The show was given a fresh new storyline and set to music, resulting in a musical-meets-action spectacular that features an exhilarating clash between a group of beautiful, tempting sirens and a band of renegade pirates. The buildings of the seaside village are bathed in a cool moonlit wash, while a ghostly bleached ship with tattered sails sits nearby. Lighting the tropical city façade is a new Martin colour-changing system of Exterior 600, Exterior 600 Compact and Atomic strobe fixtures supplied by Fourth Phase.
Lighting design for the new show is by Roy Bennet with programming and assistant lighting design by Troy Eckerman. Bennet comments: "I used the 600s to flood the façade of the buildings to get as much coverage as possible, and they also work on both boats. The fixtures (six) placed behind the Siren boat have 100° lenses, which, in that tight space, gives enough coverage to pull the boat away from the wall of the city to give it some depth. The other reason I chose the 600 is because in that genre of light they're the most reliable."
The Exteriors surround the cove with blues, pinks and purples dominating the colour scheme. And because the show includes both intense fighting scenes and more subtle elements, the fixtures are used for a variety of looks. "The majority of the fixtures were placed low on front of the dock, on the dockside only a couple of feet above the water, and on the walkway shining across the water onto the city façade," Eckerman comments.
"They also light the face of the ship when it comes around the cove and are also used for effects in the lightning scene of the show," he adds. Strobing effects from the Exterior 600s are used to simulate a steadily growing storm and then to replicate a huge bolt of lightning that illuminates the mainsail. A static look provides illumination between shows with incandescent lighting taking over after midnight. The show lighting is run on SMPTE by a WholeHog III console. Some 64 Atomic 3000 strobes are also incorporated into the show for lightning effect and uplighting purposes. Mounted in groups of two, 34 Atomics are mounted on the roof to light palm trees and buildings; 28 are located around the dock, aimed downward into the water producing a reflection effect which also uplights the buildings; and a pair are uplighting the Siren boat itself.
(Lee Baldock)
