SYDNEY – Currently playing at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre, Legally Blonde The Musical is lit by Kenneth Posner and Paul Miller with Hugh Hamilton acting as associate for the Australian Tour. The set and lighting design for the Australian production comes from the London production of the musical held at the Savoy Theatre. The Lyric Theatre’s house rig of Vari-Lite moving fixtures and more than 200 ETC Source Fours play big roles in the production.
More details from Jands Australia (http://www.jands.com.au):
SYDNEY – Currently playing at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre, Legally Blonde The Musical is lit by Kenneth Posner and Paul Miller with Hugh Hamilton acting as associate for the Australian Tour. The set and lighting design for the Australian production comes from the London production of the musical held at the Savoy Theatre.
The rig houses only Vari-Lite moving lights: 44 VL2500 Spots, 22 VL2500 Washes and five VL3500 Spots while conventional lighting consists of more than 200 ETC Source Four fixtures. It’s a fairly straight forward rig that was, according to Hamilton, expertly prepped at PRG, easily hung and there were few problems to overcome.
“The overhead trusses go spot, wash, spot, wash, spot, wash and the ladders are all VL2500 Spots,” Hamilton explains. “It’s a great rig because you can put anything you need where you need it, plus it’s quick to focus. Both the VL2500 Spot and Wash models are great and are among the most reliable fixtures in that class on the market. I really like their smooth dimming wheel; because it has a coated glass dimmer wheel the zero to up fade seems to be smooth. I can’t think of the last job I’ve done when I didn’t have the VL2500 Spots as the backbone of the spot area. Legally Blonde, Jersey Boys, Wicked – the VL2500 is a real workhorse on all of them.”
Kenneth Posner particularly likes the VL2500 Wash and is quoted as saying, “I love this light. When I design a project, I like to start by defining a very specific color palette with exact timing and movement. For my design style, this is the perfect light for me because they have a great color palette and are fast with consistent movement.”
“The washes have really good colors,” adds Hamilton. “It’s small, lightweight and fast and has a great zoom range from 14º to 55º.
The VL3500 are hung on the balcony rail from where they can do a predominant number of specials and effects. Hamilton is a fan of the VL3500’s four-blade shutter mechanism that allows the blades to be operated independently or in unison on two planes for a clear and crisp image.
“The shutters get used quite substantially in this production,” he said. “The two gobo/effects wheels are really good, too.”
Posner says, “The VL3500s can do the work of many fixtures, because they can constantly change shuttering and recompose as the stage pictures recompose. It’s a tremendous asset in touring productions where you truly can’t troupe a Broadway-sized conventional rig around the country.”
“The ETC Source Four is the workhorse of the conventional lamp family,” added Hamilton. “It’s solid, dependable and used everywhere!”
Photo: Jeff Busby
