"A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder"- Lighting

[Skervald]

My wife and I recently saw a performance by the touring company of "Gentleman's Guide". VERY enjoyable production. If you haven't seen it, I'd encourage you to do so. Hilarious and well crafted source material, clever production/set design, great costuming, excellent cast. In a nutshell, it's fun and all the things I love about live theater.

For those of you who have seen the show, I'd like to hear your comments on the lighting design, it's implementation, and execution at the performance you attended. I'm particularly interested in the use of follow spots.

Here are some observations:

• In the smaller scenes, every actor was lit using a follow spot whenever he or she was on stage.
• There is a projection screen used in the production. Often while lighting an actor, the follow spots would wash out sections of the screen creating a white blob and shadow of the actor on whatever was being projected.
• Actors at times walked, danced, or ran out of the lit area only to have the spot move quickly to catch up.
• Sometimes the actor's torso was being lit while his or her face was left dim.

Here are some questions I've been pondering:

Was it a design choice to have the spots so visible? This is a farce, after all. Part of the charm of the show is the simple almost vaudeville quality of it and there is, in fact, a stage on the stage.

Were the spots obvious because certain compromises have to be made when a show goes on tour? Perhaps the spot perches were not in an ideal location?

Was one or more of the spot ops new to the show or an emergency substitute?

Did the design just call for so much spot work that there were bound to be moments of difficulty?

Was there some other technical problem that affected the rest of the lighting rig forcing more use of follow spots or making their use more apparent?

Did I just key in on the spots early in the show which made me look for them throughout?

I was more surprised than bothered by any of these things. (I'm not trying to soft soap this either!) This is a great production and the truth is, I found much to love about the lighting and projection design. There were some really great looks and moments in the show. (For example, the designer made excellent use of footlights and the color pallet was really well thought out. Also, some really great up-lighting of the soft goods and false proscenium and a particularly well designed lightning effect.)

Look forward to hearing your thoughts!

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

While not an excuse, perhaps it was designed with other spot operators in mind and different follow spot positions than where you saw it, but I have to wonder if designed for touring, why didn't the designer anticipate both local ops and less good follow spot positions? I suppose this venue could have been the only one with these issues out of many but seems unlikely.

 

[JChenault]

I shared this thread with Philip Rosenburg ( the lighting designer of the Broadway production). Here is what he said

Unfortunately on a tour, you never know who’s going to be behind the front-light - and given the parameters of the scenic design and the economic structure of this tour, this was our best option.

 

[kicknargel]

Wow, go Control Booth!

I saw the Broadway, and don't recall my attention ever being distracted by the spot work, so what you're seeing is the reality of touring. On tour the ops are local and get little rehearsal. If you saw it early in the run, they'd maybe only done it a couple times before. And most touring houses are deeper than Broadway, with flatter angles and longer throws.

And I think (can't fully recall) that Broadway used a video wall while perhaps the tour has rear projection, which would be more susceptible to wash-out.

 

[chawalang]

Having toured Broadway shows as a Front LX Electrician it really is luck of the draw with who you get as the spot ops for the show run in a city. Some people are very very on point and can literally walk in and knock out a great show, others it may take them 2 or 3 nights if they even get it at all.

 

[Skervald]

Wow indeed! The reach of Control Booth knows no bounds. Thanks @JChenault.

I realized I did leave one critical piece of information out of my original post. It was opening night which probably explains a lot. I imagine the challenges of taking a design made for a specific venue and modifying it for use in not just one but multiple locations are endless. Throw in the occasional surprise you're bound to find when moving into a space and I'd be ready to pull my hair out. I find enough challenges designing shows to live in a single space I have immediate access to. I didn't think about the budgetary constraints of touring with spot ops. It makes perfect sense that they're local and on opening night, still learning the show. A video wall would have certainly helped but again, touring with a video wall presents it's own challenges.

 

[ScottT]

And I think (can't fully recall) that Broadway used a video wall while perhaps the tour has rear projection, which would be more susceptible to wash-out.

Other way around, actually. Broadway uses a grid of projectors, while the tour uses a video wall. Makes it faster to load the show in.

 

[Erik456]

Quick search showed they are playing at the State Theatre. That specific venue does have an extremely flat spot angle.
http://www.hennepintheatretrust.org...ache/gallery_full/photos/State_HouseRGB_0.jpg