Photo: Matthew Crockett
theatretouring
Wicked defies gravity for first UK tour PRG is providing a custom-
UK - Already a global musical phenomenon in theatres around the world, the major two-year
built automation solution
UK and Ireland touring production of Wicked opened to rave five-star reviews at Manchester's
and the entire lighting
Palace Theatre in October, where it’s currently playing a limited engagement until 16
system as hit West End
November 2013. The touring production has opened to rave reviews at Manchester’s Palace
musical, Wicked, takes to
Theatre, where it’s playing a limited engagement until 16 November.
the road for its first ever UK
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tour. LSi reports . . .
20 LSi - November 2013
PRG is no stranger to the show, already supporting the current, very successful US tour, which has been on the road in the USA since 2004 in addition to all the long-running fixed productions around the world. Original lighting designer, Tony awardwinning Ken Posner, assisted by UK associate designer Alistair Grant and US associate Karen Sphan, recently returned to the UK to re-light his dramatically dynamic and vibrant show. “Although we were keen to keep the feel of the original UK production, which is still playing at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre, we have revisited the show creatively in a number of ways,” explains Posner. “There are new flying sequences and some re-dramatised scenes. This meant that when it came to designing a touring lighting package we already had some new ideas. We also had to
consider constraints such as time, money and truck size - all similar constraints to the tour in the US.” Posner and Grant worked in close collaboration with PRG’s account director Peter Marshall and his team alongside production electrician Peter Lambert. Between them they searched out ways to reduce the size of the rig without having to compromise Posner’s creative ambitions. In particular they found that by replacing the existing conventional cyclorama solution with LED source technology - in this case Philips Color Kinetics Color Blaze TRX LED battens - they were able to considerably reduce the number of fixtures used, get more light onto the cyc in tighter spaces and reduce consumption of power and consumables. “The change in the cyc lighting package from conventional PAR strips to the Color Blaze TRX LED battens has been creatively positive,” explains Posner. “It has enabled us to achieve a more dynamic colour range and better control capability across the cyc itself, allowing us to make the background picture that much prettier. However, it has also been economically beneficial in terms of set-up and breakdown time. The fixtures are prerigged, with top and bottom bars packing together in one truck. It takes very little time to get them plugged up and operational.”
theatretouring Above, left: PRG’s systems manager John Galante. Above, right: Wicked’s original lighting designer Ken Posner (left) with UK associate designer Alistair Grant.
Dimming comprises four Avolites ART-2000 48-way dimmer racks and two ETC 12-way Smart Racks. However, it doesn’t end there in addition to the lighting package PRG has supplied a bespoke automation package. Perhaps less commonly known is the fact that PRG has been providing automation for Wicked productions since its Broadway debut 10 years ago, but much has changed in theatrical automation and safety standards since then. “The UK and Ireland tour has given PRG the opportunity to introduce its Stage Command System to a new market,” said Ben Lampman,
project manager at PRG Scenic Technologies, and the show’s touring automation technician. “In doing so we had to ensure that we followed the local guidelines pertaining to machinery, low-voltage, and electromagnetic compatibility directives. We also had to go through the CE certification process.” This was no mean feat as the certification process involved full thirdparty structural and mechanical engineering analysis, third-party electromagnetic compatibility testing, and complete documentation from concept through to completion. For expediency, the system used for the UK Wicked tour was set-up in its entirety in PRG’s testing facility in New Windsor, NY prior to shipping. This enabled Wicked’s creative team to run through the automation cues and approve moves, saving valuable time during tech and allowing time for training the UK touring show staff. The system was then shipped to the UK.
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“The rest of the rig is basically the same as London,” says Peter Marshall. “PRG has supplied VL 2500 spots, VL2500 washes, VL3000Q spots, ETC Source Fours, Robert Juliat followspots and Wybron Coloram II scrollers. However, we have changed the control consoles to an EOS Ti [Titanium], ETC Gio and ETC Ion, along with two additional fader wings.”
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theatretouring
upon the horsepower of the motors being controlled. We pair the servo drives with digital motion controllers for closed loop control. With our most recent designs, we are now able to get eight drives in one of these new racks, whereas in the older versions we could only get four. This means we only require three drive racks to move all the motorised effects for the entire show.” Above: Tim Follett, #1 automation operator.
To support its installation, systems manager for PRG, John Galante, who’d helped the PRG automation team to design and programme this most recent version of the Stage Command System, joined the PRG and Wicked UK technical teams at the Manchester Palace Theatre. Here he also provided system training for the touring technicians. “On the UK and Ireland tour there are 14 automated effects,” explains Galante. “The kit we provided combines the latest PRG Commander Console, a safety-rated Logic Controller, and our next-generation AC servo drive racks”.
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In fact, two different styles of drive racks were supplied for Wicked. “The drive racks are custom tuned to control a wide variety of motorised effects,” continues Galante. “The racks used for Wicked contain either eight 3kW drives, or two 7kW drives, depending
22 LSi - November 2013
This really helps in a touring package. The crew can stack the racks and either fly them out in venues where space is problematic or just keep them in a small footprint on the deck where it isn’t. “This new system was designed from the beginning with safety in mind,” adds Galante. “We combine redundancy and monitoring for things like E-Stops and Interlocks with the use of various safety-rated components to give us a SIL-rated system; programmable Cat 1 E-Stops are standard now. We continue to provide the benefits of servo control, so that the effects can be positioned within 100ths of an inch, time after time. Using the Commander Console, the creative guys can programme the show using time and/or velocity-based cues. This gives the production team considerably more flexibility when it comes to cueing the show and for getting the looks they want.” “The PRG Commander Console combines the power of the cue-based Stage Command System software with 3D
graphics, faster processing and an intuitive user interface. This makes it an ideal control solution for any motion control application,” adds Lampman. “Not only that, it provides a powerful hardware and software platform that is proving to be reliable, accurate and really user-friendly.” The console features real-time interactive control of the automated effects, so the operator can - at any time - start and stop any combination of axes, or slow right down to zero-speed, then resume back to the cued rates. Operators have complete control of axes’ motion profiles, and movement is programmable to increments of 1/10th of an inch. The Commander can control and position the full range of typical automated effects, including: closed loop AC and DC servo winches, hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders, variable-speed chain hoists, and on-off-type motors and devices. The Stage Command System software has fully programmable acceleration and deceleration rates, to manage inertia of large scenic elements, allowing fluid movement, and to provide controlled soft and ‘hard’ stops. The Wicked UK and Ireland tour began at Manchester’s Palace Theatre on the 12th of September 2013 and will move on to the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin on the 27th of November 2013. > www.wickedtour.co.uk > www.prg.com
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