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Daddy Cool: London Musical Debut for LED Lighting Specialists Chamaeleon Technologies
Showing at the Shaftesbury Theatre and set to the music of 70’s legends Boney M, Daddy Cool echoes Romeo and Juliet by telling the story of Sunny, a young man living for his music in multi-cultural London. Sunny becomes ensnared into the rivalry between local London gangs when he falls for Rose, the daughter of infamous East London club owner Ma Baker. The young lovers only fuel the gangs’ hatred - a hatred which forces families to confront both past and future. Including classics such as Rivers Of Babylon, Brown Girl In The Ring, Ma Baker and Mary’s Boychild, this exciting musical is directed by Andy Goldberg and stars Michelle Collins, Harvey from So Solid Crew and Javine, with sets design by Jon Morrell.
The lighting design for the show by Rob Halliday is technically stunning, with the Mirror-ball, and Ma Baker’s Bar being just two of the sets featuring lighting supplied by South Woodham Ferrers based LED specialists Chamaeleon Technologies.
Speaking about the show, Chamaeleon technical director Adam Knight said: “Working on Daddy Cool has been exciting experience for Chamaeleon. It’s our first musical, and great to be involved with. It’s given us a real insight and appreciation for the thought and scale that goes into set design.” Adam reserved special praise for Simon Needle and the Electrolite team for the installation of the mirror ball, for Ian Moulds and his team of production electricians and for the theatre’s lighting staff led by Pete Goodman. “The guys were technically brilliant, lighting the sets utilised the capabilities of our fixtures to the maximum and seeing everyone’s work slot together was an amazing experience for me,” he said. “I’ve really learned a lot.”
Chamaeleon’s first introduction to the Daddy Cool project was as suppliers of their neon substitute Elektor-FLEX which was to be used for the Ma Baker’s Bar sign for the strip club set. The bar sign was designed to be red with blue Elektor-FLEX around the dancers’ podiums and bar front. “From those meetings came the idea for a rope-light ball,” said Adam. “I had demonstrated several of our linear LED products for Ma Baker’s Bar, including Tantalus which we hadn’t yet launched. It was Tantalus that captured imaginations, and led to the designing of the mirror ball set.”
Chamaeleon managing director Kevin Knight continued: “The mirror ball is really half a ball, open at the back. It’s made from sheets of Perspex and horizontal and vertical lines of constantly colour-changing Tantalus give the ball its appearance and shape. The overall effect is absolutely fabulous!”
The programming and colour control for the mirror-ball was completed by Rob Halliday. “Rob really had an issue to contend with,” said Adam. “Controlling horizontal and vertical lines of constantly colour-changing Tantalus was never going to be easy. Similar to a video screen, the lines really wanted to be one or the other. Rob determined his solution and overcame the problem, changing the control presets of Tantalus and controlling each of the lines in Hippotizer, precisely achieving the effects he wanted.”
Halfway through the planning stages with Chamaeleon, an idea for the recording studio scene was introduced. The new idea envisaged a graphic equalizer: ‘dancing bars of light’. Adam continued: “We demonstrated several methods of achieving the effect. Eventually settling on using two one metre lengths of our DMX controlled LED Elektor-TUBE to decorate the DJs’ turntable. Impressed with the power of the tubes and their effects, Rob Halliday also designed them into show finale. Lengths of colour-changing Elektor-TUBE are arranged all around the stage and the light directed into the auditorium and onto the audience.”
“Our wall washers light-up the opening scene too,” interjected Chamaeleon operations director, Steve Whiteley: “Eight Astrum 1800 IND UBs are lined along the front of the stage washing the dancers. And, on both wings of the stage, are the ‘brick sets’. The bricks, about four hundred in all and in different sizes, represent the ‘seedier’ aspects of London and are lit by DMX controlled SpekTec mini tubes. The light on the bricks is individually controlled and is on all through the production; it’s either fully lit or diffused and colour changes in theme with the scenes.”
Summarising, Adam Knight said: “All round, Daddy Cool has been a terrific project for Chamaeleon to work on. “Seeing our lighting products for the first time on a London musical stage represented a fantastic debut for us, because following that, and now working with lighting designer David Hersey, we’ve supplied the LED colour effects lighting for the new Savoy Theatre production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. We’ve an absolute belief in our LED lighting and acknowledging the magic of the theatrical effects, which in the imaginative hands of lighting designers such as David Hersey and Rob Halliday, can be achieved using it. We’re absolutely delighted to be lighting suppliers to the stage industry.”
14th November 2006
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