Broadway stars make it look easy — hitting a high C, crying on demand, landing a complex turn with taps, doing all that as many as eight times a week. But behind the curtain, before a show, the groundwork is laid: the vocal cord steaming, the fight calls to ensure violent scenes can be staged safely, the visits and hugs and affirmations that put actors in the right frames of mind. We watched the preparations for four Tony-nominated shows — “Buena Vista Social Club,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “John Proctor Is the Villain” and “Oh, Mary!” — as their performers got ready to go onstage.

‘Buena Vista Social Club’

Photographed by OK McCausland at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater.

The Tonys are still a few weeks away, but already this is certain: Eleven ardent musicians in the onstage band of “Buena Vista Social Club” are winning a special Tony Award for their work as part of this year’s celebration.

Music and dance are the engine of this musical, which is based on a Cuban ensemble named for a midcentury Havana nightspot and immortalized in a Wim Wenders documentary.

Patricia Delgado, who choreographed the show with her husband, Justin Peck, is among numerous Cuban Americans involved with the project. “I grew up listening to this music at every family gathering,” she said.