Claypaky lights Boston Pops Spectacular
- Details
The Independence Day spectacular showcased an all-women guest line-up featuring Emmy award-winning Fight Song artist Rachel Platten, Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls, and Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards-winner, Rita Moreno.
“We needed to make the orchestra the star of the show and provide opportunities for the guest artists to shine as well,” says Full Flood’s Micahel Berger, a Boston native who marked his third year as lighting designer.
“This was a combination symphony orchestra concert and arena rock show held outdoors in the middle of summer,” he notes. “It’s a great opportunity to get to come home to Boston and work on this calibre of show.” The Spectacular was telecast, carried on radio and live streamed by Bloomberg.
Berger utilised Claypaky Mythos 2 fixtures and Scenius Unicos for the production. “Mythos have become an important part of our repertoire,” he says. “For this show they outlined the arch of the Hatch (bandshell) and have developed into a pretty iconic image.”
“Mythos are a staple as a beam unit,” says lighting director and programmer Ryan Tanker. “For the Spectacular the fixtures held up well when hung out of position to create the signature look of the shell.”
Berger used Scenius Unicos for the first time on the production placing the six fixtures in a skytracker position.
“It was a very smooth show,” Tanker reports, “with no network glitches. Everything held up fine.” He gives kudos to Gaffer Eric Norris who ran 900ft of fibre from the stage through the trees to the FOH tent.
Francesco Romagnoli, Claypaky area manager for North and Latin America, adds, “It’s great to see our fixtures on such a public spectacle and we’re thrilled to see how Full Flood has made use of them.”
(Jim Evans)
