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Osaka’s Theatre BRAVA! Debuts with Meyer Sound
The denizens of Osaka, Japan’s second-largest city, enjoy a reputation as very good business people. When the business day ends, however, Osakans often partake of the city’s lively nightlife.
For many, that means attending Osaka’s Theatre BRAVA!, which opened its doors in March of 2005 and has seen hardly a dark night since. The former Osaka MBS Theatre has undergone a substantial renovation, including new décor, revamped lighting, and a new state-of-the-art sound system featuring Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers.
The theatre is owned by the Mainichi Broadcasting System, one of Japan’s first commercial broadcast networks, which reaches over 22 million viewers in the country’s Kansai region, an area that includes the cities of Osaka and Kobe. Theatre BRAVA!, named for an Italian eulogy for women, is a multi-purpose venue that offers a wide range of presentations, including drama, dance, concerts, opera and performance art.
The diversity of presentations was a prime consideration in the theatre’s redesign and renovation. The stage was designed as a flexible, movable structure that is capable of adjusting to various models, depending on the production needs. Even the theatre’s logo, described by Mainichi as “a visualization of the cheers and applause featured in the letters ‘Brava!’” can be transformed into a myriad of colors and compositions to suit the mood of different presentations. The theatre seats just over 1,100, with slightly more than 700 patrons seated on the orchestra level and an additional 400 in the balcony.
Osaka-based Native Audio Company provided the audio system, which is based around eight M1D ultra-compact curvilinear array loudspeakers suspended at the center of the proscenium and two CQ-2 narrow coverage main loudspeakers hung at either side of it. Low-frequency content is amply covered by a pair of floor-standing 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoofers. Two more CQ-2 cabinets are positioned atop each subwoofer. The system is designed to be flexible, so the groundstacked CQ-2 units might sometimes be used to keep localization of voices at stage level and other times serve as frontfill.
The main M1D/CQ-2 rig is augmented with a smaller system comprising four flown UPA-2P compact narrow coverage loudspeakers, as well as two UPA-1P compact wide coverage loudspeakers on stands. The UPA-1P units are designed for easy mobility, so that they can be placed in any of several locations as needed.
A 48-channel Yamaha PM4000 console handles the front-of-house mix, with effects processing provided by Yamaha and TC Electronic reverbs and delays. System equalization is focused around two Meyer Sound CP-10 complementary phase parametric EQs. A selection of Ramsa wireless microphones, as well as wired mics from Shure, AKG and Sennheiser complete the audio chain.
Since its grand reopening the theatre has played host to several sold-out productions, including director/choreographer Jo Kanamori and Noism05’s critically acclaimed Triple Bill and playwright David Leveaux’s musical Nine, and hosted a two-week run of a modern Noh play.
20th January 2006
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