With an evocative and transformational set design by Es Devlin and direction by Rupert Gold, the Broadway production of American Psycho at Schoenfled Theatre brings together the lighting, video, and sound designers Justin Townsend, Finn Ross, and Dan Moses Schreier, respectively. Devlin’s set is, essentially, a white cube on stage, which seems to conjure the pristine, superficial world of protagonist Patrick Bateman, but it also forms a palette on which her collaborators can paint the disintegration of that veneer. Read about the projection design and the lighting design.
Schreier was brought on board by composer Duncan Sheik, having also worked together on Sheik’s new musical Because Of Winn Dixie. Schreier’s early process was driven by Sheik’s music, because it is “so specific to a time and a place that it was very important to design the right system to make that part of the music come to life.”
Like the video process, it became much more collaborative for Schreier once the production moved into the theatre. In an unusual move, “most of the music for the show is being performed live off of two laptop computers using Ableton Live,” says Schreier, adding that the collaboration between the sound and music departments was crucial.“Working closely with David Shrubsole, the music supervisor, became extremely important and a true pleasure,” says Schreier. “There has been a constant discussion, whether changes to the music happen at the sound console, with the sound department, or in the Ableton software via the music department. Depending on what was going on at a particular moment in the music or at a particular moment in the show, a decision was determined between the two departments. This was very important to make the show sound fantastic.”
For Schreier, technology was closely tied to the language and aesthetics of the production. “The level of technological complexity was unusually high in the show,” he says. “This was directly tied to the vocabulary of the music being 1980s synth pop or techno.”
The sound gear consists of a DiGiCo SD7T Digital Mixing Console with a theatre software package, with a loudspeaker system comprising d&b audiotechnik speakers and subwoofers and additional Meyer Sound, Genelec, and Anchor speakers. Various amps are all from d&b audiotechnik, and mics are a combination of units from Avalon, Radial Engineering, Schoeps, Sennheiser, and Shure, with wireless mics all from Sennheiser, primarily SK 5212-IIs. Intercoms are from Clear-Com and Riedel. Processing is done via various rack units from XTA Electronics, TC Electronic, Meyer Sound, and Lexicon.
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