heels as far as the eye can see – not all of them high and some of them not what you’d normally consider for heels.
But then this show isn’t what we’d normally consider.
We’ve been undergoing a slow transition from solely a receiving house to incorporating an touring and production aspect over the last few years.
And yet suddenly this summer, we’ve upped the ante and produced a musical revue, something of a departure from our stock in trade dance.
Of course, there is dance in there but there is also a band, and some singers. And an awful lot of wearable props …
This revue is the latest work from the gentleman who brought you the opera version of Jerry Springer, premiering at our main venue, then returning for a longer run early next year at our second venue with a tour to follow (at least that’s the current plan).
As I currently observe the build of this show, I’m feeling a little unconvinced. Let me get shop talk out of the way and I’ll explain further …
[shop talk]
The first thing you note about the set is the sheer volume of it. Hard to tell if the giant high heeled shoe, the towering legs or the circular band stand is the most dominating piece.
There are six legs, three each side, each with a different design and each made out of steel frames with ply frontage standing around 10m tall and garishly painted. Oh yes, and one lucky soul is currently sticking LED stripes to the onstage edges (with the irregular shapes, it’s nearer to a 14m run of strip, which I believe is about the limit that the drivers can manage … that could be fun)
upstage left is a circular bandstand, multi-leveled and linked to the stage by a sweeping, mirrored staircase (the kind of thing Fred Astaire would have been drawn to like a magnet) with a cyc mirroring the curve.
The bandstand has metal chain curtains underneath hiding an upstage entrance and store for one of the three beds used in one of the pieces.
The band themselves are a storey up on their multi-level platform and they’ve managed to squeeze a reasonably sized wing band into a fairly small footprint, drum kit, keys and sampler station included.
Other set items include a picture frame 4m on each side with wheels that the cast rotate live, a shoe shelf truck that hides puppeteers, two fairly delicate ‘expensive shoes in perspex boxes’ structures on narrow dollies, and the Imelda lecturn (yes for that Imelda and her speech on shoes).
Two more shelving units will fly in and have drop shelves triggered by electromagnets. For some reason, maintenance of these is to fall on the lighting department, possibly due to the LED strips used as decoration.
Lighting wise there is a fair number of VL and Martin moving heads spaced overhead (3500, 3500Q, 700 Profile and Wash, etc) and Source 4′s of various len sizes – nothing that wouldn’t be considered non-standard in contemporary terms. Control, I believe, will be ETC Eos.
Sound is also full of standard items from what I can tell (I’m starting this show in the fly tower for once) – the band is largely close miked with flavours of wired DPA and a Audix drum kit set. There is a fairly comprehensive Q-lab set-up (three laptops on and around stage with another out front), which links to the multiple projectors and also provides backing tracks, click and sound effects via the PM5D out front. Haven’t seen the speakers yet but if they don’t have Meyer I’ll be surprised, probably with XTA processing.
Four singers have DPA headset mics and Sennheiser body packs, there is an offstage vocal booth (or will be when the bandstand is finished) and not much more micing needed
The main video playback is from Hippotiser and I’ve yet to determine how many projectors we’ll end up with.
[/shop talk]
It’s mainly the set as to why I’m a little dubious. Those tall legs, that curved bandstand and that long sweep of cyc with scaffold trapezes for cyc warmers do not suggest themselves for a touring show. Not the metal construct, though that weight is (a little) overkill but the dimensions don’t really lend themselves for a neat truck pack or an easy install. We had two persons operating our automated flying system with another in the grid setting up point hoists and none of us had any respite over the first few hours. In a counterweight house, the number of bars we were moving would equal a larger crew and a longer fit-up time to allow for bar weighting – both things that also don’t make for a happy (or solvent) tour
[e2a]
Still haven’t had chance to confirm some of the video/sound set-up (which really shows how my current job responsibilities have switched] but I have now seen the show. It actually works very well and is a good revue but I think that the marketing [and our previous works] are going to mean that what the critics and audiences expect is not what we are going to provide.
I’m also a little worried that the four singers are not clear enough above the band – it is very tricky to make our their vocals – as if they are being used as another instrument in a band mix and nothing being done to make sure that the vocals, in a revue remember, are clear. That may be where I’ve heard it from but we are a little too close to the opening for comfort.
Audience attendence will tell – it is a decent enough show, though a little more glossy than the subject matter, what little there is, would suggest. It would work quite nicely as hen night material but it’s just a matter of whether our dancecentric critics realise that this isn’t a dance show but a revue show.
They didn’t …
