Hawthorn delivers for 9 to 5 The Musical
- Details
Starring Louise Redknapp, Caroline Sheen, Amber Davies, Natalie McQueen, Bonnie Langford and Brian Conley, the musical features a book by the movie’s screenwriter Patricia Resnick and a score by Dolly Parton.
Hawthorn worked closely with the show’s award-winning lighting designer Howard Hudson to supply lighting equipment to his specification. Drawing on Hawthorn’s vast inventory, the rig features a combination of moving lights, LED fixtures and generic lanterns. This included Martin MAC Viper Performance, Martin Mac Aura XB, Claypaky Sharpy Wash 330, ETC ColorSource Spot and ETC Source 4 Profile fixtures.
Hudson said, “It was decided that the piece was to be updated from the late 70’s to the early 80’s, so rather than a musty 70’s period feel, we have tried to give the show a fresher, bright, crisper and more contemporary look.
“The set is formed of deep perspective portals of white and grey office desks, on each of which is a computer screen which contains a lightbox, made by Howard Eaton Lighting. This allowed us to colour the overall picture and run effects to help with the numerous transitions which needed to flow smoothly and be dynamic. The portals themselves take colour very well so were great surfaces to scrape across with our ETC ColorSource cross light to shift the picture for the various locations.”
With space limited overhead, Howard snuck in positions where he could and had to choose fixtures which were flexible and most importantly bright to give the garish fluorescent lit office feel where the action sits for most of the show. “The trusty Viper Performance was our main overhead and FOH unit and Viper Wash DXs gave us further punch,” comments Howard. “MAC Aura XBs sat in positions with less space and GLP X4Ss were hidden within the portals to try to give us some cross light options for the more dynamic sections of choreography.
“Our first electric is incredibly tight to scenery, so Hawthorn was very helpful in finding us a smaller but still bright and flexible unit for this position as we lacked space for another system of Vipers - we settled on Claypaky Alpha Spot 800S which are great units and slotted into the rest of the rig very well.”
Mark Burnett, business development manager at Hawthorn, said, “We were over the moon to be chosen to supply the lighting equipment for 9 to 5 the Musical. We have a great relationship with Howard Hudson so it was amazing to collaborate on another project together.”
(Jim Evans)
