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Illustration by Andy Au

Design vs. Practicality

I’ve viewed a lot of huge cool productions this year. The photos I always see are giant productions that require trim heights of 50 feet and stage widths of 80 feet or more. This is great if you are playing stadiums and the local Enormo-dome. But to be honest, outside of the EDM festivals, there are only a handful of artists out there that play these kinds of venues exclusively. But that doesn’t seem to stop certain production designers from building unpractical touring packages.

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Justin Lang, editor, PLSN magazine

Show Us Your Stuff

I have said this time and time again — PLSN isn’t about us, it is all about you and the fantastic work that you do.  The news, the Production Profiles, Road Tests — every aspect of PLSN is written with you in mind.  We aim to keep you informed of what is happing in and around our industry.

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First Date production photo by Chris Owyoung

First Date: An Inside Out Approach to Musical Design

The new musical, First Date, offers a peppy pop spin on the awkward blind date that many of us have endured. Aaron (Zachary Levi) is a finance man with foot-in-mouth tendencies, and Casey (Krysta Rodriguez) is an artsy, edgy girl with a toxic sense of humor. As they trade quips, barbs and awkward pauses, they learn to understand each other and open up about their mixed pasts. Mirroring the show’s approach, media/scenic designer David Gallo sought to subvert traditional Broadway notions while working around them.

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Michael Buble tour photo by Lauren Mitchell

Michael Bublé’s “To Be Loved” Tour

Right up there with “jumbo shrimp” and “army intelligence,” the phrase “arena intimacy” appears to be an oxymoron of head-scratching proportion. Yet this skeptic was won over one Saturday night in September when Michael Bublé’s To Be Loved tour stopped to play St. Louis’ Scottrade Center.

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Bruno Mars Moonshine Jungle tour photo by Steve Jennings

Bruno Mars’ Moonshine Jungle Tour

Although his backing band, The Hooligans, have also achieved a measure of popular and critical acclaim, Bruno Mars, who will be performing at the 2014 Super Bowl Halftime Show, could also probably do pretty well just by cloning himself. Along with a three-octave voice versatile enough to handle a variety of musical genres (not to mention vocal impressions to cover for glitches on Pandora.com), Mars plays electric and acoustic guitar along with the drums.

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