David Finn Lights Dita Las Vegas

The contemporary Queen of Burlesque, Dita Von Teese, introduced her new burlesque  show Dita Las Vegas: A Jubilant Revue at the Jubilee Theater at Horseshoe Las Vegas. The 75-minute showcase nods to the famous revue show, Jubilee!, which ran at the same venue (formerly Bally's Las Vegas) for over three decades, and features a mix of classic and cutting-edge burlesque. Von Teese's glamorous wardrobe includes original showgirl costumes from the Jubilee! show, while the production itself touts entirely new choreography, songs and sets. “There’s not a show like this in Las Vegas,” Von Teese quipped to Vogue in October 2023. Michael Schwandt is the creative director for Dita's show.

 

Lighting designer David Finn lit the show, and takes on a tour of the design: "We initially walked into a theater that had not been upgraded in many years. The Jubilee Theater is a classic and has a storied history.  But many of the theater’s amenities had not been maintained as the theater was dark since Covid and before that an outside producer brought in a production that included much of its own gear. The lighting equipment in-house consisted mostly of very old conventional ETC Source Fours with color scrollers — most of the latter did not operate and all of which were covered in many years of dust.  The house was left with a single Clay Paky Alpha Profile, a couple of dozen HES Solaspots (none of which rendered the same color temperature at output), and some COLORado battens which were usable.  Craig Caserta at VOLT came to our rescue and put together an efficient package that could provide our show with some punch," he explains.

 

 

 "The load-in took a lot longer than expected as many challenging conditions were discovered within the theater along the way. Associate LD Alex Goldberg and I were able to find the time, in the end, to efficiently carve out fairly elaborate and distinctive designs for the 23 numbers in the show — all to timecode.  Alex is a wonderful collaborator — a fast and flexible programmer, always positive, always coming up with ideas to enhance the looks onstage.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the theater with Alex. He turned a challenging situation into a truly positive experience and we were both extremely proud of the outcome," Finn notes.

 

 

"We essentially had a mainstage and four small stages to light as the Jubilee has two revolves and two side stages— all front of house and all with their own main drapes. There are also three “Girl Drops” and two larger platforms that lower from the main ceiling in the house. Each of these can carry a performer.  We refurbished the original lighting that uplit the dancers on these platforms as well as the expanding chandelier that unfolds from the center drop," the LD continues.

 

Take a peek:

 

"We had sidelight everywhere, as this was essentially a dance show. This is my background and I relied on my modern and classical dance training to sculpt the dancers and bring depth to the stage. Alex and I opted for the Monet’s, Fuses and VLX's to provide the heavy lifting for the playing areas. The Megapointes were able to punch through and add texture, aerial content and those brilliant cylindrical beams. We built four towers of Magic Blades, two downstage and two upstage, to add structure and eye candy to the space. The GLP X4 Bar 20’s were installed around the entire front edge of the Jubilee stage and the two side revolves for classic footlight that could also swing into the house for even more iconic formations and glistening imagery. The FR10’s were placed far upstage behind the video screen and, at our discretion, we were able to lift the screen and have the units play as a rear footlight. The individual control of the cells in the FR10’s for intensity, color and zoom brings a lot of life to the stage with a minimal amount of equipment," says Finn. "Last, but not least, the NYX bulbs were lined around the full proscenium and pushed the look of each number that extra 10%. The color in the units is fantastic, deep and brilliant and the individual remote control of the units gave us endless possibilities for enhancing the music and performance."