Artiste DaVinci stars in The Wizard of Oz

USA - Lighting designer Herrick Goldman used Elation Professional’s Artiste DaVinci LED moving head spot for colour and visual effects on a Syracuse Stage production of The Wizard of Oz and praised the award-winning luminaire as a flexible workhorse that performed a number of duties throughout the show. “The DaVinci took so much of the work load I could have saved the time and energy of hanging 25% of the light plot,” the LD stated.
The family favourite musical, which ran from 29 November to 7 January, was directed by Donna Drake, and was Syracuse Stage's holiday co-production with the Syracuse University Department of Drama. It is the story you know well but is told in a new way with tumbling and flying elements from acrobats turned actors from New York’s 2 Ring Circus.
Although the Syracuse Stage theatre houses 100s of conventional fixtures along with some older moving heads, a fantasy production like The Wizard of Oz gives ample opportunity for creative use of colour and effects, therefore Goldman sought a more state-of-the-art fixture that would give him those possibilities. “I wanted a fixture that would help tell the story while shining new light on a familiar tale,” he said. “A creative production like this lends itself well to a theatrical fixture like the Artiste DaVinci. I’d been looking for a good replacement fixture for a 700W discharge fixture I’ve used in the past and this fills the gap.”
The Artiste DaVinci is an energy-efficient CMY and graphics luminaire with a 300W LED engine and 7° to 48° motorised zoom that powers out over 13,000lm. Nine units were placed on electrics and used for colour and texture wash from virtually all positions - downlight, sidelight, backlight and frontlight. “I love the lights,” the LD stated, explaining that when zoomed out the fixtures cover the entire 36’ wide by 25’ deep stage. “They are still bright enough to compete with the other lighting and their gobos lend themselves well.”
Goldman used Wizard of Oz colour illustrations by fantasy and science fiction artists, the Brothers Hildebrandt, as his inspiration for the lighting design and colour. “They use light so beautifully,” he said, adding that projection designer Kate Freer used some of the illustrations as inspiration as well.
The lighting designer also placed two Artiste DaVinci fixtures on the deck, downstage left and right, to light the 2 Ring Circus aerialists and their cirque-like feats.
(Jim Evans)

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