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Orbital and Meyer Sound Outfit Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Since its debut performance in March 1968, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has become one of the most popular musicals in British history, with more than 20,000 schools and theater groups interpreting the play. The latest revival of the show, starring newcomer Lee Mead, takes place at the West End’s Adelphi Theatre in London, England, and features the work of award-winning sound designer Mick Potter, who created a stellar Meyer Sound loudspeaker system provided by London-based audio equipment sales and rental company Orbital Sound.
The main system for the Adelphi Theatre performances features 12 Meyer Sound M’elodie loudspeakers per side, along with four 600-HP and four 700-HP subwoofers per side. Potter notes that the compact M’elodie loudspeakers provided just the right punch for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’s diverse musical score. “Working on a show like Joseph is quite different from a typical pop concert,” says Potter, a veteran of West End and Broadway productions such as The Sound of Music, Evita, The Woman in White and Bombay Dreams. “The dynamics can range from very soft, where we’re almost pretending the actors aren’t amplified at all, to rock concert levels. M’elodie is very transparent and consistent at all levels.”
Webber prefers a big, dynamic show, Potter notes, and this production of Joseph is no exception. “The trick is getting it to sound big, but not loud,” he says. “That’s where the Meyer speakers’ detail really helps. The 700-HP sounds fantastic at low levels. Most subs just give you a low rumbling, but with the 700-HP you can actually hear the sound of the kick drum and the contrabass. It gives an exceptional amount of detail out of the orchestra.”
Meyer Sound’s Galileo loudspeaker management system utilizing four Galileo 616 processors covers the complex distribution scheme. “The Galileos are intrinsic to the system design,” Potter says. “The EQ sounds great. And with so many speakers — in this show we’re using more than 80 outputs — the Galileo is really the only way to organize it.
“One of the great things about Meyer gear is its consistency,” concludes Potter. “Using M’elodie is a lot like using the MICA. It has a very similar response, and is just as easy to tune and to array.”
Meyer Sound equipment has been used in previous Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat productions including show dates at the Colosseum Theatre in Germany, a US tour in 2005 - 06, to name a few. The latest West End production will play through June 2008, extended from the initially planned six-month run. Mead, a 25-year-old former understudy, landed the lead role after winning a national audience vote on BBC One’s reality TV show Any Dream Will Do!
11th February 2008
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