Participants of the 2005 Broadway Lighting Master Classes will attend Billy Joel’s sexy dance hit, Movin’ Out, which features lighting by Don Holder, on Tuesday, June 21. An in-depth discussion with Holder about the show’s lighting will follow the performance.
With a more-than-three-year run at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, Movin’ Out– with Twyla Tharp’s innovative choreography set to Billy Joel’s popular song canon–is one of the most exciting shows on Broadway. Told entirely through song and dance with no dialogue, Tharp’s narrative follows five friends from Long Island, taking them from the sunny 1960s through the inferno of Vietnam and its aftermath, finally reaching reconciliation.
The design is one of the most striking to be found on Broadway today. Santo Loquasto’s industrial setting allows singer Michael Cavanaugh and his band to roll downstage, rise in the air, and go wherever is required. Suzy Benzinger’s costumes neatly keep the audience up on the time frame. The clear sound, by Brian Ruggles and Peter J. Fitzgerald, exposes the lyrics and orchestrations with a crystalline clarity.
The real news, however, is Don Holder’s lighting, which takes a rock-concert aesthetic and translates it into theatrical terms. Holder, the Tony Award-winning lighting designer of The Lion King, creates visually stunning effects with lush color washes, stunning sidelight, constructivist collages of white beams, and scenic "wipes" courtesy of DHA Digital Light Curtains. The lighting equipment, provided by GSD, includes ETC Source Four® ellipsoidals, Martin Professional MAC 2000s, Thomas 8-light ACL units, High End Systems Technobeams®, Robert Juliat Heloise followspots, and Wybron Coloram II scrollers. Control is via an ETC Obsession® and a Vari*Lite Virtuoso™ DX console. (Read the full story about Don Holder’s lighting of Movin’ Out: http://lightingdimensions.com/mag/lighting_rock_roll/index.html .)
Holder is among the roster of leading lighting designers speaking at the 11th Broadway Lighting Master Classes (BLMC)–part of the Entertainment Design Master Classes–which takes place June 20-22 at the Tribeca Arts Center in downtown New York. Other designers on the BLMC faculty are Peggy Eisenhauer, Beverly Emmons, Vivien Leone, Brian MacDevitt, and Clifton Taylor. Tony Award-winning lighting designer Jules Fisher, BLMC creative consultant and head of faculty, will also host a panel of top scenic designers to address the issues of collaboration and convergence of design disciplines. Click here for more information.
The Entertainment Design Master Classes, a week-long exploration of the best in design and technology, also consists of the third annual Broadway Sound Master Classes, led by Abe Jacob, and the inaugural Projection Master Classes, with Wendall K. Harrington serving as faculty chair. The 13th annual EDDY Awards, to be held Wednesday, June 22, is also part of this exciting and must-attend event.
To register for the Entertainment Design Master Classes click here .