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Los Angeles, January 29,
2007
A pair of grandMA consoles is controlling lighting and video for the
national tour of “High School Musical: The Concert”
which is now touring major US cities. Loosely based on the Emmy
Award-winning Disney Channel Original Movie, “High School
Musical,” the show includes songs from the tweenage-targeted
feature and showcases solo material from the powerhouse young
performers.
Known as a real operator’s console, the grandMA is the
largest console in MA Lighting’s range. Its three-color
touchscreen and up to two external monitors make for an extremely
comfortable programming environment. Twenty motorized faders, a
built-in keyboard, mouse, mouse pad, trackball, and four-parameter
encoders provide a luxurious programming and playback surface. A.C.T
Lighting is the exclusive distributor of grandMA in North America.
“‘High School Musical’ onstage is more
like a rock concert than a Broadway show,” notes lighting
programmer Patrick Dierson. “There’s a lot of
choreography, set piece moves, pyro, CO2 jets and big video projection
screens.”
With so much happening, Dierson hails the grandMA’s
multi-user programming capability. “It’s great.
Touring lighting director Calvin ‘Mac’ Mossier can
run the show and call spots as he would normally, and I can take notes
from Patrick Woodroffe and make changes in realtime all the while not
affecting Mac,” he explains. “The grandMA is the
only console I've ever worked with that can do that in realtime with
complete reliability. The grandMA is also the first and only system --
and I've worked with just about all of them -- that’s able to
keep up with the speed at which I hit buttons and make
changes.”
On the lighting side, 28 Martin Mac 2000 Profiles and 39 2000 Washes
and 10 Mac 700 Profiles and 24 700 Washes as well as various
conventional fixtures are run from the two grandMA consoles and three
NSP units. The lighting rig primarily revolves around a center circular
truss and a downstage 180-degree truss that envelope the entire width
of the stage. Some of the Martin units are built into the set. The show
runs off a single cue list; the grandMAs’ multiple faders
give manual control to Martin Atomic Strobe hits and multi intensities.
The second console is also used to set up group master intensities to
inhibit certain lights and create a more hospitable environment for
live camera and IMAG aspects of the show. “The lighting
triggers certain effects like confetti for the show,” Dierson
points out. “Built-in macros act as safety park and unpark so
they don't accidentally get triggered at the wrong time. Using
inhibitive group mastering on those channels acts as a double safety.
We can go through an entire show knowing that we’re
completely safe and won’t trigger effects
inadvertently.”
Dierson finds its “wonderful working on the grandMA because
it’s not hanging up, glitching and crashing the way other
consoles do. It's very easy to make updates in real time while Patrick
Woodroffe is commenting on changes during a live rehearsal. I can
concentrate on technically translating the art of what he’s
thinking and not have to second guess what the console can or can not
do."
"It just is hard to get better than working with Patrick Woodroffe,
Patrick Dierson and Mac Mosier. They appreciate how the grandMA system
works, and they treat the console as a creative collaborator. The show
would have looked different and taken longer to program on any other
platform," commented Bob Gordon, CEO of A.C.T Lighting.
Kenny Ortega, who directed the original movie, is the director of
“High School Musical: The Concert” with Patrick
Woodroffe serving as lighting designer and Michael Cotton set and video
designer.
MA Lighting is
exclusively distributed by A.C.T Lighting.
A leading importer and distributor of lighting products, A.C.T
Lighting, Inc. strives to identify future trends and cutting-edge
products, and stock, sell and support their inventory. The company
provides superior customer service and value for money to all of its
clients.
For more information call 818-707-0884.
Copyright © ACT Lighting 2009. All rights reserved.
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