LOS ANGELES — Divas returned to VH1 after a five-year hiatus, with Paula Abdul hosting the live show telecast from the stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House. LD Tom Kenny used a lighting rig that included Coemar Infinity Wash XLS and Infinity ACL S moving heads supplied by Atomic Lighting. Divas debuted on VH1 in 1998 and aired as a concert series annually through 2004. Along with the six new divas — Adele, Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks, Kelly Clarkson, Leona Lewis and Miley Cyrus — the show featured Cyndi Lauper, Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, Martina McBride, Stevie Wonder and India Arie, among other celebrities.
“My brief was to make the lighting as stunning and beautiful as the divas themselves and to give every song its own theatrics and personality,” said Kenny. “With the strong color and beamage I got from these lights I was able to achieve some very unique looks.”
Kenny used 90 Infinity Wash XLs as a “matrix of lights” upstage where they serve as a backdrop for the performers. He also positioned 24 Infinity ACL S units from upstage to out in the audience.
Along with brightness, the Infinity Wash XLs feature a new color mix system able to achieve CMY and RGB colors. There’s also an effects wheel for creating texture and aerial effects with wash light and a beam shaper rotating and indexing at 360 degrees.
The Infinity ACL S, said to offer the brightness of a 1200W fixture in a 250W package, also includes variable beam size and beam control with rotating aerial effects; moon flower effect; split color beam effects; and CMY color mixing.
The special was executive produced by Lee Rolontz, produced by Patrizia di maria and directed by Louis J Horvitz.
For more information, please visit Inner Circle Distribution (ICD)’s Web site at www.icd-usa.com.
