There used to be a time when you designed your show around two types of moving lights — hard edge and wash fixtures. I grew up in a time where the hard beams were from Vari-Lites or lekos and the wash came from pars. The only color changing we saw was from color wheels and color scrollers on conventional fixtures.
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TOUR: Worldwide through 2017, ends in U.S. Dec. 10, 2017
THE DESIGN: “This will be my 32nd year as the show designer for the Pixies. Every two years, I come up with a new set and lighting design.
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Beowulf Boritt is known for his bold, ambitious scenery in shows like Act One (a musical with a three-story revolving turntable) and Thérèse Raquin (a play with a river upstage). But for Prince of Broadway, the musical revue of the work of Broadway legendary Harold Prince, the Tony Award-winning scenic designer got a chance to create numerous old-school set pieces. The challenge was not to make everything fit onstage; it was storing it all in the wings of the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, which has not had a musical production mounted there since the Prince-directed Lovemusik, which Boritt also designed sets for, back in 2007.
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Note: This feature was prepared shortly before tour dates in late September and October were postponed or cancelled due to Lady Gaga’s hospitalization for body pain caused by fibromyalgia. The tour is set to resume Nov. 5. —ed.
Lady Gaga’s Joanne World Tour is a two-hour extravaganza to behold. Her performance starts on a main stage. She later walks out into the arena via bridges that lower from the ceiling, bringing her to three intimate stages within the audience… for closer fan interaction. We spoke with key members of the production that bring this all together, starting with LeRoy Bennett, production and lighting designer.
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Metallica’s current “WorldWired Tour” is in support of the band’s Hard Wired… To Self-Destruct album, released last fall. We spoke with the band’s longtime lighting designer and director, Rob Koenig, about working with Dan Braun (show director and set designer) and the tour’s design and logistics he’s encountered for this massive production that’s been filling stadiums around the world. The tour began last year and included a run of stadium dates in North America this past summer. The band is continuing with a series of dates in the U.K. and Europe this fall and next spring.
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Video Content Producer, Video Director and Lawyer-in-Training
Marcia Kapustin, principal of Kosher Pixels, is a video content producer and a video director, working extensively in concert touring. She has currently taken a hiatus from touring to get a law degree. She has worked with a variety of bands, most notably Paul McCartney and Metallica, since her first major tour as assistant video director for U2’s 1997-1998 PopMart tour.
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LD Makes Use of State-of-the-Art House System for Six Sold-Out Shows
In retrospect, there was no question: Who else could have opened a new stadium in Detroit but Kid Rock? The hometown favorite sold out the new 20,000-seat sports complex’s six dates in mere hours. And, while all the shows went well, a few of the early ones didn’t go perfectly, as longtime Kid Rock LD Nook Schoenfeld was the guinea pig taking a brand new technologically-advanced stadium out for its first ride.
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New Arena Immerses Attendees with State-of-the-Art House Systems
“I believe we just opened the nicest, coolest arena I’ve ever had the pleasure of gigging in,” says Kid Rock LD Nook Schoenfeld after six sold-out shows at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. “It is an amazing structure; the likes of which do not exist anywhere in the world.”
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InterAmerica Stage Provides its Largest SkyDeck for New Arena in Detroit
Detroit is known for many things. It’s the Motor City, the Arsenal of Democracy, and the birthplace of Motown. It’s home to four major sports franchises: the Tigers, the Lions, the Pistons and the Red Wings. It’s the fourth largest city in the Midwest, and now, it’s home to the largest SkyDeck tension wire grid in the world.
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Billy Joel has a pretty consistent schedule, but has long since given up adhering to a normal touring routine. “We prefer to do shows every ten days to two weeks.” explains production manager Bobby Thrasher (known in the industry as Boomer) from his large office.
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Tirso Lighting Helps a Popular Manhattan Nightspot Rebrand
Arka Lounge operated for 16 years as one of the more successful nightspots in the Washington Heights area of upper Manhattan. Rebranded last December as Arka Room, owners of this sophisticated, intimate place to party are hoping for the same run of success they enjoyed for nearly two decades.
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The worst of times can bring out the best in the human spirit. The world witnessed this with people helping people during Hurricane Harvey’s flooding in Texas and Louisiana. Before the waters subsided, Hurricane Irma pounded islands in the Caribbean, Cuba and Florida, and not long after that, Hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Meanwhile, major earthquakes crumbled buildings and lives in Mexico.
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