Renowned lighting designers Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer used seven Selecon Pacific MSR Zoomspots with Pacific Dowsers to light Chita Rivera’s Broadway dance spectacular, Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, which opened in December 2005, at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. The musical ¬¬celebrates Rivera’s 50-year career on the stage with her legendary Broadway performances, from West Side Story to Chicago to Kiss of the Spider Woman and offers its audience a rare look at a time when great musical numbers in the theatre were born.
Paramount in any lighting design that involves dance is the side/boom lighting that enhances the audience’s ability to see the intricate steps and body movements that a dancer is performing, which is why Fisher and Eisenhauer chose the small Selecon wide-angle Pacific zoomspots to deliver the optimum high output with the control required for low sidelight. "The (7) Pacific 23º-50º MSR 575-HR Zoomspots fitted with Pacific Dowsers worked perfectly as low sidelights for Chita Rivera, The Dancer’s Life,” says Fisher. “A unit located in each wing provided the modelling light for the dancer’s legs and torso, which is so valuable to dance. It gave us the power of an automated fixture, without the bulk, allowing us to mount it close to the floor. The wide zoom range allowed us to tailor the beam spread for each shot. It made a great contribution to our show."
Fisher and Eisenhauer are on the faculty for the 2006 Broadway Lighting Master Classes (BLMC), which will be held Monday, May 22 through Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at NYU’s Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The designers will discuss their Broadway lighting process in detail at the classes. Produced by Live Design magazine in conjunction with the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, the 12th annual BLMC represents in-depth professional training in lighting, with sessions by the top visual designers. For more information, click here.