War Horse's Animal Magnetism Part 4

Thanks to Adrian Sutton’s powerful score, the show “is now essentially a musical from my point of view,” says sound designer Christopher Shutt. “For Lincoln Center the two of us remade everything pretty much from scratch, enveloping the audience in sound much more than before. The rig is entirely a d&B rig from Sound Associates, running on Q Lab and using a Digico SD7 desk. These components allow a great level of clarity and definition, particularly at the high levels we have to run the war scenes at. I really like the flexibility of the DiGiCo and it really shone during the technical rehearsals. The shape of the Beaumont stage presents its own challenges, as the audiences at the sides are looking across at fellow audience members rather than the stage, so we had to take that into consideration when designing the rig. Consequently, there is a five-sided vocal rig installed. I made much more use of the rear, overhead, and side auditorium positions too, for the whistles of approaching shells, as well as distant battles and atmospheres, and to bring the audience into the centre of the battlefield at times.”

Clearly the long odyssey of War Horse from page to stage is a battle that has been won. Steven Spielberg’s film of the book opens at Christmas, but where unforgettable images are concerned the master director will be hard-pressed to capture the magic of its theatrical incarnation, which is scheduled to tour the US next season. A Toronto production will open next February as well. All of this gives a storied creative team new opportunities to saddle up and continue what Shutt calls a “rare and incredibly exciting” collaboration.

DESIGN TEAM & SELECTED CREW
Puppet Design, Fabrication, and Direction: Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler for Handspring Puppet Company
Set, Costumes, and Drawings Designer: Rae Smith
Lighting Designer: Paule Constable
Sound Designer: Christopher Shutt
Animation and Projection Designer: 59 Productions (Leo Warner, Mark Grimmer, and Lysander Ashton, video designers; Peter Stenhouse, director of animation; Zsolt Balogh, additional animation; Ben Pearcy, video programmer)
Associate Puppetry Director: Mervyn Millar
Puppetry Associate: Matt Acheson
U.S. Associate Set Designer: Frank McCullough
U.K. Associate Costume Designer: Joanna Coe
U.S. Associate Costume Designer: Sarah Laux
U.K. Associate Lighting Designer: Nick Simmons
U.S. Associate Lighting Designer: Karen Spahn
Automated Light Programmer: Victor Seastone
U.K. Associate Sound Designer: John Owens
U.S. Associate Sound Designer: Bridget O’Connor
Sound No. 1: Marc Salzberg
Sound No. 2: Adam Smollenski
Sound No. 3: Larry White

VENDORS
Scenery: Hudson Scenic Studio, Inc
Tank: Scott Fleary
Lighting: PRG
Sound and Video Equipment: Sound Associates

SELECTED GEAR
LIGHTING
6 Martin Professional MAC III Performance
27 Martin Professional TW1
18 Philips Vari-Lite VL500 Arc
5 Philips Vari-Lite VL1000AS
14 Philips Vari-Lite VL3500
6 DHA Digital Light Curtains
7 ETC Source Four Ellipsoidal 14°
42 ETC Source Four Ellipsoidal 19°
16 ETC Source Four Ellipsoidal 26°
2 ETC Source Four Ellipsoidal 10°
36 ETC Source Four PAR MFL
14 ETC Source Four PAR MFL (backstage running lights)
48 PAR 64 ACL
145 PAR 64 NSP
30 PAR 64 MFL
42 PAR 64 WFL
6 Strand Alto PC
20 Strand Alto Fresnel
14 Strand Bambino Fresnel
16 Mini-10 500W (work lights)
8 James Thomas Engineering 8 Lite Par 36 Molefay
20 ETC Revolution
4 Total Structures RSC Lightlock
3 MDG Atmosphere Haze Machine
3 Viper DMX smoke machines
3 Power Tiny smoke machines with wireless DMX
11 Look Solutions Unique 2 Hazers
11 Unique 2 Diverters Plates
8 Martin AF 1000 DMX Fans
1 24" Mole Richardson wind machine
8 Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes with Barndoors
1 96x2.4k Sensor AF dimmer racks
11 Opto Splitters
2 ETC Eos Console v1.9.1 lighting console
45 4" Wybron Coloram IT
92 10" Wybron Coloram IT
3 10" Wybron Coloram IT
16 15" Wybron Coloram IT
9 24 Channel Wybron Coloram IT Power Supply

SOUND
1 DiGiCo SD7 mixing desk (MADI option only)
2 DiGiCo DigiRacks
1 Yamaha DME64 (system processing)
4 TC Electronic M3000
1 Tascam CD-01U Pro CD player
1 Rosendahl nanoclock
2 Q-Lab Quad-Core Mac Pro system computer
1 Autograph XUSB changeover unit
1 MADI switchover
21 Sennheiser EM 3732-II dual receiver radio microphone
4 Sennheiser ASA 3000 antenna splitter
42 Sennheiser SK5212 transmitter
12 d&b audiotechnik Q7 loudspeaker/amplification
4 d&b audiotechnik Q10
8 d&b audiotechnik QSub
2 d&b audiotechnik C7 Top
2 d&b audiotechnik C4 Sub
4 d&b audiotechnik B2
26 d&b audiotechnik E8
21 d&b audiotechnik E0
16 d&b audiotechnik E6
4 d&b audiotechnik E12D
35 d&b audiotechnik T10
35 d&b audiotechnik D12 amplifiers controlled via d&b R1 software
14 d&b audiotechnik D6 amplifiers controlled via d&b R1 software
4 Meyer Sound UPM-1 c/w horizontal yoke

VIDEO
1 Catalyst media server (triggered by ETC Eos lighting console)
3 Panasonic PT-DS100X projectors
1 Matrox TripleHead2 Go external multi-head adapter