Many off-Broadway and Broadway productions are becoming increasingly ambitious in terms of scope and technical demands. The latest example is Catch Me if You Can, a musical inspired by the Steven Spielberg film about Frank Abagnale, Jr.
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In 1998, Canadian Jacques Tanguay observed a product at the PLASA trade show in London that he had never seen before. It was a product he felt certain no one in North America was using yet, and one that delighted and tantalized his mind with the possibilities it presented.
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If you could sum it up in three thoughts, LDI 2009 might be remembered for smaller booths, crowded aisles and lots of interesting new products. The recovering economy zapped the show with a shrink ray this year, and many of the normally-gargantuan spaces were reduced to countertops and backdrops.
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E/T/C UK's Ross Ashton designed a projection project for Durham Cathedral as part of the four-day Lumière, A Festival of Light event, curated and coordinated by Artichoke Productions.
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Rock fans savored two nights at New York's Madison Square Garden in late October when Crosby, Stills & Nash, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Metallica, Sting, Jeff Beck, U2, Mick Jagger and other top artists helped mark the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th year.
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In part one (PLSN, Oct. 2009), we took a trip down memory lane, with a refresher course on digital cinema and the evolution of 3D projection. From its beginnings in the 1890s through its “golden age” in the 1950s, 3D stereoscopic projection expanded and matured.
Read More »Automated lighting fixtures are very complex little robots that dutifully follow the commands given to them by savvy automated lighting programmers. Some people refer them as "intelligent lights," however the fixtures contain little intelligence and usually rely on the programmer to send them instructions. Without us they would just sit there and do nothing!
Read More »I was fortunate enough to look in on the tech rehearsals for a major Broadway show recently. I was blown away by the technology on parade, not so much on stage as in the house. In what looked like a scene from a science fiction movie, almost every seat in the orchestra section was covered with sheets of plywood, each of which served as a table top for a couple of computer work stations.
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When I run a show, I like to do everything I can to insure a flawless performance. Whether it's a rock show, a comedy shoot or a full-on theatrical performance, there are cues that have to be hit on time, every time, or I get upset.
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The new Emulation Control Software from Elation Professional is lighting control software package with cue-lists, fixture groups and playbacks that can run on a Mac or PC running Windows or Linux.
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Dallas-based Kangaroo Cases has designed cases to house Vari-Lite VL2500s and VL3500s. The "Convertible" cases hold two fixtures as normally delivered and with the addition of one lid the cases can be split to ship two fixtures separately.
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Evo is a new variable speed chain hoist controller from Kinesys. It is designed to comply with the BGV C1 life-safety standard and is available in 1-ton 40 FPM or -ton 80 FPM versions.
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