This was my favorite "bit" on the Tony Awards Sunday night. Let's watch it together and I'll tell you some of the things that go through my mind when I watch something like this…
First off, on a night when Radio City Music Hall was as packed as it ever is, they probably had to close off one of the men's rooms all evening for this…and find one where the camera could avoid mirrors. The sound in a tile-lined room can be a problem so I'm wondering if they had problems with that…or the lighting. They may have had to swap fixtures out.
The whole number is one continuous shot with one cutaway but there's that 360° pan in it. So there may have been just one cameraperson in the room with a steadi-cam and no stage manager or anyone else for most of it. If there was someone else, he or she had to be very fleet o' foot to stay behind the cameraperson during the 360. Then they snuck a second camera in so they could cut to the close-up of Neil Patrick Harris near the end. Or maybe the second cameraperson stayed behind the first one for the sweep pan.
The performers were all wearing RF mikes and earpieces so they could hear the music and any cues from the director. But based on the timing, I don't think they could hear the studio audience or Corden wouldn't have been talking over the big reaction for N.P.H.
The credits told us David Javerbaum and Tom Kitt wrote the opening number but didn't tell us who wrote this one. It might have been one or more of the seven people (including Corden) credited with "Special Material." Javerbaum, who has written many great songs for events like this, was in that list. He may have written the bathroom spot but if so, why credit him for the opening number and not for the other one?
Of all the segments in the show, this is one that could have been pre-recorded. That would have enabled them to do it a few times and pick the best one and it would have taken some pressure off Mr. Corden and the crew during the actual show. It would also have freed-up what may have been a much-needed men's room.
Usually, the reason to not pre-record something like this is so the performers can react to the live audience but they apparently couldn't hear them anyway. The producers probably felt they had to do it live because the theme of the show was to be "live" — although the King Kong segment was obviously recorded at another time.
Anyway, I thought it was a nice little number. They probably had to go to a lot of trouble to make it happen and I'm thinking that once upon a time, the available technology would have made it impossible. Corden's late night show goes to this much trouble often for one spot, usually a musical one. It's usually worth the effort.