The Sound of Music opened to critical acclaim with Connie Fisher the winner of the hit TV show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? taking the lead role. The show produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Ian, The Really Useful Group and Live Nation is already a huge success. In January 2007 Fisher pledged her allegiance to the show till February 2008.
Stage Electrics have supplied a total of 17 tonnes of equipment that was delivered to the Palladium in just three weeks from point of order. The show has 108 moving lights consisting mainly of Martin MAC 700 profile and wash fixtures and the brand new Martin MAC TW1 tungsten wash. The Martin fixtures are complimented by 19 Vari*Lite VL1000AS spots.
Lighting designer for the production, Mark Henderson says: "The MAC TW1s turned out to be a great unit - wonderful to have the colour mixing and variable beam size. It gave us good scope for a good Tungsten based wash enabling very good pastel colour range which works well on skin tones. On the TW1s I particularly liked the colour mixing together with the facility to be able to change the beam size. That's not really been an option on a colour mixing tungsten unit previously."
"The 700s were great for all the gobo and movement work," says Henderson. "It was very good to get lots of movement that didn't need to be flashy but helped to get some animation into the looks. The lack of fans helped enormously, it meant we were not restricted as to placement of the units, having to worry about sound issues."
The lighting rig also contains 250 generic lanterns, mainly ETC Source 4 profiles complimented by Source 4 Pars and Thomas PAR 16 Battens. All equipment supplied by Stage Electrics is controlled via a High End Hog IPC console with a full Hog PC tracking back-up system.
Stage Electrics' business development manager Chris Patton who managed the equipment supply, says: "It is not unusual for Stage Electrics to supply equipment and services to some of the world's biggest theatre shows, but to be involved with such a high profile production as The Sound of Music with all the television coverage it received prior to opening at the Palladium is a real privilege."
Henderson concluded by saying: "Fantastic service from Stage Electrics who were fully supportive and gave us a very competitive deal. Equipment was first rate and the new Martin TW1 units together with the rest of the kit all performed really well. Many thanks to Stage Electrics for supporting us on the TW1s and Mac 700s and for all their back up during production."
Stage Electrics is also working with David Ian Productions supplying the international tours of Chicago, Starlight Express and Cats.
(Chris Henry)
