UK - Autograph Sound Recording's Chris Full was recently called in by Bill Kenwright to redesign the sound system for his new production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the New London Theatre. The show had been open a number of weeks when Kenwright went to see the Autograph-designed production of Ragtime at the Piccadilly. He was impressed with the quality of the sound on that production and commissioned Chris Full to recreate the same quality on Joseph.

Kenwright's revival of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical features gold lamé sweeping staircases, huge cut-out pharaohs and pop-up inflatable sheep and stars ex-Boyzone Stephen Gately in the leading role.It retains the exuberance of Lloyd Webber's original musical score, which borrows musical styles from Elvis and calypso. "The system is designed to deliver an exciting audio experience to complement the other production values," says Full. "The major challenge presented by the venue was a wide auditorium, with little in the way of good speaker positions. This required more attention to be paid to the system set-up in order to achieve coherent and even coverage of the seating."

The PA system consists of seven d&b E3 frontfills, with six E9s and eight C6s for vocal coverage, with C7s and two C7 subs, two B1s and 2E118s for the band. The front-of-house console is a Yamaha PM1D, and TC Electronic M2000 Reverb units and Trantec 5000 series radio microphones are also being used.Bill Kenwright's record-breaking touring production has attracted an audience of over 15 million people throughout its 20-year run, and is listed in The Guinness Book of Records as the world's longest running touring musical.

(Ruth Rossington)


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