GLP impressions make Broadway debut
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Lighting has been in the capable hands of Tyler Micoleau since the original production. At the Lyceum he has used GLP fixtures extensively, with the impression S350 and impression E350 making their Broadway debut, in combination with the JDC1, X4 Bar 20 and the staple impression X4.
The Tony Award-winning designer notes that space considerations are a critical factor in most of the older Broadway theatres, the Lyceum being the oldest continually operating theatre on Broadway, having opened in 1903. “Due to its compact size, overhead positions were very tight to the scenic portals and use of sidelight ladders was critical to sculpting figures within them,” he notes.
Be More Chill is largely a show about technology and its influence over people (the story is that a kid’s brain is taken over by a super-computer in the form of a pill). Beowulf Boritt’s set design (a layering of scenic portals in the shape of smartphones) provides the technology frame, but hides most of it until the ‘pill’ technology starts to take over. This brings the GLP fixtures to the fore.
“When we finally reveal the actual technology, it becomes a terrific opportunity to use new intelligent lighting technology as a functioning visual metaphor,” he says.
“I saw the complete GLP portfolio at the LDI Show in Las Vegas and knew immediately that there was so much there to choose from that would satisfy the specific needs of this design,” he continues. PRG had acquired a good deal of GLP fixtures, namely JDC1, impression X4 and X4 Bars, and they became the successful bidder.
“The most impressive qualities of the S350 were its compact size, the speed at which it functioned and the brightness, given its relatively small LED engine; but that was largely due to its superior optics.”
Added to the 12 S350 fixtures, hung overstage and at FOH, are seven E350s hovering over the band, where framing shutters were less of a requirement.
The 13 impression X4 are deployed as soft colourful backlight but with fast, tight beams for highlighting performers and visible light beams in the air. A handful are used from a near box boom position to colour the scenic portals in conjunction with the video projections.
Finally, the 21 X4 Bar 20’s are deployed in three ways: as full-stage backlight wash that can morph from a soft wash to a tight-beamed light curtain that can scan up and downstage; hung vertically as a punchy sidelight that can pan up and downstage; and hung on a flying rectangular truss rig, in full view of the audience, facilitating single-pixel chases and tilting effects over a dynamic visual array.
(Jim Evans)
