Gearhouse SA's project manager was Bill Lawford, who started work two months in advance, collaborating closely with the tour's US-based production manager, Nick Jeen.
Three venues - Sun City Superbowl, the Grand West Casino in Cape Town and the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban - were visited over a 12 day period.
The tour brought its full monitor rig and control consoles for sound, lighting and video to SA - the production sound elements came from Sirius Show Equipment Germany for this section. At the first two venues, they hooked into the house racks-and-stacks for audio, with Gearhouse supplementing a quantity of Kudo and dV-DOSC cabinets, and in Durban, Gearhouse supplied a full L-Acoustics V-DOSC/Kudo/ dV-DOSC sound system.
Challenges included it being the first full production music show to be staged in the Moses Mabhida Stadium, and the turnaround between this and the Cape Town show, which was tight.
For A R Rahman's LD Josh Kauffman, Gearhouse supplied full lighting production for the whole tour. The rig was based around four trusses - 60ft front and mid trusses and two 32ft side trusses all constructed from A-Type, plus a 60ft upstage truss made from TFL Heavy Duty trussing.
Spread out across all of these were 80 Martin Professional MAC 2000 Wash, two Robe 700 Spot and 60 x MAC 2k Profile moving lights, together with six Panther 2k Xenons and three 1200W HMI Truss Trouper followspots. There were a further eight 2k Xenon follow spots stationed at FOH.
On the floor were 12 MAC 2000 Washes, and the space was primarily kept clear to accommodate the large cast of performers. Kauffman controlled the lights with his grandMA2 full size console.
The show's primary set feature is a large LED screen upstage which is an integral part of the show's visuality and in constant use.
(Jim Evans)
