There is a lot of buzz on Broadway this season about Spring Awakening, the off-Broadway success story that moved to the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in December 2006. Jules Fisher, creative consultant for the BLMC, has selected Spring Awakening—with lighting by Kevin Adams— as the Broadway musical that the BLMC attendees will see on Wednesday evening, May 16.
The lighting rig for Spring Awakening includes Vari*Lite® VL1000TI™ automated luminaires and a Strand 550I lighting control console. “While we were moving the production from Off Broadway, I basically took the same lighting plot, and then added in the VL1000 fixtures,” says Adams. “I really like how the tungsten source from the VL1000 shines on faces.”
Adams describes Spring Awakening as “two shows going on within the same production. The first is the ‘book play’, which is set in the year 1891. It is a classical play in all aspects with lots of white light and no true lighting effects. Noise levels are crucial as the production takes on a quiet, more somber feel. I was very happy with how quiet the luminaires were.”
The second portion of Spring Awakening is a contemporary musical of rock/pop songs. “For this, I used a more focused and colorful lighting design, and I was thrilled with all the colors I could get out of the VL1000 fixtures,” Adams states.
“About Kevin Adams’ lighting, with its arresting mix of hanging bulbs, shafts of light, and arrays of neon tubing in the set and around the theater—there are almost no words, except to say that no one does this kind of work better than this LD, who has continually impressed me since I saw the equally evocative Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” says Live Design contributing writer Robert Cashill. “This is bravura showmanship, subtle and riveting, and the vibrant, sexy, impassioned, and touching Spring Awakening is inconceivable without it."
The complete lighting and sound package for Spring Awakening was provided by Hudson Sound and Light.
For additional information and online registration for the BLMC (lighting), BSMC (sound), and BPMS (projection) Master Classes:
livedesignonline.com/broadwaymasterclasses/