Suck It Up, Buttercup
Last month, I went to a couple different lighting conventions. The USITT show in Salt Lake City is a show that is designed to teach todays’ college students who major in theater a thing or two. It’s a place where I see all sorts of great people who now teach or demo gear for companies as opposed to running shows themselves. I get quite an education at this show because it’s not as crowded as LDI and folks have more time to teach you. The other show was the Prolight + Sound show in Frankfurt. For those who have never been, let’s just say it’s several times the size of LDI.
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Twisting the Grid for ‘The Robber Bridegroom’
Director Alex Timbers seems to have a penchant for period timepieces gone askew. He displayed this trait while directing previous productions such as Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson as well as the Tony Award-winning Peter Pan prequel, Peter Pan and the Starcatchers. He continues down this road with his latest production, the remake of the 1975 musical The Robber Bridegroom, an 18th century Southern romp inspired by a short story by Eudora Welty.
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Justin Bieber’s ‘Purpose’ World Tour
Cory FitzGerald Lights a 20-Truck Tour Featuring Skateboard Ramps, Trampolines and a Waterfall
Canadian singer Justin Bieber has a new Purpose. It’s the title of his new album and his world tour. It’s also the mantra he adopted to refocus on his music, apologize for his headline-making mistakes and to reinvent his image to make new waves in the world. With all that said, Justin Bieber desired “a new approach” to his third world tour.
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Pentatonix World Tour
Supporting an A Cappella Group with Lighting and Video
You can’t build the visual elements of the show around the lead singer, because, well, there are five of them. You can’t move in and out on the band because, well, there isn’t one. Clearly the five singers that make up the a cappella group Pentatonix presents a challenge, one that was embraced by a creative team that included lighting and set designer Sooner Routhier and Robert Long; Moo Creative’s editor/senior graphic artist Andy Reuter; and choreographer Lindsey Blaufarb.
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CHVRCHES ‘Every Open Eye’ Tour
Production designers James Scott and Louis Oliver formed Okulus Ltd. in 2014 and have since gone on to work with many clients at different stages in their careers, supporting shows in venues ranging from clubs to stadiums. PLSN spoke with Scott and Oliver about the current Chvrches tour they designed.
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A Chat with Peter Morse
The list of top lighting designers in the world is a short one. No such list would be complete without Peter Morse, who is a story all in himself. From teenage folk singer to Emmy (as well as Cable ACE and Parnelli) award wins, he’s led a spectacular life. Articles chronicling his lighting career are many, but few know that lighting is just part of the long road Morse has traveled.
The Blue Men Return to the Luxor with New Lighting Looks
Blue Man Group, whose immersive show is a heady mix of music, technology, art, has come a long way from its street corner-performance art origins on New York’s Lower East Side in the 1980s.
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Disturbed ‘Immortalized’ Tour
After a five year hiatus pretty much characterized by dead silence, heavy metal legends Disturbed returned with a roar on their Immortalized Tour. Judging from the intensity of their performance, the group must have built up a lot of stored energy over the past five years. Judging from the reaction of the crowds, so had their fans!
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Ellie Goulding ‘Delirium’ World Tour 2016
LIGHTING
Throughout the creative process for this tour, lighting designer and director Cate Carter wanted to explore the different facets of Ellie’s musical personality. Carter and co-designer Dan Shipton (of Black Skull Creative) were inspired by the wide range of musical styles and influences that Ellie explores both through her recorded work and live performance.
Shed a Little (Blue) Light
A little light can go a long way in the darkness. It can bring awareness to surroundings. it can cut its own path. It will draw the human eye to it every time. That is the sole intention of Light it up Blue. How a few blue lights can draw the public’s attention to a plight that now affects us all.
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Growing with the Artist: Roy Bennett and Prince
How an Unknown Musician and a Young LD Paved Each Other’s Career
In the late 1970s, Roy Bennett was a young tech working for Zenith Lighting, a vendor with a Los Angeles office at the time. The head of the company knew that his employee wanted to get into the design part of the lighting business and promised him if he ever got a call, he would submit his name. In 1980, that call came from an unknown singer from Minneapolis that few had ever heard of. This was the start of a 14-year relationship between two young men who ended up rising to be the pinnacles of their respective industries.
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