Stage Directions: When Baz Luhrmann debuted Moulin Rouge! in 2001, his fantastical tale of “truth, beauty, freedom, and love” at the famed Parisian nightclub was heralded for reinventing the movie musical, with its exuberant cast of characters, frenetic visuals, and more-is-more production numbers that juxtaposed the Belle Époque drama onscreen with a tapestry of modern pop hits.
4 comments:
This was a great read. I just love the attention to detail Hylenski has regarding his design. Moulin Rouge, the author says, has such an insane range of moments, from very soft and quiet to raging rock numbers. Being able to handle those and everything in between while maintaining clarity is not an easy task. I wish that I could sit in on a process like that, testing the system and whatnot to see how it's done.
Hylenski also talks about how the show's direction and blocking goes beyond the proscenium. That adds another layer of complexity, being able to handle how the audience perceives the sound when it's right in front of them and not 30 feet away and behind an arch. All in all, I think that a show with such challenging design needs will make it all the more dynamic and interesting. I hope I have the chance to go see it sometime.
I am not a sound designer in any way. However, I do have slight experience with some sound equipment. I know that typically audio designers would pan audio left or right to get a certain effect they want the audience to hear, and Moulin Rouge! sound designer Peter Hylenski explains that he does this in some parts of the musical, but he also talks about newer equipment to make sound more three dimensional to the audience members. Also, to make sure everyone from the audience to the performers can hear everything, this show is using close to 130 Meyer Sound loudspeakers! It is incredible to think how much work can go into sound design. Everyday people just hear things as they should and don't bother to realize how difficult it can be to make things sound good. All the fancy equipment used and the professional mixers are to make sure the audio side of the musical runs seamless so no one can even complain about what is going on in the audio world.
-Pablo Anton
The sound design for this specific musical is one that seems very interesting. I had not thought of the necessity creating such specific and accurate placement of someone's voice in order to allow the audience to get a better understanding of where they are on a larger stage. It is also interesting to read about the design collaboration between different teams. The scenic designer communicating with the sound designer about finding a better solution to prevent obstructions seems like good collaborative form. The advancement in technology that allows for a smaller unit to deliver greater strength of sound is an exciting development in this field. It is incredible that it takes that many speakers to drive the sound for the show. It makes me wonder with what precision the sound is operating in the space. As someone who has not seen many shows with a perceived complicated sound design, I'd be very interested to know how this production sounds.
Peter is such an amazing sound designer. Every year he is designing multiple Broadway shows while having a bunch in development. I got to meet him last year, as he is the sound designer for Beetlejuice and I was the Stage Management Intern. I got to talk to him during tech one day about Carnegie Mellon and it is always so great to talk to alumni about the program when they were students and how their careers went. His sound designs are always so interesting and the shows he works on always has interesting challenges. With Moulin Rouge not only did he have to worry about sound designing a musical he also need to make it sound like a concert. In Moulin Rouge they only use current music and he had the challenge of balancing musical theater with current pop hits. I am excited to see moulin rouge and hear his sound design.
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