The film is now being turned into a stage musical by its original creators, director Stephen Daldry, choreographer Peter Darling and writer Lee Hall; the music for the show is being written by Elton John. To create the stage production, Daldry is working once again with the team behind his acclaimed, long-running stage production of An Inspector Calls, designer Ian MacNeil and lighting designer Rick Fisher.
To light the show, Fisher has specified a rig featuring eleven Vari-Lite VL3500 framing spotlights and nine VL3000 Washlights, both in the low-noise 'Q' version, as well as 24 ETC Revolution spotlights with framing and rotating gobo modules. Complementing these are thirty-six Martin Mac600 washlights, six Strand Pirouette PCs and five DHA Digital Light Curtains.
The conventional rig includes ETC Source Fours and PAR Cans, many fitted with Rainbow Pro colour scrollers, Strand Coda-4 and Nocturne floodlights, and even vintage Strand Patt 23 and 123 lanterns used for lighting within period scenes. White Light is also supplying additional dimming (three Anytronics 12-way 5A racks and one BakPak single dimmer), Look Solutions Unique haze, Tiny Fogger and Viper smoke machines, Le Maitre LSG and Look Solutions Viper Low smoke machines, and followspots from Robert Juliat - one 2.5K Aramis and two 1.2K Manon. Control is from a Strand Lighting 520i console with a 510i backup. The show also sees the debut of a number of White Light's new vari-speed snow machines developed by White Light specifically for the show. Working with Fisher on the show is a team including production electrician Paul Franklin and lighting programmer Vic Smerdon; the show's production manager is Stephen Rebbeck. Billy Elliot opens at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London on 24 March and is produced by Working Title and Old Vic Productions.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
