Birth Of A Nation: Colonial Lighting

The streets of New York may not have been paved with gold, but they were certainly filled with intrigue and opportunity when Alexander Hamilton, a young immigrant from the Caribbean, arrived in the American colonies in 1772. His story, which runs parallel to that of the founding of the United States of America, is the subject of the hottest show on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre this season, Hamilton, which marries history and hip-hop in an extraordinary production that celebrates the birth of a nation. With book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda—who also excels in the role of Hamilton—the musical has an all-star design team consisting of David Korins, sets; Howell Binkley, lighting; Nevin Steinberg, sound; and Paul Tazewell, costumes. Directed by Thomas Kail with innovative choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, Hamilton has brought an unrivaled sense of excitement to Broadway, with an interracial cast, contemporary forms of music, and deep roots in American heritage. Read about Korins' scenic designSteinberg's sound design, and Tazewell's costume design.

Colonial Lighting

Binkley has also worked with the writer, director, and the choreographer in the past, notably on the Tony-winning production of In The Heights. “They are very creative and very collaborative,” avers Binkley. “We layered the show, as we all wanted it to be a great collaborative team—and I stress the word team—under Tommy’s direction. We all challenged ourselves, and it was fun as well. From the beginning at The Public, the storytelling was the most important part of the show, having the stories told so they could be understood.”

To do so, Binkley started with a sepia palette before moving into a world of color. “The clothes were white on the ensemble and the men, so I wanted to keep a sepia and tungsten look for the show and have a real place to go to from there for the journey to continue, as we moved to other scenes, in terms of color and range of intensity,” he says.

Photo by Joan Marcus

Faced with the one big unit set, the lighting designer had to carve deeply into every song, treating each one as a major event. “We had a great look downtown, where there was a fixed grid at about 17' high. That was our trim height.” At the Rodgers, that went up about 9' more, so fixtures were changed within the same shape of the rig to get the power needed. Howell added 1,200W Harman Martin Viper Performance spot units and GLP Impression X4 XL wash units to the rig, in addition to Philips Vari-Lite VL3500Q Wash fixtures, ETC Revolutions, Elation Professional ELAR 108 PAR RGBWs, and Pixel Range PixelPar 90Ls, with Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlasts and ColorBlaze LED units to light the columns on the set as well as the back wall. “When the wall gets higher in the second act, we had to find some real estate for some additional lighting positions.”

The rig also comprises ETC Source Four ellipsoidals of various degrees and Altman Lighting PAR64s, used for much of the downlight and diagonals, as well as Lycian 1290 followspots. The lighting rental vendor is PRG, with an ETC EOS console for control. David Arch programmed the show both downtown and uptown. “We have done numerous shows together and have a nonspoken vocabulary, so he knows how to add in to what I’m doing,” says Binkley. “We go through the entire show before we go into the theatre, looking at what kind of fixtures we are going to try to get. He goes to rehearsals with me, as once we get into the theatre, time is of the essence, and this is a complicated show, huge numbers on many levels of the set.” Binkley’s associate designer is Ryan O’Gara.

Photo by Joan Marcus

“I gave each song a different look, as each song is a different story, and I wanted to give each one a different quality of light, different texture, and a different flavor,” Binkley adds. “The cast is often on stage watching the action, so I needed to sculpt them without taking away from the main characters. The color came from the mood of the song and the flavor of the music and the subject, rather than a motif for each character. For example, in the song ‘Hurricane,’ the palette is blue-green, turquoise, and yellow—vibrant but not always pretty, as Alexander Hamilton faces inner turmoil before he publishes his writings.”

For Binkley, the biggest challenge moving to Broadway was preserving the look of the show downtown. “It was hard to mount in the first place,” he says, “and the hardest part in the move was keeping the originality, referring to archival video from downtown to make sure we were maintaining the look even with all the additional height. We learned how to use the upper sections of the set better on Broadway.”

Binkley notes that the cueing of the show is dynamic in the way it works with the movement and sound of the show, “like a rock ‘n’ roll cueing sensibility yet with the subtleness of watching a sunset,” he says. “It’s that extreme, sometimes right in your face, sometimes very intimate, from love scenes to duels.” Binkley collaborated with Korins to successfully find real estate for lighting positions, especially for offstage booms and mounting lights under the balconies. “And the costumes were beautiful and took light so wonderfully,” the LD adds.

Photo by Joan Marcus

The hip-hop sensibility in the show is not rhythmically echoed in the lighting, but Binkley developed a style for its feel in the looks and tableaux on stage. “We each tried to figure out a style to work with that,” he says. In the ballroom scene, where the action rewinds and happens again, Binkley allows the light to evaporate into nothing, with just sidelight with nothing on the floor, then rebounding from there as the scene continues.

Regarding color-blending the LEDs and other sources, “that comes with a terrific programmer,” compliments Binkley. “We can burn through with an arc source when we need to, but David is a master of keeping a blended look on stage. It all blends seamlessly. We wanted to capture the movement and the choreography and highlight the storytelling with the lighting to enhance the story and the words. The lighting is very layered; you see something different every time you see it.” Howell’s sepia tones add to the historical, candlelit quality of the colonial period.

Lighting Gear List

Lighting Vendor: PRG
  • 1 ETC Eos Console
  • 3 ETC 96 X 2.4kw Touring Dimmer Rack
  • 16 Doug Fleenor 5-Way Opto-Splitter  
  • 10 Pathport Via12 Ethernet Switch
  • 2 City Theatrical 8-way DMX A/B Switch
  • 2 City Theatrical SHoW DMX Neo Transmitter
  • 4 City Theatrical SHoW DMX Neo Receiver
  • 6 City Theatrical SHoW DMX Neo D3 Dimmer
  • 6 City Theatrical SHoW DMX Neo D4 Dimmer
  • 35 Harman Martin Viper Performance 1200W
  • 7 Philips Vari-Lite VL3500Q Wash FX   
  • 26 GLP Impression X4 XL
  • 7 ETC Source Four Revolution with Iris Module
  • 56 Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12 TR
  • 5 Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlaze 48 TR4
  • 9 Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlaze 72 TR4
  • 12 Elation Professional ELAR 108 LED PAR  
  • 26 Pixel Range PixelPAR 90
  • 27 ETC Source Four 14º
  • 78 ETC Source Four 19º
  • 140 ETC Source Four 26º 
  • 58 ETC Source Four 36º 
  • 34 ETC Source Four 50º 
  • 22 ETC Source Four 70º 
  • 44 ETC Source Four PAR VNSP
  • 52 Altman Lighting Par 64 VNSP, 1000W
  • 13 MR-16 Birdie VNSP
  • 6 MR-16 Birdie WFL
  • 13 GAM Stickup
  • 8 Altman Lighting Mini-10 1kW Worklight
  • 10 Altman Lighting Mini-10 300W Worklight
  • 3 Lycian 1290 Followspot 
  • 3 MDG Hazer Atmosphere with DMX Control and CO2 Regulator
  • 26 City Theatrical Concentric Rings For GLP X4 XL 
  • 6 City Theatrical Safer Side Arms