USA - Theatre audiences today are accustomed to seeing musicals where songs and dances are woven into a well-crafted dramatic storyline, but that was rarely the case prior to the 1943 Broadway debut of Oklahoma!. The Rogers and Hammerstein classic’s smashing success (it ran for an unprecedented 2,212 performances) marked the beginning of a new era, one that would ultimately see the songs and dances in a musical go from being mere entertainment numbers to vital parts of the unfolding narrative. Lighting designer Zach Blane did justice to this “Book Musical” tradition in a recently concluded, Igor Goldin directed, revival of Oklahoma! at the John W. Engeman Theatre. Drawing on a collection of Ovation, COLORdash and Rogue fixtures from Chauvet Professional, Blane conveyed key dramatic elements of the play in light, particularly during pivotal scenes, such as
UK - Tony Kushner’s multi-award-winning play, Angels in America has made a triumphant return to the National Theatre, marking 25 years since its UK debut. This technology-laden production of the two-part epic features innovative ways of working with ETC’s Eos family of lighting control desks. Dubbed "a gay fantasia on national themes" by Kushner, Angels in America concerns a group of interconnected New Yorkers in the mid-1980s, when the world was in the grip of the AIDs crisis and Ronald Reagan was in the White House. This new staging of the play is directed by Marianne Elliott, complemented by lighting design from Paule Constable and a set designed by Ian MacNeil, who takes advantage of the moving parts afforded by the National’s Lyttelton stage to blend reality and fantasy for the multi-faceted story. To transport the audience from New York, to Sa
USA - Visional Productions, the high-end visual engineering firm specializing in event design, has announced the addition of BlackTrax, the advanced real time tracking system, to its rental inventory. Based out of Atlanta and Denver but producing live experiences worldwide, Visional is now one of only three U.S. companies offering the system for rental and sale. BlackTrax has multiple production applications, including motion lighting, automated spotlights, projection mapping, and more. Using active IR beacons, the system is capable of tracking a performer, stage prop, scenery or screen in real time and in most atmospheric conditions. BlackTrax can integrate with other third-party systems such as lighting consoles, enabling moving lights to follow performers, or media servers such as d3, Avolites Ai, or Christie Pandoras Box, allowing projection content to follow moving per
Belgium - For almost 30 years, the municipality of Ingelmunster in the Belgian province of West Flanders has played host to the Labadoux festival. Now as much a part of the Belgian cultural fabric as the region’s chocolate and beer delights, the 'Music with Roots' festival blends a wide variety of folk and other genres, and serves as a key platform for both established and up and coming acts. For this year’s festival, organisers wanted to up the visual ante for headliners including The European Pink Floyd Show and Levellers. To this end, LD Vincent de Schinckel specified a number of Chauvet fixtures for the festival’s main stage, including 12 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 spots, 16 Maverick MK2 washes and 16 Chauvet DJ Intimidator 140SR hybrids. Wanting to give the impression of visual depth from the audience perspective on the main stage, De Schinkel positio
The Netherlands - Philips Lighting’s new lighting fixture, the Philips Vari-Lite VL6000 Beam, featured prominently in the lighting design from specialists Light-H-Art for the finals of The Voice Kids Holland, broadcast on RTL 4. Bas de Vries, lighting designer at Light-H-Art, had just two days of camera rehearsals to create distinctive looks for 18 different acts on the show, so needed a lighting rig that would give him a range of options. The Philips VL6000 Beam, introduced to the market earlier this year, drew his attention and Philips Entertainment Lighting worked with Dutch distributor FACE to provide Light-H-Art with the units for the show. De Vries employed six of the Philips VL6000 beams on the set, mounted on moving trusses arrayed above mid-stage. This allowed him to vary the visual framing of the performance, bringing the six wide beams into play to
Switzerland - Since investing in more 300 GLP X4 atoms at the end of last year, Swiss company Winkler Multi Media Events, has found that this small lamp from Karlsbad has developed into a serious and versatile contender. The wide application possibilities range from small to large events as well as popular TV shows. Back in February this year, lighting designer Matthias Kern from broadcast service provider tpc switzerland ag used multiples of the X4 atom in gigantic matrix displays at the Swiss ESC (European Song Contest) preliminary voting round. Further assignments followed, most recently the SRF show Ich schänke dir Lied (I’ll sing you a song) which is running for several weeks. The X4 atoms were used in different arrangements for this emotion-laden Saturday night TV show - as a large matrix between the theatre audience and in a circular truss struc
China - A range of Claypaky moving head fixtures created the responsive theatrical lighting for immersive Chinese theatre production Encore Dunhuang, a 'walk-in' theatre show that debuted at the first Silk Road Dunhuang International Cultural Expo. The event's theatrical lighting design was created by lighting designer Mr Wang Yugang, who specified the Claypaky Scenius Profile, Claypaky Alpha Profile 1200s and Claypaky Sharpy Wash 330s to meet the demands and the scale of the production. Mr Wang Yugang singled out the Scenius Profile for its superior colour rendering. "In the flying scenes, I chose to base the look around the Scenius Profile," says Mr Wang Yugang. "The colour reproduction on clothing and characters is extremely good, and the consistency of light is far more than the other brands of fixtures available." The 90-minute performance guided audi
UK - Depeche Mode’s career spans four decades and a reputation for musical originality has kept them relevant and at the cutting edge in delivering one visually and sonically inspiring performance after another. Blackburn lighting rental specialist HSL is the main lighting and video contractor worldwide for the current Spirit tour. They are partnering with CT to deliver the video package. The raw, stylish, industrial production design is by creative director Anton Corbijn, who has always pioneered video as an essential vehicle of live production. Lighting has been designed by Sooner Routhier and Robert Long of SRae Productions and is being directed on the road by their associate LD, Manny Conde. The Spirit tour is being production managed by Tony Gittins and plays a mix of stadiums and arenas. HSL’s project manager Jordan Hanson is working closely with CT’s
South Africa - As the Naledi Award winners of the night thanked their mothers, their fathers, their oumas (grandmothers) and life partners, as tears flowed, speeches were read and the audience cheered and rose to their feet, it was clear that the ceremony hosted at the Lyric Theatre in Johannesburg on 5 June 2017, held great substance to the victors of the night. With sponsorship and finances bleak, an act of kindness and financial support saw various local and international companies rallying alongside founders Dawn and Des Lindberg, to ensure the 13th Naledi Awards would take place. To top it off, Haccius Mokopakasi, who has been in the industry for 40 years and works in the Market Technical Department, received the Lifetime Achievement Award while Hlomohang Mothetho and Wesley France were the winners in the Best Lighting Design category. Many people are unaware that
UK - Nearly 50 of the multi award-winning Chroma-Q Color Force II 48 luminaires were a central feature of the Pyramid Stage lighting rig at this year's Glastonbury Festival, providing powerful coloured illumination and eye candy during both daytime and evening performances from high-profile artists including: Foo Fighters, Ed Sheeran, Katy Perry, Craig David, Chic, Barry Gibb, The National, First Aid Kit and many more. Mark Cunniffe, lighting designer for Sunday night headliner, Ed Sheeran was impressed by the output of the fixture, commenting: “Loved the Color Force IIs. They worked really well in a daylight application.” Kirk J Miller, lighting director for Katy Perry’s early evening, full daylight performance commented: “I’ve used the Chroma-Q Color Force IIs on a number of TV productions and I absolutely love them. They’re bright, well lensed, and put o
USA - After 12 years, 19 Number One singles and untold touring miles, AMC Entertainer of the Year Jason Aldean isn’t about to take his foot off the pedal. The dust had barely settled from his 2016 We Are Here tour back in January, when he announced plans for his current 33-city They Don’t Know road show. At the time, the country superstar promised that his new tour would be bigger, bolder and brasher than anything he’d ever done before. Rolling through a 90-minute, 22-song set of old and new hits, Aldean has sold-out crowds on their feet, with his animated stage presence and rip-roaring mix of hard-driving music. Supporting his performance and lending extra visual pop to the proceedings is a brawny and colourful Chris Lisle-designed lightshow, anchored by 118 Chauvet Professional Rogue RH1 Hybrid moving fixtures supplied by Bandit Lites. Lisle posit
USA - Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ 40th anniversary tour has been thrilling TP fans across the USA since April, and the show’s visuals are the handiwork of lighting designer / director Stanley Green and co-visual designer Kevin Cassidy. To augment his potent arena lighting package, Green specified 30 High End Systems SolaSpot 1500s as the ‘workhorse’ hard edge fixtures for the tour. Green prepared a total of six complete lighting and set designs for the 40th anniversary tour for Tom to choose from. He comments: “Our technical director Kevin Cassidy had lots of creative input, and was instrumental in bringing it all together. Also, Tom asked for some things which changed the original look somewhat. “I'm using 30 SolaSpot 1500s sprinkled throughout the rig; in fact there are 1500s on every single truss. They are my work horse hard edge fixture for this to
Europe - When Elation Professional launched the Fuze series at last year’s PLASA show, the company filled a niche in the market for dynamic LED wash luminaires with a line of modern PAR lights that project a high-quality flat field of light yet emulate the classic lens look of a traditional Fresnel. Now, Elation is expanding the series with the addition of the new Fuze PAR Z175, a full-colour LED PAR light designed for use in all types of stage wash applications from theatre, TV studio and HoW environments to touring and special events. With the Fuze series, Elation chose to improve upon the pixelated lens face of ordinary LED PAR fixtures by replicating the classic look of old-school pars and moving wash fixtures that so many designers and artists prefer. Like other lights in the Fuze series, the Fuze PAR Z175 uses single-lens RGBW COB LEDs to project a single homo
USA - Awe-struck. That sums up the feeling that visitors experience when they step into The National Building Museum. Located a short distance from the U.S. Capitol, the stately Italian Renaissance Revival structure that was built in 1887 is breathtaking in its scope and elegance. Its vast central hall has housed presidential inaugural balls from the time of Benjamin Harrison through Barack Obama. The Corinthian columns that line its great room are among the tallest in the world. The Bozzuto Management Company recently held an employee award ceremony at the museum. Bozzuto Management focuses on creating extraordinary experiences for their residents and wanted to provide that same level of detail and care for their employees. To create this upbeat atmosphere, while accenting the building’s impressive architectural features, a multi-faceted lighting design by Brett Angstadt
USA - Multiple Grammy Award winning singer songwriter Sheryl Crow is on the road with her new Be Myself album, together with a new lighting & scenic concept created by LD Jeremy Roth which includes Robe Spiider and BMFL Spot moving lights. Jeremy landed the gig after production manager Rick Purcell saw his designs for the current tour by Chicago alt-rockers Wilco and made Sheryl aware of his work. They and her management team all wanted a more theatrical presentation that was based on soft scenic elements. This provided the starting point for the design, together with extensive discussions between Jeremy and the artist about how stage aesthetics related to the vibe and direction of her album. Lyrically, the new songs deal with a disconnect in relationships fuelled by excessive electronic communications and over-exposure through social and other media distrac
UK - You don’t get a Kerrang! front cover without blowing people’s socks off and that’s exactly what Biffy Clyro did at Download when they headlined w/e 10 June. “We used the exact same show we toured at the end of last year,” said LD Richard Larkum, “With my full light show and all the physical and video elements of Misty’s original stage design.” That’s no small undertaking, the set is a striking example of forced diminishing perspective created from a stepped stage and portals constructed of video tiles in concentric array with an elongated landscape screen behind. It’s as eye popping as live video gets and is in no small part due to Larkum’s masterful combining of video and lights as a coherent whole. “We took the production back into rehearsals for this, a one day set-up, two days working as we had a lot of new faces in the Lighting,
UK - For nearly 30 years, Durham Marenghi has been lighting Raymond Gubbay’s Classical Spectacular show. Marenghi’s designs for this production have enthralled audiences at the Royal Albert Hall for decades as he describes, “Classical Spectacular has developed from an all Parcan rig with me operating on a Celco Gold to the addition of Vari-lites on an Artisan desk. I believe that we had the first Vari-lite fixtures outside of Rock ‘n’ Roll from the VL1 upwards, through the LSD Icon control and fixtures and then on to a full automated system controlled by a grandMA from MA Lighting. “Over the years, we have created a massive library of musical pieces with many different rigs and the grandMA2 has converted a lot of this data into the current repertoire. I know of few other control systems that could have achieved this.” With MA control at the
UK - Written by John Gay and with music arranged by Benjamin Britten, The Beggar’s Opera is one of the most renowned folk operas of all time. Since its first performance at Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre, London in 1728, there have been thousands of productions across the globe. The latest comes from Birmingham Conservatoire who recently performed the show at the city’s Crescent Theatre. White Light was called upon to provide the lighting equipment. Upon its initial performance, The Beggar’s Opera parodied life in 18th century London and poked particular fun at the fashionable Handel operas of its day. This revival from Birmingham’s Conservatoire begins as a modernised version of the classic story and features a lighting design by Charlie Morgan Jones. Charlie comments: “This production of The Beggar’s Opera starts as an up-to-date rete
Denmark - A gigantic 24m diameter ‘earth globe’, known as Climate Planet, has been dominating the Aarhus skyline since early June - to coincide with the Danish city being appointed European Capital of Culture. Encapsulated within this giant model of the Planet is a smaller sphere, and as visitors arrive at the spectacular high tech exhibition on climate change during the six weeks it will be stationed in Aarhus, they will be immersed in a surreal world of twinkling stars, generated by G-LEC Solaris LED balls. Climate Planet is the brainchild of Henrik Rud, CEO of Koncept Aarhus, and he was soon sharing the idea of what he believed would be the largest facsimile of Earth ever produced, with Lars Nissen, operations manager at event A/V specialists, Comtech A/S. “When I first heard the idea I thought it was crazy,” admits Nissen. The Comtech specialist in tu
UK - The Claypaky Mythos2 luminaire was selected for its advanced optical features and superior colour mixing by lighting designer Steven Bewley to support his high-impact lighting design for record-breaking British grime artist Stormzy in his recent UK tour. Bewley, who has worked with rap artists such as Dizzee Rascal and Tinie Tempah, was head-hunted by Stormzy after the rapper saw the designer's work for fellow artist Wretch 32. "I worked closely with Stormzy's production managers Bronski and Trevor Williams to design two sets of shows for the debut album tour Gang Signs & Prayer,” says Bewley. "One design was larger and for a series of three 'one-off' performances at the Brixton O2 Academy. The other design was what we used for the main bulk of the tour in smaller venues." The larger show design saw an expanded visual package of 14 independentl
USA - Chauvet Professional continues to usher in a new era of colour mixing opportunities in wash lighting with the introduction of the Ovation B-1965FC. Like its predecessors, the Ovation B-2805FC and B-565FC, the new 1.2m batten utilises a RGBA-Lime colour mixing system, allowing designers to create a richer and broader range of colours as well as brighter whites. “The Ovation B-1965FC gives us a complete range of batten washes with RGBA-Lime colour mixing,” said Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. “Designers immediately appreciated the brighter output and more realistic colour washes they could achieve with our Ovation B-2805FC and B-565FC and they can expect the same from our latest batten. Lime fits into the optimal wavelength for the human eye, which is critical to the performance of these fixtures.” Powered by 196 RGBL LEDs, the Ovation B-1965FC has an illu
UK - “Robert Juliat are the gold standard of followspots and whenever we’re looking to add more to our inventory, they’re our go-to brand.” So says Hawthorn’s Group Director of Hire, David Slater who have just expanded their inventory of followspots with a significant purchase of fixtures from Ambersphere Solutions. The company opted to add to their Cyrano stock and to make a new investment purchase of the LED 300W Roxie. Slater explains the choices, “The Cyranos have proved so popular we felt it was right to add to our current stock. Their really impressive tight beam and long throw makes them perfect for larger venues and arenas such as the recent UK Tour of Sister Act and the British Bodyshop Awards at Battersea Evolution. “The saving on replacement discharge lamps, due to the amazing life of the LED light engine and low power consumption of the Roxie
UK - Lighting and video rental specialist Colour Sound Experiment is enjoying another majorly busy festival season, supplying over 50 events up and down the country over the course of the summer. One of the early highlights was Wildlife staged at Shoreham Airport (AKA Brighton City Airport) on the south coast, a musical adventure organised by SJM and curated by popular dance artists Rudimental and Disclosure, now in its third year. Colour Sound has also been involved from the start. This year west London based Colour Sound supplied lighting for four stages and LED screens for one. Wildlife 2017 radiated friendly vibes as everyone felt the love and enjoyed some fabulous weather, together with a dynamic and diverse musical line-up with outstanding performances by the likes of Fatboy Slim, Jess Glynn, Eric Prydz, Dizzee Rascal and many, many more. James Hind,
Belgium - LD Ruben de Snoo chose the new wash fixture with independent LED battens to enlighten all musicians in order to create more depth on stage. Additionally, de Snoo was also very pleased with the 30° and 50° lens system of each fixture. “Because of the two different lenses I was able to create an even wash throughout the whole band, where other fixtures provide a hotspot below the hips of band members. Also the fixture is able to deliver smooth & saturated pastel colours, ”added de Snoo. “The LEDwash XL is a compact, light weighted fixture which is very easy to apply on our shows, so it will definitely part of our club tour the second part of 2017.” The LEDwash XL wash fixture has two LED segments. The two horizontal LED battens can be manually tilted and controlled separately. Because of the 30° and 50° lens it is possible to use the fixtu
