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Glam Light: ETC Eos on Broadway's Rock of Ages
Time will tell if people will be listening to the rock anthems of the 1980s hundreds of years from now as people today still listen to classical music. But 20-plus years after the 80s blew our hair back - long after perms proved not to be permanent - the music still rocks.
Broadway's new Tony Award-nominated hit musical Rock of Ages (RoA) makes the case for the lasting power of the power ballads and for the performance aesthetic of the era. The 80s brought us not just glam rock but glam light - the first moving lights and a not so quiet riot of special effects on concerts. At the Brook Atkinson Theatre in New York, Rock of Ages spares no rock lighting look while employing technology that is decidedly 2009 in its innovative functionality - from LEDs, to advanced moving light and video projection, to the ETC Eos lighting control system interfacing with all of the systems and running the rig.
Homage to 80s hits, with a set list of over 20 big numbers like Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive, Foreigner's I Want to Know What Love Is and Journey's Don't Stop Believing, Rock of Ages is one of the largest shows done on an Eos desk. "We created new effects specific to the music, tempos, and moods of each number," says RoA lighting designer Jason Lyons. "The flexibility of the Eos effects engine and the ability to create an effect in different ways added to our ability to give each moment its own flavour. Also the ability to query and select by specific parameters made building cues across our conventionals, moving lights and large contingent of LED fixtures, very comprehensive."
Eos was especially helpful in transitioning Rock of Ages successfully from the smaller stage to Broadway. Lyons explains: "When we were first putting together the off-Broadway production, we were trying to do a full-scale 80s rock spectacle on an off-Broadway budget. We had to make certain concessions on the number of units, unit types, and particularly putting both conventional and moving lights on a single control system, with a single programmer. But the Eos allowed us to put the entire show together, in a way that made sense theatrically and also gave us the functionality to create a rock show.
"I had also been hesitant in the past to combine conventionals and moving lights onto a single control desk, due to both functionality and the sometimes overwhelming organisation required to deal with both. But the Eos handled the entire light plot with ease and allowed us to tie all of our equipment together in cues in a simple way, rather than having to try to sync up multiple systems."
Playing now to sold-out shows and critical acclaim, this Broadway production - as well as its touring and movie version - is set to rock for ages.
In picture: Rock of Ages photo Joan Marcus
3rd September 2009
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