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Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons wrote
their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records
worldwide – all before they were 30. And now their story is being told at
London’s Prince Edward Theatre, with the help of lighting designer Howell
Binkley and PRG Lighting.
“This was a new production of the show
which joins productions currently appearing on Broadway, in Chicago and Las
Vegas, and is now off to Melbourne and on tour around the US,” says Howell.
“For the London show, I was pleased to be working with Loz and Alan at PRG
Lighting once again. The service they offer is superb, and preparation second
to none.
“Nothing was too much trouble for them or
the on site crew, led by Peter Lambert as production electrician; and it was
reassuring to know that when we wanted to get any alternative kit in it didn’t
take long to arrive. The Prince Edward is a relatively big theatre for the West
End, so it was good to know that all the equipment we might need is close to
hand.
“In addition to some 400 Source Fours, we
used L&E and Altman MR11 strip lights under the show deck to illuminate the
set pieces and Altman PAR 40 strips specifically to give a period feel to the
1950s scenes. We also used Philips ColorBlast and ColorBlaze LED luminaires for
wash lighting, and over 75 ColorBlast 6 luminaires just to light the show
portals.”
The star of the show, from a lighting point
of view, is a giant ‘stadium floodlight’ made up of 96 ETC Source Fours. PRG
Lighting had custom donuts fabricated to create an impression of perspective
for the luminaires, which were placed upstage, facing the audience. The company
also supplied custom built “low profile” front of house truss in order not to
spoil the view of the lovingly restored architectural features of the theatre.
Associate lighting designer Patricia
Nichols adds: “Our goal was to bring the NY version of the show to London and
we are very happy with it. We were excited to be able to add a few things to
this production that were developed while working on the other companies of
Jersey Boys in the US – each company of Jersey Boys has a different lighting
rig, so it is quite a challenge to keep them all straight.”
PRG Lighting supplied almost 100 VL2500
Spot and Wash luminaires and two GrandMA full-size control systems, which were
replaced with GrandMA light desks once programming was completed. An ETC
Obsession 2 with dual processor tracking was used to program and control the
conventionals.
PRG Lighting project manager Loz Wilcox
says: “It was a pleasure to be working with Howell again – he is also lighting
designer for Avenue Q, another PRG-supplied rig which has just entered its
third year in the West End and is as popular as ever. ”
Alistair Grant was the UK assistant
lighting designer, and moving light programmer was Hillary Knox. Production
managers were Stewart Crosbie and Peter Fulbright, and production electrician
was Peter Lambert.
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