A
Tale of Three Transfers: FocusTrack in New
York
FocusTrack assists
in the Broadway transfers of three
shows
1st September 2008
FocusTrack, the production lighting documentation
system, is currently helping three shows with their
Broadway transfers, all three taking advantage of the
system’s ability to precisely document the
lighting in order to allow its faithful re-creation
and then long-term maintenance.
Billy Elliot, lit by Rick
Fisher and programmed by Vic Smerdon, has been
using FocusTrack since the show opened in London
in 2005. The show is controlled by a Strand
500-series console; FocusTrack imported the show
data and generated a list of the focus positions
actually used by each light; it then controlled
the console to allow a photograph of each lamp
focus, together with a written description, to be
added. This left the production team with a
complete record of the components that make up the
show lighting, which has already allowed them to
create the Australian production of Billy Elliot,
currently running in Sydney. The New York
production will preview at the Imperial Theatre
from October 1st.
A Tale of Two Cities, lit by
Richard Pilbrow and programmed by Robert Bell,
opened in Sarasota, Florida in the autumn of 2007;
the show is moving to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in
New York, where it is previewing now and will open
on September 18th. Pilbrow started exploring
FocusTrack during the show’s rehearsals in
Sarasota; the system will document the New York
production, with the show using beta versions of
FocusTrack that can read show data from the Strand
Palette console that is controlling the lighting.
Equus, lit by David Hersey and
programmed by Rob Halliday, enjoyed a hugely
successful run in London during 2007; the show is
now transferring to the Broadhurst Theatre in New
York complete with its original stars, Daniel
Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths. The show features
a core rig of VL3000s, VL3500s, VL5s and Mac700s
together with a selection of conventional lights;
FocusTrack was used to create a complete record of
the show in London, including the precise focus of
custom mask gobos aligned to elements of the
scenery and the focus of the conventional rig.
FocusTrack’s ability to show focus positions
by lamp, by preset palette or by cue will prove
invaluable in re-creating the show on a very tight
production schedule; the show previews from
September 5th.
These shows join the many others using FocusTrack to
maintain the show lighting on long runs, re-create it
for new productions or re-focus it on tour, these
including Mary Poppins in New York and now
on tour around the UK, Miss Saigon around
the world, Never Forget in London, Young
Frankenstein in New York, and the forthcoming US
tour of Frost/Nixon.
Further information about FocusTrack, including
details of productions that have already put it to
use, can be found here.