Mamma Mia first appeared in April 1999 at the Prince Edward Theatre in London, the production directed by Phyllida Law and designed by Mark Thompson with lighting by Howard Harrison. Harrison made use of a wide selection of automated lighting equipment, but central to the rig were eleven eight-lamp Digital Light Curtains "absolutely fantastic for creating a strong backlight, the clean, clear look of Greek sunlight," said Harrison.
The show immediately became a smash hit, with Harrison nominated for an Olivier Award for his lighting. More productions soon appeared with Toronto followed by an American tour, then Australia, Broadway, Hamburg, Tokyo and Las Vegas. For all of these productions, the rig was expanded to include six 6-lamp Pitching DLCs, three 6-lamp standard DLCs and eight 8-lamp standard DLCs; the additional six Pitching DLCs were subsequently retrofitted to the London production, so Mamma Mia is therefore currently using a total of 136 Digital Light Curtains.
Having made its first appearance on Miss Saigon in New York, the DLC has appeared in shows such as EFX in Las Vegas, Cats, Beauty and the Beast, Martin Guerre, Fosse, Starlight Express, Grease, The Witches of Eastwick, A Saint She 'Aint, Blast, Showboat, Pan, Napoleon, Antarctica, Burning Blue, The Beautiful Game, Spend Spend Spend, Tommy, Doctor Dolittle, Soulmates and The Coast of Utopia as well as tours by Sting and concerts such as the Les Misérables 10th Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. The DLC has now been in production for about the longest of any current automated lantern, with more than 1000 units currently in service worldwide.
(Lee Baldock)
