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Martin MAC TW1s and Aramis Followspots for New Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon is one of the most successful musicals in the world - seen by over 33 million people, in over 25 countries and played in 12 different languages. This time around producer Cameron Mackintosh has created an entirely new version which is just as exciting and even more emotionally involving than the original production.
The original Australian production of Miss Saigon ran for 16 sold out months in 1995 but only in Sydney as the show was simply too large to fit into any other Australian theatre. Rather than cut the show down in size, Cameron Mackintosh decide to meet the challenge of creating something new.
This new version of Miss Saigon uses cutting edge visual techniques and a brilliant new set which vividly recreates the streets of Vietnam and Bangkok. The memorable final helicopter flight from the roof of the American Embassy is achieved in spectacular visual fashion. David Hersey again designed the lighting with Richard Pacholski acting as associate lighting designer. Chameleon Touring Systems supplied the lighting through Martin’s Australian representative, Show Technology.
Miss Saigon is one of the first Australian musicals to tour the Martin MAC TW1 moving head tungsten wash light, which plays an important role in the lighting for this fabulous production.
“We don’t use them so much as a moving light but more for their color changing ability,” explained Richard Pacholski. “Most of the time we use them on different areas of the cyc. You can do nice, subtle color changes on them, keeping a consistent intensity and they have a good fade quality as well. I find the TW1’s to be a really versatile unit.”
Richard is using sixteen of the MAC TW1 narrow lens version on the upcoming production of Billy Elliot with LD Rick Fisher describing them as ‘awesome’. ”We’ve only just started the lighting sessions for Billy Elliot and it has been my first look at the TW1 narrow version and wow, the beam is beautiful on it!” he stated.
Miss Saigon also uses Robert Juliat Aramis followspots for front of house spots.
“I definitely prefer the Robert Juliat followspots as they have a lovely beam and are very bright,” remarked Richard. “With followspots you do always want the back up of brightness and also with the Robert Juliat followspots we get a nice soft edge to them. A lot of the time we battle to get the right edge with followspots but tht Robert Juliat followspots consistently deliver a nice soft edge. Most operators seem to favour them so they must be quite operator friendly as well.”
13th December 2007
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