“Our mandate was to create a theatrical performance,” says David Finn of the lighting design for Michael Jackson ONE™ at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. “Jamie King had just finished the touring version of Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour, which was a true concert-style performance, and both he and [Cirque du Soleil founder and CEO] Guy Laliberté were keen to create a piece that had a theatrical arc story-wise, musically, and visually. Jamie comes from the pop world, so I knew I had to have rock ‘n’ roll elements in the plot.” So Finn went for the flexibility of a repertory theatre plot, along with arrays of fixtures in key positions that could fill the space with stunning visuals. PRG, A.C.T Lighting, 4Wall Entertainment Lighting, Solotech, and Entertainment Lighting Services provided the gear.
More than 100 Clay Paky Alpha 1500 Profiles are the primary rep fixture in the plot. “We filled the Alphas with probably one of the largest gobo catalogs ever used in one show,” notes Finn, adding that “the Alphas fill the space—FOH, cats, box booms, over forestage, on all four electrics, and on a boom set-up that includes a 20’+ high number one boom that rolls on and offstage as we wanted to have it fully exposed for some of the more rock sections of the show.”
Clay Paky’s Sharpy was Finn’s choice for key placement for rock ‘n’ roll arrays. “We lined them up on four flying ladders at the rear of the space, as well as fill the number one electric and booms with them, essentially building a grid that could fill the proscenium opening,” he explains. “We finished by placing them in a forestage trough and two niches left and right, cut into the side stages that wrap into the house. These units provide great air looks and act beautifully for forestage shins. We filled out the overheads with 18 Alpha Wash 1200s that were picked up from another Cirque show.”
Martin Professional Atomic strobes with Atomic Color scrollers are used for accents and effects, with the Rosco Miro Cube fixture for set integration. Finn calls them “punchy, small, and compact—a 4″ cube with great dimming, great color with RGBW.”
Assistant lighting designer and project manager Josh Hind coordinated the plot and equipment, as well as designed positions and supervised the theatre’s renovation. “I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the lighting cue count,” says Hind, “which, when I left the theatre, was at 13,551. Our programmer, Benny Kirkham—who was, coincidentally, the Vari-Lite programmer for Michael Jackson in the ’90s—says this is probably the most complex programming ever done on the [MA Lighting] grandMA. Having watched the whole process, I’m inclined to agree. The LEDs in the custom costume and set element programming represent about six months of work that ran concurrently to the programming of the main show. So, when we mention that we had over 7,000 LEDs, we feel like we’ve earned the right to brag a bit. Because of the complexity of the pieces, we ended up programming most of those 7,000 individually.”
The lighting adds to the emotion of the show in a big way. “Judging by our audience reactions every night, whether they notice the lighting or they don’t, I think we help to make the ride a thrilling one,” says Finn. “The performers are spectacular, which means that it is impossible to upstage them. We could push every moment, and we did.”
In terms of collaboration with the video team, Finn points out, “There really is no choice but to find yourselves on the same page ultimately. We took turns taking the lead on various numbers, and we all adapted to the looks that were clearly looking great,” he explains. “Some of the numbers had basic video content well before we entered the theatre. This allowed me to prep my looks and palettes accordingly. It was a true give-and-take process. If you are working with consummate theatre professionals, everyone has the ultimate goal of making the moment fit to concept, direction, and staging.”
{ SOURCE: LiveDesign.com | http://goo.gl/obdnxI }
