In preparing the production to travel across North America, projection designers Peter Nigrini and Dan Scully were asked to reimagine the original production with a new projection and LED video component that would allow the tour to maintain the same visually dynamic impact as the original design. Working with event technology provider WorldStage, Nigrini and Scully identified and implemented a LED video design comprised of 22 FLEXCurtain HD LED screens from PixelFLEX.
"I have worked with the design team behind If/Then for a number of years, and the idea for the redesign of the tour was really driven by the wonderful impossibility of the original Broadway production," said Nigrini. "The original design had a large 36' x 20' flying, tilting mirror which was absolutely fantastic, but there was no way it could go out on tour. As a result, there had to be a dramatic redesign to create an equality dynamic if much different production. After consulting with WorldStage, we decided to use a combination and video projection and 22 FLEXCurtain HD LED video screens to help replace the mirror element."
The FLEXCurtain HD is an ultralight, flexible LED wall that weighs 60-90% less than other large LED screen options and is available in an array of custom sizes. Using the PixelFLEX quick-lock system, the FLEXCurtain HD can be easily set-up and broken-down, and it accepts video and photo content from any DVI-D source.
"WorldStage does a lot of work in the theatre industry and we often work with projection designers who come to us looking for assistance in identifying the ideal technology that will most advantageously help them achieve their designs," added Lars Pedersen, WorldStage director of emerging technologies. "When deciding upon the use of the FLEXCurtain HD, we looked at it from both the designer and production management perspectives, and it was really the best fit for both. On the design side, it had the correct imaging capabilities and was the right size; and then from the production perspective, it was easy to set-up and occupied a small footprint in the truck. It was ideal in all aspects and it's working great for the If/Then tour."
Nigrini concluded, "Long before a projection designer can begin to make decisions on what the video content of a show will be, many decisions have to be made about the type of video products that will be used. If you make the choices correctly, you can really do something beautiful, but if you make the wrong choice, there is no content that will be able to save you. The fact that the FLEXCurtain HD was able to hit all our targets of image quality, portability, ease-of-use, and reliable performance made it an obvious choice for this production, and we could not be happier with the video design of the If/Then tour."
(Jim Evans)
