White Light supplied the lighting rig to the very first production of the show, which ran at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London from 1989 until 1999. In 2001, David Hersey's design was re-conceived for a British tour which ran until late-2003; White Light and The Moving Light Company supplied the entire rig for that production, which included some of the first Vari-Lite VL2000 Spot and VL2000 Wash units used in Britain.
The entire lighting rig for that tour, including the Vari-Lites, DHA Digital Light Curtains, ETC Source Fours, VSFX cloud effects, Rainbow scrollers, R&V Beamlights, Pani projectors fitted with E//T//C'sPIGI scrollers, Look Solutions' Viper and LeMaitre's LSG smoke machines and Strand 520i and 510i consoles, has now been shipped to Japan. There, the show open in mid-August at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo for a season that will run until the end of November. Responsible for transferring David Hersey's design are associate LD Jenny Kagan, production manager David Gregory, production electricians Alistair Grant, Steve Reeve and Simon Target and programmer Dave Sadler, adapting Rob Halliday's programming for the show to deal with a performance schedule that will see two shows a day, seven days a week with four rotating casts!
Prior to flying out to Japan, Jenny Kagan will have created her own new version of lighting for Miss Saigon, for the newly designed smaller scale British tour of the show which producer Cameron Mackintosh is launching at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth in late July. Her design will see her become one of the first British users of ETC's Source Four Revolution moving light; The Moving Light Company have purchased some of the first production units for the show, with units also being added to the company's rental stock.
The rig also includes Vari-Lite VL2000 Wash and VL5s, DHA Pitching Digital Light Curtains, ETC Source Fours and Source Four Pars, Selecon Pacific 90s and 2kW fresnel, Par64s, Birdies, 5kW tungsten and 4kW HMI fresnels, Rainbow colour scrollers and Wybron CXI colour changers plus followspots from R&V(500W Beamlights) and Robert Juliat (Margot 2.5kWs). The rig, along with a Catalyst media server, a variety of LED practical fittings and Look Solutions' Unique Hazer and Viper NT smoke machines, will be run from aStrand 530i console programmed by Rob Halliday. Kagan's associate lighting designer is John Harris with Gerry Amies as production electrician and Jerry Donaldson as production manager.
(Lee Baldock)
