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Young Frankenstein Rises on Broadway with Meyer Sound M'elodie and Matrix3
A co-winner of the Outstanding New Broadway Musical accolade of the Outer Critics Circle Awards and a nominee of three Tony Awards, the Young Frankenstein musical is an adaptation of one of the legendary Mel Brooks' funniest works. Nobody but Brooks, an accomplished writer, producer, director, actor, lyricist and composer, could do justice in bringing the show to Broadway.
The imaginative musical ensures the audience receives the full experience of the extravagant production, from a celebrity cast and visual effects, including a Tesla coil that emits three million volts of electricity to revive the monster, to a lush 23-piece orchestra, which is one of the largest to play in a Broadway production.
"Mel Brooks wanted a big, rich orchestral sound," observes sound designer Jonathan Deans. A Broadway, West End, Las Vegas and Cirque du Soleil veteran who is also a long-time Meyer Sound user, Deans created a dynamic soundscape for the show using self-powered Meyer Sound loudspeakers and a Matrix3 audio show control system.
The main audio system, provided by Mt. Vernon, NY-based PRG Audio, comprises 36 M'elodie line array loudspeakers hung in four arrays and a center cluster. The configuration also includes 19 M1D line array loudspeakers and 21 UPJ-1P VariO loudspeakers. Four 600-HP subwoofers provide low frequency and a Galileo loudspeaker management system using five Galileo 616 processors controls the system.
In addition to dialog and music from the orchestra, the show also includes hundreds of sound effects programmed in the Matrix3 Wild Tracks hard disk playback by Deans' assistant, Brian Hsieh. As Deans explains, "Most of them go unnoticed because they're placed exactly where they need to be - integrated into the scenery or the action."
Matrix3's client/server architecture enables multiple operators to operate the system simultaneously. The system is driven by FOH Simon Matthews, while the tracks can be triggered by Assistant Sound Engineer John Sibley using a CueConsole backstage, by the drummer, or in sync with lighting cues.
"The sounds that need to be organic can be triggered by people, while what needs to be exact can be triggered by DMX or MIDI," says Dean. "That's one of the nice things about the Meyer Sound system, which allows us to split the console and distribute control."
With an all-star cast including Roger Bart and Megan Mullally, the show is a success story that has added another notch in the belt of the notorious Mel Brooks. For Deans, who has created the sonic landscapes that challenge the imagination, the musical opens a new chapter in an award-winning career. "The best thing about using Meyer gear is never having to say ‘I can't do that' to a director, or to myself," says Deans. "I have every tool I need to achieve the sound that's in my head."
27th May 2008
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