Entec Lighting is supplying full production and crew to the Virgo Productions UK theatre tour of Oh What A Night, starring Kid Creole and Nigel Roach and directed by UK choreographer Kim Gavin. Created in 1997, the show has thrilled audiences across the UK, Europe, and Australia with 36 hits from the 1970s disco craze.
The show’s production platform fuses rock ‘n roll with theatre. Since Oh What A Night is a touring production and has a minimal set, lighting is a vital visual and narrative element for the production. Entec supplied Greg Szabo as the current lighting director/operator, working alongside technician Adam Copland. Simon Tutchener designed the original lighting, which recreates the authentic retro feel of a 1970s disco–remember, life before moving lights. However the show today also needed elements of 21st century technology, so moving lights are on the kit list but rarely seen or used in the conventional way. The flashy dance numbers are lit with fast moving conventional chases and sequences.
The UK tour, with the itinerary of different sized venues and several back-to-back shows, necessitated a streamlined technical fit-up and operation. Entec’s rig consists of 12 VARI*LITE 2000s™, four washes, and eight spots for the moving light elements. As expected, there are plenty of PAR cans: 10 bars of six, plus four bars of ACLs, and some additional loose cans dotted around the stage and trussing bridge. Twenty-five ETC Source Four® profiles are used for key lighting, the majority of them with 19º lenses. Also included are eight 2K fresnels, two smoke machines, and (of course) a mirror ball.
Szabo is running the show from an Avolites Diamond 3 console, one of his favorite lighting desks and originally specified by Tutchener. Audio supplier is Wigwam, with Steve McManus mixing FOH and Nipper on monitors. The Oh What A Night tour ends the week before Christmas.
