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A Tale of Two Cities…and 48 Set Changes

A Tale of Two Cities…and 48 Set Changes

Taking a famous literary work and putting it onstage as a Broadway musical is bound to draw fire from critics and purists, and A Tale of Two Cities is certainly no exception.

 

“If you’re doing something that’s derived from the classics there is almost no way past the critics because the past belongs to the critics, and they will always tell you how it should’ve been done,” remarks Tale scenic designer Tony Walton, a 51-year veteran of the business. He also notes: “Shows that are accessible in a big way to a popular audi-ence seem to carry within them the seeds of seething fury for the critics.”

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Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Turning the Set Upside Down and Inside Out 

 

When Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers go out on tour, they’re typically playing to sellout crowds. With the increasing demand for tickets, production designer Jim Lenahan was given a mandate at the start of Petty’s recent tour: keep 270 degrees of viewing angle.

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The Michigan Theater

An American Movie Palace Gets a Lighting Makeover

 

The Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor is one America’s original movie palaces. Built in 1928 during the silent movie era, the theatre also hosted vaudeville stage shows — it is still home to a 1927 Barton Theater Pipe Organ — before giving way to talkies and live musical performances.

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Robb Jibson

From Junkyard Theft to Living the Dream

 

Petty theft doesn’t pay, but it can lead to a dream job in the entertainment lighting industry. In this month’s PLSN interview, we speak with Robb Jibson, who explains how his deviant behavior led him to the lighting industry and why he’s living the dream.

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Stephan Paridaen To Leave Barco

KORTRIJK, Belgium — Barco announced that Stephan Paridaen, president of the company’s Media & Entertainment Division, is leaving the company, effective Jan. 1, 2009. Barco, which thanked Paridaen for his contribution to the company and wished him future success, said it will be announcing his successor soon.

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New Lighting Control for SouthBrook Christian Church

MIAMISBURG, OH — SouthBrook Christian Church, busy with two campuses and six services each weekend, consolidated to one location in March 2008. The staff was also looking for a way to create an “edgier” feel to its services. They opted for a lighting system with moving lights and ETC controls.

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Staging a Tribute to Veterans and President Bush

NEW YORK — It may not have attracted as much national attention as Barack Obama’s election victory a week earlier. But when President George W. Bush received the Intrepid Freedom Award at the Veterans’ Day reopening of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, there was still plenty of fanfare and media exposure. See Factor was responsible for keeping a tight ship with the stage roof system and lighting package.

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Dormant Volcano Erupts in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — After a $25 million facelift, MGM’s Mirage casino relaunched its Volcano attraction, which features a choreographed dance of flames, lighting, fountains and fireballs comparable to WET Design’s other big Strip attraction, the Fountains of Bellagio.

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Eco-Minded Art Fair Uses LED Lighting

MIAMI BEACH, FL — Energy-guzzling conventional fixtures would have clashed with the shade of green that prevailed at Green Art Fair Miami, part of Art Basel 08 held recently at the Miami Beach Convention Center. So Nick Assunto, CEO of Visual Formula, lit the fair using 82 solar- and biodiesel-powered Chauvet LED wash fixtures instead. The gear included ColoRado 1, ColoRado 3, LEDsplash-2 and Q-Wash LED fixtures.

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Trafalgar Square Tree Lit with Wireless Control

LONDON — Outdoor lighting installations in London’s parks need to deal with anything from inclement weather to large flocks of pigeons. But a wireless system using City Theatrical’s ShoW DMX helped Storm Lighting brave the elements for the annual tree-lighting ceremony at Trafalgar Square, which averted the need to run cables from the control station at the park’s terrace level to the dimmer location situated under the tree.

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Coemar, grandMA Gear Aboard as AC/DC Pulls Into Venues

PITTSBURGH — “Rock ‘n’ Roll Train” is the first track on AC/DC’s Black Ice album, and the set for the band’s first world tour in eight years was designed with a locomotive theme in mind. “The five curved trusses represent the roof beams of a railway station,” said Dave Hill, co-lighting designer, of the 100-foot-wide arches custom made for the tour, used to form a curved array of gear including Coemar Infinity Wash XLs.

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