Australia - Currently playing at Sydney's Lyric Theatre, Legally Blonde The Musical is lit by Kenneth Posner and Paul Miller with Hugh Hamilton acting as associate for the Australian tour. The set and lighting design for the Australian production comes from the London production of the musical held at the Savoy Theatre.

The rig houses only Vari-Lite moving lights: forty-four VL2500 Spots, twenty-two VL2500 Washes and five VL3500 Spots whilst conventional lighting consists of over 200 ETC Source Four fixtures. It's a fairly straight forward rig that was, according to Hamilton, expertly prepped at PRG, easily hung and there were very few problems to overcome.

"The overhead trusses go spot, wash, spot, wash, spot, wash and the ladders are all VL2500 Spots," explained Hamilton. "It's a great rig because you can put anything you need where you need it, plus it

UK - Philips Selecon's lightweight, smooth colour changing PLCyc LED luminaires are facilitating fiercely felt mood and atmosphere for The Guildford Shakespeare Company's production of Macbeth.

Lighting designer Declan Randall is harnessing the diverse colour palette and rapid colour changing abilities of the PLCyc fixtures to dramatically enhance the shifting ambience during the production at Guildford's Holy Trinity Church.

"I'm treating the ceiling of church as the cyclorama, up-lighting the roof and using the PLCycs to throw shadows of scenic elements and the cast up onto the roof," says Randall. "The show varies from intense colour to more natural, gentle, skin tones and the PLCycs offer us speedy colour changes and an amazing palette to work with. What's great about the PLCyc LED luminaires is that they deliver both the natural and unnatural colours

UK - Inaugurated in 1886, the old People's Palace, as it was formerly known, was originally built to provide cultural activities to its local population but tragically burned down in 1931. Rebuilt in 1936 to the west of its original site, the new People's Palace is now owned by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). This historic Grade II listed building has recently undergone a £6.3m facelift to restore it to its former 1930's style interior beauty.

Located in the heart of London's East End and home to the 770 seat Great Hall, the theatre's transformation included a lighting and audio solution supplied and installed by specialist integrators Stage Electrics.

"Queen Mary, University of London is delighted with our newly refurbished venue and we're now getting a huge amount of interest from external hirers and promoters who are discovering this hidden gem in east Lo

UK - Lighting designer Jonny Gaskell has harnessed the laser-like beam of Clay Paky's Sharpy fixtures to deliver a high impact, three-dimensional lighting environment for electronic dance music duo Orbital on their UK tour, which culminated with a spectacular and hard hitting show at Brixton Academy.

Gaskell, of Pinnacle Productions, combined the razor sharp beams of the Clay Paky Sharpys, supplied by rental operation Colour Sound Experiment, with laser bounce mirrors to deliver a three dimensional prism of super bright almost architectural effects around the band. This worked as part of a layered lighting concept that combined evocative video, moody washes and striking effects during the dynamic, content rich show. The result was a dramatically striking, 3D world of light and images that worked as one with Orbital's music but at the same time also reached out and engaged the li

Austria - With a huge opening ceremony the 2013 Skiing World Championships recently started in Schladming, Austria. Associate LD Jeffrey Goes and associate LD Daan Oomen relied for the show on an MA Lighting system, consisting of two grandMA2 light, one grandMA2 fader wing and two MA NPU (Network Processing Unit).

Jeffrey Goes commented, "The grandMA2 offered the best solution in networking and stability for this outdoor event. Especially in bad weather conditions it proofed to be a solid, stable control system. This was essential. Furthermore it offered us a perfect back-up solution as well as great network possibilities."

Daan Oomen continued, "We had to deal with pretty harsh weather conditions. Also some lighting positions were only accessible by helicopter. Furthermore the venue had a quite unusual shape unusual shape and an extremely steep slope. Making a

Canada - CAST Software has announced its 2013 Video Contest, in which users of the brand new wysiwyg R30 are invited to submit their finest lighting designs for a chance to win one of three prizes. The creator of the winning video will land themselves a full one-year wyg membership, while second and third place runners-up will scoop a half-year wyg membership.

In an exciting twist on 2012's R28 competition, the use of consoles WILL be allowed, due to popular demand among previous entrants. Of course, employment of the software's Cue List and Camera Path features is perfectly acceptable and encouraged - Members are simply challenged to create a two-minute video of a stunning wysiwyg design and upload it to the CAST Software Facebook page for appraisal, initially by CAST's hand-picked judging panel, and then by the public who can vote for their favourite video via Facebook.

CAST

UK - Mark Henderson was named Best Lighting Designer in this year's Whatsonstage.com Awards.

The awards ceremony was presented by the Whatsonstage.com theatre news website at a lavish concert on Sunday night. The Whatsonstage.com Awards is the only major prize-giving celebration for theatre voted on by the theatre-going public. The Best Lighting Designer Award is sponsored by leading entertainment lighting supplier White Light.

Henderson secured the prize for his work on Sweeney Todd, which opened at the Chichester Festival Theatre and then transferred to London's Adelphi Theatre. Henderson's was not the only award presented to the show, which also won prizes for its leading performers (Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton), its director (Jonathan Kent), and for the show itself, which was named Best Musical Revival.

Henderson's fellow nominees in the category were Humphre

UK - The MAC III Wash, the final luminaire in Martin Professional's successful 1,500W MAC III family of moving heads, is now available. A full-feature, full-range wash luminaire with light quality and a colour palette, it excels at projecting an intense yet even field of light and has the added ability of shaping the beam through an internal barndoor system, a unique feature for a Fresnel light, says the company.

The MAC III Wash features a unique internal barndoor system (shutters) that enables designers to shape projection onto stages, performers, scenery, scrims, or any set element with great precision.

The MAC III Wash houses a 1:4 fully linear zoom that requires no lens changes plus the MAC III Wash maintains near full efficiency throughout the entire zoom range with no visible beam jump when zooming from tight to wide and no drop in lumens output.

At over 50,000 lumens

Australia - Over 150 Robe moving lights were spread around multiple stages on Summafieldayze 2013 - the most popular marathon dance music festival staged at Doug Jennings Park, The Spit on Australia's Gold Coast.

Heading up the action were plenty of electronic legends like The Chemical Brothers, M.I.A, Fedde Le Grand, Mark Ronson, Hot Chip, The Faders, Kimbra and many more.

Lighting equipment, together with lighting production designs for the event's three main stage areas, was supplied by Clifton Productions, one of Australia's highest profile rental operations ... and the one with the largest stock of Robe fixtures.

Stage One was based around M.I.A.'s spec and featured 22 Robe ColorSpot 2500E ATs, eight ColorWash 2500E ATs and 18 Robin 600 Beams. The set centrepiece was an extensive upstage video wall.

The second stage was custom designed to accommodate the Chemical Brot

Austria - When TV viewers in Austria tune into ORF 1 to watch weekly TV talent show Die Grosse Chance, one of the first things they notice is 1500 strings of SGM's LB-100 LED Balls festooned across the set. This large display forms the centrepiece of a set design conceived by Florian Wieder (of Wieder Design).

The LB-100's were supplied by production company, Supporting Role, who specialise in the broadcast rental sector, after being impressed by a system demo organised by SGM Germany's co-MD Thorsten Sattler.

Florian Wieder has taken a highly creative approach with the lighting - hanging the LB-100's as a curtain, split into separate sections, and as 'bridges' across the studio (one of which serves as the portal bridge to the stage).

These are fed by moving images from three Coolux Pandoras Box media servers.

Each of the 1500 strings measures 0.85m and contains sev

UK - Chroma-Q will showcase their latest range of innovative LED broadcast lighting solutions at the BVE South show, Excel London, on the stand of exclusive UK dealer A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd. (stand C64).

The new Chroma-Q Studio Force Phosphor has been developed specifically for use in film, TV and broadcast studio environments. Utilising innovative LED technologies, the units provide an equivalent soft edge output to a fluorescent fixture - up to 7,000 lumens. There's a choice of standard daylight white (5,600K), variable white (3,200 - 5,600K) and new tungsten white (3,200K) colour temperature versions, with the variable version offering fine-tuning of the green and magenta tints and frequency for camera.

Other features include an extremely smooth uniform wash, extra soft beam, theatrical grade dimming, laboratory calibration to match Black Body Locus, a manual c

The Netherlands - A new theatre in Roermond, south eastern Holland, has decided that energy saving is the way forward - and has been fitted out with entirely LED fixtures.

ECI Cultuurfabriek is a converted former chemical factory which was abandoned in the 1970s. After many years of discussion about the building's future, it was decided to refurbish it - replacing its missing roof and rebuilding the walls - and turn it into a space for the whole community to use. Incoming technical manager Maarten Janssen invested in 30 ETC Source Four Lustr+ and 22 ETC Selador Desire Lustr+ LED luminaires for its 244 seat theatre space, taking advantage of extra funding available for environmentally sustainable projects.

Janssen explains why he chose the ETC fixtures: "I saw the LED demonstrations on ETC's YouTube video library. The fixtures have incredibly smooth fades, which I've never

France - One year after its foundation, the French distribution company, Alterlite, has exhibited for the first time at SIEL with spectacular results. No less than three of its product lines received Etoiles du SIEL Awards at the annual tradeshow in Paris last week.

"We were extremely pleased to see three of the manufacturers we represent receive these Awards," states CEO Lionel Garraud. "Robert Juliat, Chromlech and Darklight are prime examples of the innovative, well informed industry leaders we chose to deal with. We see this as confirmation that we made the right choices in the products we offer and could not have asked for more from our first exhibition as a new company."

Alterlite was established to provide the French architainment and retail markets with alternative lighting products of the highest quality. Its team has expanded rapidly over the firs

UK - Popular Northern Irish band Two Door Cinema Club continued the latest UK leg of their Beacon world tour with a very cool lighting design by Squib (Chris Swain) which included 32 x Robe LEDBeam 100s and 10 Robe MMX Spots, all supplied by rental company Siyan together with the rest of the lighting rig.

Squib has worked with the Band - whose lively mix of rocky electro pop has fed their hyperactive career trajectory - since 2010. They are a hard-working live act. Squib's first gig for them was at London's Heaven venue, mid-way through the cycle for their first studio album Tourist History, which segued almost immediately into Beacon.

He is a relative newcomer to using Robe fixtures, and it was the latest Robin series that caught his eye and encouraged him to look further at what the brand had to offer.

This was the first full production leg of the Beacon

UK - David Whitehead, founder and majority shareholder of Stage Electrics passed away suddenly on Monday 18 February after a courageous fight against cancer.

"David was diagnosed with cancer 15 months ago and met the challenge of his illness with the same blend of determination and optimism that was his hallmark in business. Since stepping down as managing director of Stage Electrics he has devoted time to ensuring a secure future for his company and its employees," says the company. "His majority ownership passes to his family, however David has made sure Stage Electrics is in safe hands with strong management in place led by managing director Dan Aldridge and chairman Trevor Smallwood."

David founded Stage Electrics in Exeter in 1979 and built the company into the nationwide multi-discipline organisation it is today. Leading the company as managing direct

USA - Chauvet Professional Legend 412 pixel-mapping moving yokes flawlessly performed during 168 shows next to up-and-coming country singer Justin Moore, as the opening act for Eric Church's tour.

Lighting designer Sooner Routhier specified 44 Legend 412 fixtures placed in custom-made wood carts behind the singer and symmetrically on the left and right side of the stage. "We needed to make sure that the floor package we used was easily configurable to accommodate the many different stage sizes," Routhier said.

"It needed to expand and contract based on the various widths. Luckily, the lighting company - Special Event Services - had some custom-built carts that they modified in order to pack lots of lights into small spaces." These props allowed the tour to set up a floor package and tear it down in record time for festival and opening act situations. "

UK - Confirming the show's position as the premier event for entertainment technology in the north of England, PLASA Events is delighted to report that all exhibitor stands for PLASA Focus: Leeds 2013, taking place on Tuesday 30 April and Wednesday 1 May at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, are now sold out.

In a further indication that this year's show will be the best yet, organisers report a 30% increase in visitor registrations. New exhibitors joining the show this year include Autograph Sales, HD Pro Audio, Pearce Hire and Unusual Rigging, among others. A full list of exhibitors and details of the Professional Development Programme can be found on the PLASA Focus website.

Another exciting new development is the first ever PLASA Riggers' Forum for the North, which will take place on Tuesday 30 April. Building on the success of the PLASA Riggers' Forum in London in September, t

USA - Super Bowl XLVII was a memorable game, but the full Super Bowl experience started well before kickoff with a pair of live pre-game concerts broadcast on VH-1 and CMT where grandMA2 light consoles played a key role.

VH-1 and the NFL joined forces to celebrate the Super Bowl with Train headlining The Best Super Bowl Concert Ever on Friday night. CMT and the NFL partnered the following evening on a Crossroads special starring superstar country band Rascal Flatts and iconic rock band Journey. Both concerts were held at The Sugar Mill in New Orleans, which seats 4,000-5,000 fans.

Atomic Lighting of Lititz, Pennsylvania provided a pair of grandMA2 light with grandMA2 fader wing for the concert series. PEDG was the production design team collaborating. Bob Pederson was acting lighting designer on the broadcast truck.

The grandMA2 light was selected by programmer

UK - A troupe of Clay Paky Sharpys has added high-impact layers to pop princess Cheryl Cole's visuals-led tour.

Lighting designer Peter Barnes - dubbed the UK's 'guru of pop lighting' - specified 14 Sharpys rigged on the back truss on drop-bars and ten on the stairways, all mimicking the shapes of the LED screens on stage. A further ten Sharpys were positioned on a flown box truss just in front of the FOH position.

"The Sharpys were the only fixture I knew would give strong defined beams powerful enough to be visible against the intensity of the LED screen that made up the pyramid shaped fascia to the set and the backdrop," says Barnes. "They were also small enough to be placed on the stairs without being a hazard to the dancers."

HSL supplied the Clay Paky Sharpys and the tour was project managed for HSL by Mike Oates.

"The Clay Paky Sharpy is a real wor

USA - Grammy award winning vocal group Little Big Town is on the road with Bandit Lites for The Tornado Tour. Comprised of Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet, the country music group has been unstoppable, with their first platinum single Pontoon racking up accolades, including the CMA Award for Single of the Year and the Grammy award for Best Country Duo/Group performance.

Raj Kapoor worked closely with Little Big Town to design a stunning set that did the word justice. The design features the remains of a theatre, with tattered legs and borders hanging across the mid stage.

While the name of the tour and album inspired the set design, lighting designer Chris Shrom worked with production manager Chris Diener on the production details during Rascal Flatts' Changed tour that they wanted to bring to Little Big Town's show.

South Africa - For nearly two decades, South Africa's longest gospel movement, Joyous Celebration, has spread the word through powerful musical worship.

On 15 December 2012, the 17th Joyous Celebration DVD was recorded at Rhema Church in Johannesburg.

This respected project was made possible with the help of a technical team comprising of different companies.

ATTV provided and managed all the visual graphics and final DVD editing while sound, staging and six Clay Paky Sharpies were supplied by Sound Headquarters. The lighting rig and screens was supplied by EPH Productions. The entire show attended by 5000 audience was recorded on HD cameras; supplied by Malaphati. Wizardry Group was briefed to supply a lighting system that needed to look good on any camera from any angle and to keep the set alive.

It was also Wizardry Groups' responsibility to integrate all the video imag

Europe - Apollo Design Technology has announced a new partnership with Production Resource Group. PRG UK is now producing Apollo Standard patterns for distribution in the Europe Union countries.

Apollo president, Joel Nichols states, "Both companies have enjoyed a mutual partnership for years. I am looking forward to working with PRG and being able to service their client needs."

Milad Khouli, Sr. international account executive commented, "PRG is a well-established company dedicated to providing high quality, high resolution gobos using the latest technology. This venture provides Apollo with the opportunity to solidify their presence in the European market."

Kevin Blair, head of PRG Technical Services said, "The introduction of Apollo products into the UK and EU markets will offer our clients an extended range of designs coupled with our continued

Norway - Lighting designer, Trond Dybfest of Trondheim Lyd Lysverket recently chose a Jands Vista L5 console to control lighting for award-winning neo-classical duo, Secret Garden's latest tour.

With over 3m international album sales and a Eurovision Song Contest win under their belt, Secret Garden have been touring relentlessly for over 15 years, covering a huge portion of the globe.

The first time Trond tried a Vista he was immediately drawn to its powerful, simple operating system, which he found to be extremely intuitive. Since then, he has become a keen Vista user, specifying a range of Vista products across his busy schedule of tours and productions.

Trond chose the new, flagship Vista L5 console to control lighting and media on this tour knowing that the software's simple, powerful and visual interface would provide him with the flexible, reliable and consistent contr

Germany / China - GLP has appointed Guangzhou Ruisheng Lighting & Audio Equipment as their exclusive distributor for China, Taiwan and Macao.

Ruisheng has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu and with nearly 70 employees has set course for becoming a leading supplier of international professional lighting and audio systems in China.

Michael Münz, general manager of GLPs Asia Office in Hong Kong, said, "Since we started GLP Asia two years ago we have really been able to grow our business all across Asia. Our products are now used on stage with some of the most famous artists in the Peak Tower, right here in Hong Kong."

Munz will work closely with the staff at Ruisheng to ensure the highest level of customer service and support, adding "Together with Ruisheng, I look forward to building the GLP brand to great success."

CEO of GLP GmbH, Udo

Latest Issue. . .

Save
Cookies user preferences
We use cookies to ensure you to get the best experience on our website. If you decline the use of cookies, this website may not function as expected.
Accept all
Decline all
Analytics
Tools used to analyze the data to measure the effectiveness of a website and to understand how it works.
Google Analytics
Accept
Decline
Advertisement
If you accept, the ads on the page will be adapted to your preferences.
Google Ad
Accept
Decline