“There was no way I would have guessed that we’d be where we are right now,” says Mannheim Steamroller Founder/Creator Chip Davis. “Everything especially exploded with my first Christmas album and has continued ever since.” Yes, the Mannheim Steamroller holiday experience is back out for a 35th year, selling out theaters across the country and is one of the longest running consecutive tours in music industry history. Davis knows that the longevity is due in large part to the ability to keep the shows fresh and vibrant, especially visually. “My approach is to look at what songs may have video support, which ones are music only, and try to balance out the program.”
Omaha, NE-based production company TMS has been supporting Steamroller from its earliest days, “almost as long as I’ve been in business,” says TMS President Mark Huber. It started out as a humble one-off at their town’s Orpheum Theater, where Davis and his companies are based as well. “From that, we were doing four or five shows, then a month-long tour.” Davis expanded beyond Christmas music doing other small tours at different times of the year, including a popular Halloween show, which TMS also supports.
Davis puts together two equally talented groups of musicians and crew, known as the ‘Red’ and ‘Green’ tours. Stephan Gotschel is the lighting designer for both. Because of the wide variety of places they play, versatility must be built into his design; yet his design has no compromises and there’s no B-rig. “I never liked the idea that for a smaller theater we’d have to cut this or that,” he says. “I want everybody to get to see the same show.”
Visuals that Complement
Gotschel was born in Montreal, and his family moved to Toronto when he was 11. There he got into theater and received a scholarship to study technical production at Ryerson Polytechnic (today University). Next, he went out on tour with the Canadian a cappella group The Nylons for 12 years. Since 2005 he’s worked with Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles on Broadway and on their international tours. “I toured with them as a production designer for the last nine years and for the last three years have been production manager as well.” For the last seven years, he’s been designing the Steamroller shows.
While the 35th Anniversary tour is a significant milestone, he approaches every show the same in the sense that “essentially I give every show the best I can. I start by thinking about the audience and go about painting pictures with lights that will complement the music” as opposed to having the visuals overwhelm the show. “I’ve seen too many shows that are more of a light show than a concert, and Mannheim is about the music and the people.”
The process begins with a phone call mid-summer, though Gotschel says “it’s always in the back of my mind.” He starts every tour by listening to the music “over and over” without any preconceived ideas. Then organically it starts to take shape for him. “When I listen to music, I kind of see it in my head. I see shapes, colors, textures,” he says. Different pieces of music stand out as more subdued and emotional, while others are more dynamic, and he plots out the lighting plan accordingly.
It is a show with just the right amount of nostalgia, and that is established during the overture as Gotschel gives it the “Hollywood movie premiere” treatment with moving lights panning and crossing the ceiling. At some moments of the show those movers shoot off the stage and into the theater lighting up the walls and ceilings. This is especially effective in historic venues such as the Fabulous Fox Theater St. Louis, (which opened in 1929 and then was restored to its original glory in 1982). “I like to break the fourth wall and create an environment surrounding the audience, thereby making them part of the scene,” he says. “In theaters such as the Fabulous Fox, this can have quite the impact. Not all venues are like this, but we try to find beauty everywhere, using architectural features and angles of the lighting that accentuate the spaces.”
This tour relied on mostly the same TMS lighting elements as the last few tours, although “we’re talking about changing it up next time it goes out—TBD,” Gotschel says, with a laugh. “For me it’s not about the ‘latest and greatest technology,’ but more about what effect a light has on the stage. Sometimes something new overpowers everything else. I’m always exploring new lighting and gear, but all of it must serve the show.” His designs do lean heavily on Martin MAC Auras and Vipers, and Robe BMFLs. He’s also carrying some Elation Colour Chorus 12 fixtures for static lights. “I really like the Robe BMFLs because they are like the Vipers, but a little brighter. They have been my go-to, especially as so many of the shows have been in theaters. The MAC Aura is just a workhorse with a good throw distance. If we were doing a larger show in an arena, it might not cut it; but I don’t want arena-style fixtures in these theaters—I don’t want to blind the musicians!”
He also doesn’t want to overwhelm the audience, and he frequently takes his foot off the proverbial gas with moments that have no video and the bare minimum of lighting. “Shows have an energy about them and that energy is dynamic. Musically, they have their exciting moments and their more somber moments. If shows were all at one energy level, nothing about them would be special. Some people prefer the excitement, whereas others may prefer the quieter and more peaceful moments. These two extremes complement each other.”
There are a few special effects: MDG Touring Atmosphere haze and Martin Jem Glaciator X-Stream low-lying fog accentuate moments; and of course, what would a Christmas show be without snow effects—in this case courtesy of Little Blizzard snow machines from CITC. “It goes out over the first few rows, and we always use something that won’t stain,” he says. “It’s really fun to watch the kids enjoy that.”
Gotschel says they recently switched to the PixelFLEX’s FLEXCurtain HD 6.25mm LED video wall from a projector set up, and it has allowed for better use of the video elements. “It’s so much brighter and richer in color, and the amount of contrast and vibrancy really improved the visual aspect of the show a lot.” They did make a few tweaks to the content to make it more LED video wall appropriate.
A Well-Oiled Machine
Production Manager Robby MacLean brings to his job a deep sense of music, as early on in his career he was a professional composer writing music for theaters all over the country. He was drawn to the theater at an early age. By the time he was 18, he was writing music, sound designing, and mixing FOH for shows, and graduated with a theater degree. “It does help my work that I understand the needs of musicians and know how an orchestra works,” he says. In 1997, he was hired to mix sound for Stomp, eventually becoming production manager. Other shows he worked with include MythBusters, Gold Over America Tour starring Simone Biles, and The Illusionists Live.
This is MacLean’s fourth outing with Mannheim Steamroller. “It’s a great group of people, and the whole show runs like a well-oiled machine.” But he still must remain on his toes for every load-in: “We play a lot of old movie palaces, and some of those places are more complicated than others,” he notes.
Plans move forward once the set list is solidified, and that affects the timecode which affects everything else. “The lighting package is worked out every year with TMS, who has long been a vital part of the tours,” MacLean says. MagicSpace Entertainment, a production firm in Park City, UT, provides the LED package, and Sound Trak, founded by Davis, produces the music and multimedia content. It is a deceptively simple show, fitting into two trucks. MacLean says they travel with two overhead lighting trusses using Tyler Truss, and the PixelFLEX video wall. There’s a total of 15 performers and crew members traveling plus four drivers. Once they land at a theater, the six traveling performers bring in nine additional local musicians, and an afternoon rehearsal is followed by the evening’s performance. Some of those locals joining in have been doing so for a decade or longer.
Loyalty
Huber credits MagicSpace Entertainment as a major component of the growth and success of TMS. “They have brought us in on other touring shows including Alton Brown’s culinary tours and The Bachelor — Live on Stage,” he says. “We’ve been blessed with them and artists like Chip who have held on to us, and we in turn have held on to them. There’s a lot of loyalty all the way around.” He is not surprised by Mannheim Steamroller’s success and sees them continuing long beyond their 35th year. “They are always reinventing themselves, keeping the shows fresh and exciting.”
One exciting aspect of this tour is that in the second half of the show, Davis is performing—in its entirety—their first holiday album, Christmas, released in 1984. This gave Gotschel a chance to create moments beyond a single song. “When you do an album in its order, the visual aspects have to flow over the entire thing because that’s how the music was created.”
“We’re fortunate to have production team members who have been with us for many years,” Davis says. “They all know exactly what their role is and how their role interacts with their team members. And somehow they manage to accomplish production support night after night.”
Crew (Green Tour / Red Tour)
- Tour Manager: Will Brandstetter / Chelsea Langord
- Production Manager: Timmy Doyle / Robby MacLean
- Lighting Designer: Stephen Gotschel
- Stage Manager: Terry Seefus / Morgan Karmann
- Video Technician: Maxime Verdiere / Christian Behm
- Lighting Director: Jason Witty / Toby Gibson (both TMS)
- Lighting Tech / Crew Chief: Alex Bechdolt / Adam Zastrow (both TMS)
Vendors
- Lighting: TMS/Mark Huber
- Video: MagicSpace Entertainment
Gear
Lighting:
- 1 MA Lighting grandMA2 light, grandMA2 onPC
- 1 Doug Fleenor Enhanced Isolated Splitter
- 10 Claypaky Sharpy Wash
- 7 Elation Colour Chorus 12
- 14 Martin MAC Viper Profile
- 10 Martin MAC Aura
- 10 Robe BMFL Spot
- 6 Robe Pointe
Rigging/Automation/Power:
- Tyler Truss GT 20.5” Truss
- CM 1-Ton and ½ Ton Chain Hoists
- Motion Labs Motor Control
- TMB Pro Power Distribution
Atmosphere/Effects:
- CITC Little Blizzard Snow Machine
- Martin JEM Glaciator X-Stream Low Fog
- MDG Touring Atmosphere Haze Machine
