered an ultima- as a mixer, he says, “One of the no heirs. The Landsman and tum, offering to buy out the more enjoyable parts of the job is Shearing families nevertheless Landsmans or be bought out,” his learning how to serve many masters;

2 • March 2012 • Lighting&Sound America Stephanie Hansen, Masque Sound’s general manager, and Geoff Shearing, the company’s president.

you’re often caught between parties moving first to Branchburg, New the PWS Helical Antenna, which is with different needs and you have to Jersey, then to Moonachie, before billed as providing better performance learn to negotiate them.” After many settling on its current location, in East than traditional antennas in wireless years of working on shows, howev- Rutherford, in 2004. At 70,000-sq.-ft., communications. The product is said er, he moved into the company’s it’s a very impressive space. to be especially useful in large-scale corporate events division before At the same time, the company events “where the benefits of its cir- becoming president. grew in other directions. In 2002, cular polarization and 14dB of pas- In recent years, Masque Sound Masque purchased Orlando, Florida- sive gain are of great benefit for both has undergone a growth spurt. Like based Professional Wireless systems, transmission and reception applica- every other lighting, scenery, and which specializes in wireless micro- tions.” The company typically pro- sound supplier, all of which once phone rentals, installations, and the vides RF services at the Super Bowl, could be found up and down development and manufacture of RF- the NBA All-Star Game, and Disney Manhattan’s West Side, Masque related gear. Its key products are the World’s Christmas Parade. It is also a vacated its 51st Street headquarters, G4 and G8 amplifiers/combiners and dealer for Shure, Quantum,

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Sennheiser, Lectrosonics, AKG, Clear- manages to combine good business Nice Work If You Can Get It, which Com, and other audio brands. practices with a high level of serv- matches a new book by Joe DiPietro And, in 2007, Masque opened up a ice—aims that are not always easy to to a score of Gershwin standards; permanent systems design and instal- pursue simultaneously. Shearing and Once, the critically acclaimed Off lation division, providing AV systems adds, “Any MBA who looked at the Broadway musical, which transfers to for a wide variety of venues. Key proj- way we do business would get a Broadway this month. They join a ects have included the James L. shock. So often, you have to make lineup that, aside from those men- Dolan Recording Studio at NYU; the counterintuitive decisions based on tioned above, also includes Jersey Gracie Theatre at Husson University in relationships.” As he notes, every new Boys, Memphis, Seminar, Venus in Bangor, Maine; St. Bartholomew’s Broadway show poses challenges— Fur, Mary Poppins, and Sister Act. Church in Manhattan; the New Victory designers want the newest gear and Shearing notes that Masque is Theatre on 42nd Street; and the general managers want to keep costs successful because it balances good DiMenna Center for Classical Music in down; squaring this circle is one of relationships with designers and Manhattan’s West ‘30s. Masque’s biggest challenges. Further technicians on the one hand and with key suppliers—such as Meyer Any MBA who looked at the way we do Sound, DiGiCo, and d&b audiotech- “ nik—on the other. It doesn’t hurt that business would get a shock. So often, you have such eminent Broadway names as to make counterintuitive decisions based on Brian Ronan (The Book of Mormon) relationships. — Shearing and Andrew Keister (Broadway’s cur- ” rent Godspell) are former employees. But there’s much more to it than Another key development was the complicating matters, a show may that, says Hansen: “We control arrival of Stephanie Hansen, who quickly fail, leaving the sound gear costs, and we maintain a stable work joined the company seven years ago, supplier on the hook, having sunk a force. People always comment on first as director of business develop- lot of money into new purchases. how clean and organized our shop ment and for the last three years as Even with such evergreens as is. When you order our gear, it’s general manager. Personable and Phantom of the Opera, Mamma Mia!, clean, in working order, and has outgoing where Shearing is quiet and and The Book of Mormon on the been QC’d thoroughly. We feel good thoughtful, she has played a key role company’s client list, any Broadway about being the preferred supplier of in helping to define Masque’s core season packs plenty of surprises, many designers.” business aims and to help increase many of them unwelcome. For exam- Of course, with such a reputation, profitability. She has also helped to ple, this fall, Masque supplied gear to it’s not surprising to hear that suitors liven up the company’s image, com- the new musical Bonnie and Clyde, have come calling. “Some of our missioning the famed graphic artist which closed after only 36 perform- competitors have tried to buy Milton Glaser—who co-founded New ances. Another attraction, Hugh Masque,” says Shearing, adding that York magazine and created the “I Jackman, Back on Broadway, was a he will name no names. He is quite Love New York” logo—to revise monster hit, but, because of the star’s clear, however, that such a deal is not Masque’s graphic image. It depicts a busy movie schedule, a limited run of in the cards. “We feel responsible to youthful, vaguely Renaissance figure 61 performances was all he could the people who work for us. We have in a mask; turn it upside down, how- spare. “Sometimes you’re lucky for many family members in the busi- ever, and you see a bearded face not getting a show as for getting it,” ness, and we don’t want to work for from the same era, also in a mask. says Shearing, noting that even the others.” Hansen adds, “We like to Interestingly, Hansen comes most anticipated production may control our own fate.” across as one of the rare individuals prove to be a major disappointment. Talking to Shearing, it seems clear to enter this industry from the outside This spring, however, the company that he feels responsible not just for who is capable of facing, and has a full plate, with such upcoming maintaining Masque Sound today, but embracing, its whimsical, even Broadway productions as Newsies, making sure that it has a healthy bizarre, aspects. “Geoff always the new Disney musical, which was a future as a family-owned business. “I reminds me of the cyclical nature of big hit in its tryout at New Jersey’s don’t want to be the Shearing who this business,” she notes, cheerfully. Paper Mill Playhouse; Mike Nichols’ sank the ship,” he says. Based on the And it may well be the secret of new staging of Death of a Salesman, evidence, there seems to be little or Masque’s success that the company starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman; no chance of that.

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