The show's lighting design has been created by Nick Schlieper, and the stage adaptation, Priscilla Queen of the Desert - The Musical was initially premiered at the Star Casino in Sydney in late 2006. From there, it toured Australia and New Zealand before coming to London, where it is being produced by Back Row Productions and the Really Useful Group (RUG).
Lighting equipment is being supplied by PRG, and freelance programmer Stuart Porter was asked by RUG to programme the moving and intelligent lighting components on to a grandMA. Porter has a wealth of experience and many West End productions under his belt, however this is the first time he's programmed a large scale West End musical with a grandMA. "It's a stable, powerful, reliable and well supported platform," he comments.
The fast-paced show is a big, glitzy, glamorous affair, with 20 full-on production numbers and an awesome stage set including Priscilla, the famous battered bus which blasts around the Australian outback with three friends and their show. It also features over 500 outrageous costumes.
The grandMA is controlling 74 moving lights, which are a combination of Clay Paky Alpha Spot 1200s, Vari*Lite VL3500Qs, VL1000 ARCs (with a mix of shutters and irises) and Martin Professional fixtures.
The moving lights are used for all the standard focus and chase effects as well as for some very specific tight shuttered focuses which need to be reproduced with pinpoint accuracy. "The grandMA does this incredibly well," comments Porter.
In addition to these fixtures, the console is also running ETC Source Four Revolutions (with colour scrollers), six DHA Digital Light Curtains and a myriad of inset LEDs illuminating the show's shoe set piece, which has 21 steps and three colours per step - involving a lot of chases. This was engineered and built by Stage One, together with the rest of the set for the UK production.
The grandMA is also triggering V4 video servers running projected video onto the bus and through the 'Pixaline Net', a custom built LED cloth.
Porter has just started programming for lighting designer Natasha Katz on Whoopie Goldberg's Sister Act The Musical using a grandMA full size for its opening in June.
For more on the West End production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert see the June 2009 issue of Lighting&Sound magazine, coming soon.
(Jim Evans)
