The setting is a temporary structure. "It's a very luxurious tent with solid walls and lavish décor, as befits the presentation" explained Jim Baggott, Goldsmith's production manager for the show. "It's a Speigel tent; they're from Belgium and the experience is decidedly un-tent like; step inside and you progress directly into an evocation of the Crazy Horse itself."
Baggott is preoccupied with the technical aspects of realising the show; the application of sound reinforcement in a location where the nearest residential properties are barely one hundred metres away has given him pause for thought. "We have worked with Britannia Row Productions on many shows in the past so we know what they can do; even so this was a tricky project and they have really looked after us on it."
Praise indeed, but just how did Lez Dwight, who managed the project for Britrow, satisfy the conflicting needs of show business sound levels with surrounding neighbourhoods? "The performance area is relatively small, the public arena is twenty-six metres in diameter, the walls are wooden, so too the floor and stage. The trick is in the detail."
Dwight has a lengthy history in West End theatre and knows all about maintaining drama with a light touch. "The system is simple enough; the girls perform upon a stage set tangentially. The speakers are all L-Acoustics; we have rigged three Arcs a side with dV-dosc subs; there is also a pair of SB218 Subs beneath the stage. Why this works is the mounting, the subs are physically separated from the stage structure and sit on rubber mats; the Arcs are on custom made 1.5m high plinths. By not physically exciting the stage structure, sound propagation is restricted to the loudspeakers so we can control it absolutely."
A distributed network of coaxial 108Ps is used for front-fills and delays throughout the audience area. This also contributes to sustaining controllable levels.
"The programme material is mainly playback that we have had specially produced," continued Baggott. "It needed to be punchy but not too loud, especially outside. We sat down with Britrow, looked at the predictions from their modelling software, and have been making regular measurements since the system was first installed and the show opened. Truth is, outside the tent, the ambient noise from the nearest road is louder. It's a cabaret style show with a strong burlesque content, getting all the ingredients right and properly balanced, including the sound, is critical. It's going down a storm."
(Jim Evans)
