On one night in February, at the L.A. Staples Center, what happened on the court was more than mere basketball. And here's a clue: If the word "Star" is in the event title – as in NBA All-Star 2011 – the stakes are going to be high. For the 60th time the celebration has been staged, the producers turned to All Access Staging and Productions for an assist. "This show incorporated the All Access 80/20 policy of using standard stage construction from our line of the Versa Stage products in our rental stock, and augmenting that with custom plug decks to conform to the designer's concept," explains Bob Hughes, vice president of the international staging and production company, which is headquartered in southern California. There was much to be considered as the celebrity players had to make a dramatic entrance, and stars from the pop world needed to be accommodated. The pre-show festivities included Keri Hilson, Lenny Kravitz and Bruno Mars, while at half time the crowd was treated to Rihanna, Kanye West and Drake.
This was the first opportunity for All Access to do it, and Hughes jokes it was his turn "because it was on my Coast." The truth goes deeper of course: All Access has serviced Kenny Chesney tours and so has developed a good relationship with his production designer Mike Swinford. So when Swinford was tapped to design this event, he reached out to All Access.
Their Versa Stage line also played a key role. It can be augmented with LED video, have a custom plug deck, and generally be customized for every project without having to build the entire structure from scratch. "In this case, they didn't have to buy a whole setup and then throw it away, or put in it storage until who knows when," Hughes says. "I'm pretty sure it was a significant factor in our being awarded the project."
An arena like Staples Center might be cavernous, but space for the show was at a premium. "Mike designed a stage to conform to the available space, tucking the stage into one end of the arena while the court was in place," Hughes says. He adds that the parameters had to be respected – so for instance, they were tasked to build up the concrete floor upstage center to ice level in the shape of the main stage radius.
The biggest challenge was the timeline, which proved an unforgiving mistress. "The problem was, a couple nights before in that very arena, we did a little show called the Grammys," he says. All Access also worked on that event, providing the seven-foot high main stage, among some other aspects. He says production was grateful that Kish Rigging was involved in both events as well. NBA production wisely had Kish pre-rig the event while setting up and/or striking for the Grammys. "Production also sent a couple of NBA carpenters to my shop whom were instrumental in the final stages of preparation to get it out the door successfully."
They assembled a rolling stage in the FOH, set all that up right away, and rolled it into place once the rigging was completed and video was attached. "We wouldn't have had any time to do what we needed if we waited on rigging and lighting first. The rolling stage always saves time in these situations."
Video was integrated cleverly, as All Access had gotten their hands on a few sample LED tiles and given the task to have the framing not only across the radius of the stage in two locations, but on the two left and right thrusts. "Downstage was convex, and upstage was concave, plus there was a semi-solid wall further upstage," he says. "The main stage was set at five-foot high and featured an eight-foot high catwalk upstage," he adds.
"My biggest concern was the five pairs of automated double doors and how they fit with the eight-foot tall video wall upstage. We had to frame it so it would hold video tiles in proper orientation before, during and after the move." They went with electric actuators to facilitate the door move for player intros. This allowed each pair of doors to be independently operated for a more dramatic reveal for each team's five starting players. "It was a bit of a task, but everything worked well in the end."
The crew was even able to accommodate one last-minute request from Rihanna – her production requested grated decking on the stage level to allow air-circulating fans to be mounted underneath. So they simply took out six standard decks and replaced them with grated ones. They did have to come up with a couple of narrow stair units to get people up on that stage, which they fabricated. "We can't have everything on the shelf…though of course those stairs are on our shelves now!" he laughs.
Head carpenter duties fell to Joe Flanagan. "He was the guy that moved the whole process along. He came in with a great attitude and pulled everyone together. If someone wanted something modified or worked out in an alternate fashion, it was no problem." He adds that lead man Brandon Burris, one of his top installers, also got rave reviews for his performance.
"Everyone was happy, and we're hoping to work with the whole team again in the future."
Meanwhile there's no laurel-resting going on for All Access: Their year is already booked with projects with the likes of Sade, Justin Bieber, KISS, Diana Ross, Ricky Martin, Lil' Wayne, American Idol, People's Choice Awards, Critic's Choice Awards, Hall of Game Awards, Kid's Choice Awards and Independent Spirit Awards, to name a few.
