Lighting Designer Anne Militello recently made her Lyric Opera lighting the company’s production of The Flying Dutchman. The inventive set designed by Allen Moyer is a large rectangular box, presenting Militello with a rather confining creative challenge which she took and solved with stunning results, and minimal front light.
Craig Rutherford looks at how the bouba / kiki effect, the idea of how people “map” between sounds and the visual shapes of objects, has relevance in the lighting discipline. He suggests it should be considered by programmers and designers to avoid a visual mismatch to the content being presented, especially for corporate shows.
Forget your troubles—come on, get happy! Take a trip to Connecticut where Goodspeed Musicals takes an opera house, turns it into a barn that turns into a theater for the world premiere of Summer Stock. Designers Jeff Croiter and Wilson Chin tells us how they fit it all, and a full company of tap dancers, on a small stage.
In “Here Lies Love” on Broadway, the creative team has reshaped the Broadway Theatre into a discotheque experience presenting David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s pop musical take on Imelda Marcos. With massive video projections surrounding the runway stage, audiences are immersed in the show, dancing below the disco ball.
‘New York, New York’ is a big, spectacular Broadway musical with stunning designs that saw Scenic Designer Beowulf Boritt win a Tony Award and Lighting Designer Ken Billington get a Tony nomination. They tell us about how their designs evoke 1940’s New York and interpret it for a musical theater stylized staging.
Adrienne Gurman writes about the lighting design for Broadway’s Bob Fosse’s ‘Dancin,” which opened at the Music Box Theatre with a lighting design by David Grill and lighting services provided by PRG.
A look at some noteworthy books, including ‘The Production Manager’s Toolkit Second Edition,’ by Cary Gillett and Jay Sheehan; ‘The Projection Designer’s Toolkit,’ by Jeromy Hopgood; ‘Bloody Brilliant: How to Develop, Execute, and Clean Up Blood Effects for Live Performance,’ by Jennifer McClure; ‘Off Headset: Essays on Stage Management Work, Life, and Career,’ edited by Rafael Jaen and Christopher Sadler; ‘The Assistant Lighting Designer’s Toolkit,’ by Anne E. McMills; and ‘The Scenic Charge Artist’s Toolkit: Tips, Templates, and Techniques for Planning and Running a Successful Paint Shop in the Theatre and Performing Arts,’ by Jennifer Rose Ivey.
An informative interview with Lighting Designer and Educator Lap Chi Chu about working on two shows at Lincoln Center simultaneously; “Camelot” and “The Coast Starlight.” Both shows were very different, yet for the designer, there was more that connected them than just a staircase.
A look at the opera lighting for “Le Maschere” at the Fondazione Teatro Goldoni in Livorno, Italy by Lighting Designer and Chief Electrician Michele Rombolini.
Here’s a look at look at the lighting gear choices for two lighting designs, one for the opera “Macbeth” in New Zealand and the other in Chicago for the new musical, “The Notebook.”
Broadway’s longest running show in history, The Phantom of the Opera, takes its final bows and will go dark, closing in mid-April. PLSN speaks with some of the creative and production team who have been with the show since the beginning 35 years ago. Sharing their thoughts are Lighting Designer Andrew Bridge, Associate LD Vivien Leone, Head Electrician Alan Lampel. We also talk with Gary Fails about the fog system, which is integral to the overall impact of the show.
Here’s a look at two companies you should stop by and see if you are going to be at USITT.