UK - Lighting for the current UK touring version of cult classic musical The Rocky Horror Show has been transferred to grandMA for control, with the tour, produced by the Ambassadors Theatre Group, carrying a grandMA light with a grandMA ultra-light for backup and two MA NSP (Network Signal Processors), supplied by lighting contractors White Light.
The lighting design is by Nick Richings and the programming was completed by Jim Beagley. The tour originally started in 2006. This current version has been out since 2009, when it started with another lighting console which was replaced shortly afterwards by the grandMA. Beagley explains, "We needed a reliable rock 'n' roll style touring desk onto which we could easily transfer the show and run in a similar fashion."
The programming for the transfer was done offline at White Light. Beagley took a DMX capture of the moving light palettes and all the generics and manually typed in the data from one desk to another. Then he went to the fit up day at Windsor Theatre Royal when the tour was moving there, and essentially treated it as a re-light, installing the new desk and running the show that evening on the grandMA light for the first time.
It's a tightly timed show with hundreds of cues that all segue into one another without blackouts, but everything ran like clockwork. Beagley continues "It's an extremely capable console and the networking and backup work very well." He also likes the flying faders, and the fact that the software integrates seamlessly with the grandMA onPC laptop version, allowing the convenience of offline working.
The lighting rig for the Rocky Horror Show tour consists of Martin moving lights in the overhead rig, together with Vari*Lite VL2000 Washes which are used to colour the eye-catching set, designed by Janet Bird.
On the edges of the downstage truss are two DHA Digital Light Curtains, mounted vertically, shooting hard cross light across the stage area. There are also 30 PAR cans with scrollers dotted about the rig. Additionally there are Pulsar ChromaStrip LED fixtures inbuilt into the set pieces which are also controlled via the grandMA light, along with Dataflash strobes and ChromaQ ColorBlock LEDs in the trusses, a quantity of sparkle strobes, plus 2 x ETC Source Four profiles with double rotating gobos. The two Unique hazers and the Jem Glaciator doing the atmospherics are also run from the console, which is currently being operated by Tom Johnson.
