Las Vegas residencies are on the rise. PLSN got quick design details on some of the current shows playing in Nevada’s entertainment hot spot.
Luke Bryan
The country music star hit the stage for his first-ever residency in February at the Resorts World Theatre. He recently added select new dates from June through September to meet the demand for more performances, according to the venue. Tom Sutherland of DX7 Design designed the production and lighting, carried out by Lighting Directors Hunter Selby, Jasmine Lesane, Joe Holdman and Justin Kitchenman. Video Director Scott Chmielewski is working with content designed by Gravity. Director/Producer is Brian Burke. Meanwhile, Luke Bryan launches his Raised Up Right Tour in June, with Kitchenman again at the helm.
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood’s Reflection: The Las Vegas Residency opened the new Resorts World Theatre in December, with select dates recently added through May. Fireplay’s Nick Whitehouse served as lead lighting designer and creative producer along with Lighting Designer Brian Vaughan.
Scorpions
LD Manfred Nikitser has designed a new show for the Scorpions’ Rock Believer World Tour. Before their global trek, the German band perform March 26-April 16 in their Sin City Nights residency (with special guests Skid Row) in Las Vegas, which the LD says is a customized version of the world tour designed to fit Planet Hollywood’s Zappos Theater. After the Vegas run, they cross the Atlantic for concerts in France and Germany, supported by Wolfgang Van Halen’s new band, Mammoth WVH.
Silk Sonic, Katy Perry
The Silent House team has several designs in play. An Evening with Silk Sonic, with super-duo Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, is at the Park MGM’s Dolby Live with extended engagements until May 29. Cory FitzGerald handles stage design and execution; Whitney Hoversten is lighting designer/programmer and Andrew Atienza handled content control and I-Mag effects. The Silent House team also has Katy Perry: PLAY at Resorts World Las Vegas, whose select dates extend into August. Executive Producer is Baz Halpin; direction, creative, choreography and production design is by The Squared Division. Silent House designed the lighting, with Eric Marchwinski as associate lighting designer, and Earlybird Visual as programmers. Visual consultant is Tamlyn Wright.
Women in Lighting
The Women in Lighting group, which spans all disciplines of lighting, held an online event March 8 on International Women’s Day. Emily Bornt was asked to participate, submitting a 15-minute video on any topic of her choice, which she presented like a PowerPoint presentation. “I spoke about the importance of previsualization software and how it helps communicate ideas with clients and vendors and is depended on to save time in rehearsals,” she says.
She describes her busy workload these days. “I head out with New Kids On The Block as lighting director for the summer, designed by Butch Allen. I helped Sarah Landau and Meagan Metcalf with some lighting and video programming on a few new songs for Sofi Tukker’s festival routing and have been doing some video switching for Sean Cagney/Amazing Industries on some events recently.”
A ‘Bazar Imagination’
Production Designer/LD Michael “Mikey” Cummings has recently left Pulse Lighting “after seven years and many great tours” to form his own company, Bazar Imagination Group LLC. Named in honor of his late grandfather, Bazil Bazar, Cummings followed his desire “to be less involved with vending.” He’ll be working with his partner, Kimberly Cummings, Designer Alex Anderson, and Creative Alyssa D. Trudel from Hush Hush Productions. Bazar is moving to Vermont, where Cummings and Anderson plan to build programming and design suites with full VR/AR capabilities.
Cummings’ relationship since 2016 as designer for Brandi Carlile continues with the design for her Beyond These Silent Days tour. Cummings and Creative Director Jade Ehlers are working on the production design, which goes live June 11. Cummings has also updated Lake Street Dive’s design with a new production for the Obviously Tour, which starts May 8 with Andrew Froehlich programming and directing. One of his other latest designs for Jason Isbell is on the road with Ian Thompson behind the console. Keep up with his projects at www.bazar.design.
Quick Cues
Luke Stratton, who has worked with Smashing Pumpkins since 2018, is designing and directing an all-new design for their Rock Invasion Tour, kicking off in May.
Matt Guminski goes out again with The Cult on their U.S. run, which ultimately hits arenas co-headlining with Alice Cooper. He’s also about to program a new show at the Strat in Vegas called Rouge.
Ben Dalgleish of design firm Human Person has a few projects coming up. Now that Billie Eilish’s tour (see story, this issue, page 22) is on the road, he’s got Keith Urban, H.E.R. and another headliner for Coachella on his plate.
LD Chris Cockrill heads out in April with the Zac Brown Band’s Out in the Middle Tour, which runs through fall in North America.
LD Kevin Lichty is going out with Old Dominion’s tour, which launches April 9 with Kenny Chesney’s Here and Now Tour. He’s joined by Robbie Sheene as crew chief and Jerome Thompson as dimmer tech. “This year and last year I have taken on the role of lighting design and programming,” Lichty says. “We really haven’t had a proper redesign for the past two years, so I have been piecing together shows as we need them along with programming new material.”
LD Ali Blue Siegel is doing some fly dates, no tour, with Walk the Moon. She probably felt like she was walking on the dusty planet when the band played the dirt-filled expo center in an Austin Rodeo ring.
Share your design news with Co-Editor Debi Moen at dmoen@plsn.com.
