Live Design: “I call this the ‘no-focus’ tour,” says lighting designer Alain Lortie, who designed Cirque du Soleil’s new $50 million production, Zarkana, playing at Radio City Music Hall in New York City through October 8. “Zarkana was designed as a touring show and will be reduced in size for arenas,” adds State Kremlin Palace Concert Hall and Theatre in Moscow in February, while the same show, in the smaller arena version, opens in Madrid in November.
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Lighting Zarkana
Live Design: “I call this the ‘no-focus’ tour,” says lighting designer Alain Lortie, who designed Cirque du Soleil’s new $50 million production, Zarkana, playing at Radio City Music Hall in New York City through October 8. “Zarkana was designed as a touring show and will be reduced in size for arenas,” adds State Kremlin Palace Concert Hall and Theatre in Moscow in February, while the same show, in the smaller arena version, opens in Madrid in November.
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3 comments:
This a very interesting rig that they have made here. The amount of moving lights that are in this show almost as much as in a rock and roll show. The lack of conventional lighting is somewhat mind blowing. I wonder if this is the way that most shows will be going in the future. It makes the install and up keep of the show easier. I find it interesting the designer programed and ran the show up until it started to run. I wonder how the union liked that. I wonder if that is normal for this designer to work this way? The amount of LEDs that are in the show is mind blowing 40 universes worth of them. I also wonder if this is the way that some shows will be going with lots of lights as part of the set.
This is another show where versatility and speed are essential. There are many shows where the use of moving lights are excessive, however this show and most tours need moving lights to offset a lack of people on the tour to refocus. If you have a competent electrician on tour you can make life easier for everyone involved by making it all moving lights and LEDs.
This is certainly a trend that can be seen in other Cirque shows, as Viva Elvis also only uses conventionals for backstage crossover lighting. I wonder if we'll being seeing this trend in more types of theatre. I'm sure that lighting a show in this way is insanely expensive, but it seems like the flexibility and power that you get from these lights is well worth it if you have the money. I hope to also see more LEDs in theatrical productions. From a regular audience perspective (because I don't know enough able lighting to comment more intelligently on the use of LEDs), I just think they produce a cool effect. I'm sure there are plenty of touring crews that are jealous of the Zarkana crew because a major focus isn't necessary for them. This seems like a time saver, and since time is money, I wonder if the use of this many moving lights will actually save Cirque some money in the long run.
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