For this latter, Mamma Mia! is being staged by the Shiki Theatre Company at this brand new 1200-seat theatre, which is located in the new Bayside Tokyo Shiodome SIO-SITE complex. The show is the latest in a long line of large-scale musical productions under the Shiki banner, including Phantom of the Opera, CATS and The Lion King. The Shiki team was responsible for the design of the Umi Theatre and the acoustics, giving them an ideal level of control from the outset. The sound designer for the show was Bobby Aitken, with Brian Beasley as associate sound designer.
In Hamburg, Mamma Mia! broke a number of records in the run-up to the official opening. Four days before the première, production company Stage Holding reported that over 150,000 tickets had been sold via the ticket hotline. In order to meet the unprecedented demand, they had to employ more than 300 ticket agents. In Australia, meanwhile, Mamma Mia! has been touring the country with a 70-channel J-Type. The tour kicked off in Melbourne at the Princess Theatre in early 2001, with 26th September 2002 marking the start of its season in Sydney. System Sound has been responsible for the sound system throughout the show's travels.
2002 marks the tenth anniversary of the J-Type - a console design that has established itself as an industry standard choice for major musical productions, as well as fixed theatre installations. The latest J-Type offers a versatile and flexible range of automation facilities, via the range of Programmable/Recallable modules, suitable for retrofitting in existing J-Type frames. The latest modules allow users to store and recall all potentiometer and switch settings during a performance, including those of the Routing, EQ and Insert points, on a cue-by-cue basis.
(Ruth Rossington)
