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London Gets Wicked with PRG Europe
Wicked, winner of 15 major US awards and recently named the highest grossing Broadway show in history has arrived in London. Prequel to the Wizard of Oz story, Wicked opened for previews on 7th September at the Apollo Theatre in Victoria and officially premières to the UK public on 27th September. With a budget rumoured to be between £6m-£10m for the London production, no expense has been spared and providing the considerable and diverse lighting kit for this technical extravaganza is PRG Europe.
Kenneth Posner – award winning US lighting designer and Tony Award Nominee for best lighting design on Wicked – has created a dynamic and dramatic atmosphere on stage. He says: “The UK audience is in for an exciting and unique visual experience when they see Wicked. The entire design team spent many hours recreating the Broadway visual elements and embellishing the overall design. The Apollo, with its dramatic height but shallower and narrower stage, made it necessary for us to re-design and re-plot many of the scenes. I was thrilled for the opportunity to revisit the Wicked lighting design.”
PRG Europe project manager for Wicked, Loz Wilcox, continues: “Wicked is already a huge smash hit in America, with productions not only on Broadway but in Los Angeles, Chicago and on tour in the US. PRG provides lighting solutions for all of these shows, so we know what is needed to make this complex production run smoothly. In fact, we were able to supply exactly what Kenneth had requested – from the esoteric hardware used for specific effects in the show right down to specially manufactured fixtures not normally used in the UK theatre market.”
By no means a lightweight show in terms of lighting, Posner and his associate LDs Karen Spahn (US), Michael Odam (UK) and associate LD and moving light programmer Warren Flynn were supported by a production team of experienced west end veterans. Production electrician Pete Lambert was assisted by Chris Luscombe, Mike Dixon, Steve Reeve and Alistair Grant.
The lighting kit includes over 200 ETC Source Four Profiles and numerous ETC Source Four Pars, most with Wybron Coloram II Scrollers. A Vega 10k Fresnel provides a dazzling backlight silhouette and the cyc is stunningly lit using 16 ETC 12-lamp Multipar battens and six L&E 30-cell battens. A further four L&E battens are mounted in traps under the floor to avoid obstructing the complex automated scenery and tracks. Two City Theatrical Wireless Dimming Systems are used on various moving set pieces.
Associate LD and moving light programmer Warren Flynn used a full size grandMA console to programme the moving lights, while a grandMA Light console was used to programme the fixed luminaires. However, the show is run from one grandMA Light with a second running as a tracking back up. The desks also control two video projectors via an ArtNet system.
Posner specified almost 90 Vari*Lites. Lambert explains: “With this number of Vari*Lites there was really only one choice in terms of lighting supplier. PRG Europe has once again provided excellent service and the quality was fantastic. I can count the number of swap-outs on one hand, which is pretty good given the rig has been on for 12 hours a day, six days a week, for the last five weeks. Also the company’s worldwide network was put to good use when PRG flew in a Robert Juliat Cyrano followspot from their New York office in just three days!”
PRG Europe also supplied a variety of MDG fog and haze machines plus seven High End AF1000 Dataflash strobes custom mounted inside Black Par 64 shells. Two City Theatrical Custom Source Four Spot Yokes were originally custom designed by City Theatrical for the Broadway production but have been modified by Alistair Grant and Howard Eaton to work for the London production.
Posner concludes: “PRG Europe played a key role in mounting the production and the incorporation of new lighting ideas. The company delivered excellent service and quality equipment with same day turn around when necessary. I am extremely grateful to the PRG Europe team for making me feel welcome in the West End and taking a very personal interest in supporting both myself and the production in general.”
21st September 2006
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