When ‘The World of Snoopy’ took to the stage last summer at Theatre Aspen, the design team had a challenge: find a way to create wireless illuminated boxes and an LED doghouse that didn’t wash out on stage. “The original design concept all came from the idea of the Peanut squares; cartoons exist in these little squares that you read across, so the background was a series of squares that would light up. they just weren’t bright enough as far as we were concerned,” explains Lighting Designer Paul Black.
‘The World of Snoopy’ was comprised of 20 different vignettes that played out in two acts. “It introduced all of the regular Peanuts characters, and like the Peanuts strip, it had little sections that were lifted from the original cartoon. There wasn’t a plot line; the only consistent theme was Snoopy. There was Snoopy’s Red Baron moment, Snoopy’s writing moment, and then you’d cut to various things, like Sally at school, there were Charlie Brown and Lucy as a psychologist; it had all of those classic Peanuts moments,” says Black.
Each Peanuts character had a box and an assigned color; however, when a box left a character, it would change color. Black explains: “The characters started the show standing on top of their box; they’d get a special on their face and their spots; after that, all bets were off. For example, when Linus did his song about the Great Pumpkin, all of the boxes were piled around Linus, and we lit them orange, so they all looked like pumpkins.” In another scene, Woodstock t made a nest out of several boxes, and they turned yellow. “It was a two-hour show, so it was important that they could last two hours and be lit, but had also had to be bright enough, because it’s a cartoon. It couldn’t be dark and moody lighting, it had to be really bright,” Black adds.
The RC4 DMX4dim was key to making the boxes work. “When the set and props arrived at Theater Aspen – it originally started at Texas State – it was sort of dim. We rebuilt the LED cores and RC4 products were the dimming solution,” says Black.
Lighting Supervisor Colin Riebel used some technical magic to make the boxes stage ready. “The cores are something that I’ve seen done a lot with RC4 gear—you’re wrapping LED tape over a PVC center and putting the battery and the RC4 unit inside all of that. Colin was able to maximize that tape and the RC4 dimmer to get the blocks to actually be bright enough to see them,” Black adds.
There were six boxes that used during the show. “Each box had either a 10” or 12” PVC pipe that was wrapped with standard 12 volt RGB LED tape, and that went into the RC4 DMX4dim unit. Underneath that was an end cap for a drainage pipe; that’s what I secured the battery to; the DMX4dim sat on top of the battery with a power switch and a charging port. That whole assembly then got bolted to the bottom of the interior of the box, so the assembly would not move at all. So the performers were able to pick the boxes up, flip them upside down, put them where they needed them to, and the core stayed in the center,” explains Riebel.
The boxes were actually a magical part of the production. Riebel says: “While we’ve done stuff with LEDs before, there was a lot more magic in how they were used; it was a very tactile thing. Every time a performer moved or touched a box, it would change to a different color” Black adds, “This was a fun use of RC4 units because of all of the color changing and to use it in an interactive kind of way; the interplay of color helped tell the story, which then helped her tell the story of this new musical.”
There were a total of six RC4Magic Series 3 SX DMX4dims used for the boxes; however, the boxes weren’t the only pieces to use the RC4 equipment. “The doghouse was made out of the same Plexiglas as the boxes; it got pushed all over the place and it also had to light up. It only lit red, and it was really dim when it arrived,” notes Black.
Riebel explains what he did to make Snoopy’s doghouse pop: “The big problem was that it was red and needed to be bright enough to be seen with all the stage lights on and be on the entire time. We lined it with 15 meters of red LED tape, and then split up over four channels on one RC4 DMX4dim dimmer. I had two big motorcycle batteries inside the doghouse powering it all, so we were able to run it for the entire show. Inside Snoopy’s doghouse; we built a little wooden box that hid the two batteries, and the dimmer. It also had a power switch and a charge port. So it was a self-contained unit that was built for the interior of the doghouse.”
The budget was also a consideration for the projection. “When we started talking about this project, we knew about RC4 and we had the RC4 solution that I was able to say ‘Yes, definitely, we can do this. Let’s go down this road. We can make this happen,’ and that was really exciting. It’s always nice to say ‘yes, we can do this.’ If we had to do this using City Theatrical equipment, we couldn’t have done it because we couldn’t afford it; it also would have been too heavy and too big,” notes Black.
Both Black and Riebel are longtime RC4 users. “I love RC4 equipment. It’s one of my favorite things to work with, especially for these type of projects. I love working with LEDs, and the RC4 products are easy to use with them. I’m a huge fan and proponent of RC4,” says Riebel. Black adds, “We love RC4 units; we put it on lots of shows, we recommend them and tell our theaters to purchase them.”
‘The World of Snoopy,’ which is licensed by the estate of Charles Schultz, has been performed in three different theaters. “They want to send it out on tour; if they do, there will be even more RC4 Wireless gear on it,” Black concludes.
Tony Kushner’s epic two-part drama Angels in America was first seen at Britain’s National Theatre back in 1992. Now to celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary, the plays have returned to the National, in a new production directed by Marianne Elliott and with lighting by Paule Constable (a duo whose previous collaborations have included War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), alongside scenic design by Ian MacNeil and costume design by Nicky Gillibrand, whose work together has included Billy Elliot.
From the earliest model showings Laurie Clayton, the lighting supervisor for the National’s Lyttelton Theatre where the show was to be performed, knew that it would present a number of challenges. In particular, there was a desire to include lighting in elements of scenery carried on the show’s three revolves plus separate rim revolve yet there was no depth in those revolves to incorporate slip rings to power that lighting. And there were many practicals that would either travel on stage as part of moving scenery or be carried on stage by the cast and set on the revolves or other areas of the set, which spread across every inch of the Lyttelton’s stage and beyond.
But Clayton already knew the solution to these challenges: RC4 wireless dimming. And not only did he know the solution, but he had quite a stock of RC4 products already available in-house to implement that solution.
“I think the first time we used RC4 products was on One Man, Two Guvnors back in 2011, when we bought one transmitter and six two-way dimmer modules. We used the same set-up on the tour, and they worked flawlessly,” he explains. “Since then we’ve added to our stock as we’ve needed to for productions such as Curious Incident and Great Britain, so we have a pretty good stock of RC4’s products in-house now. But the demands for Angels in America were so great that even with that stock, we had to do some shopping, adding a further ten dimmer modules of various types.” The additional units were quickly delivered by RC4’s UK distributor, Lamp & Pencil.
Angels in America’s RC4 kit list features 10 RC4Magic DMX4dim four-way dimmer modules, two RC4Magic DMX4dim-500 high-capacity dimmer modules, and 20 RC4Magic DMX2dim two-way dimmer modules. Some are mounted to scenery, some hidden in stand-alone furniture, and some concealed in individual practical light fittings: as well as a good stock of RC4 dimmer modules, the National also has a healthy stock of batteries and battery chargers to power everything. During the tech period, the National’s lighting team found good LED substitutes for the tungsten lamps originally fitted in some of these practicals, which presented no problems to the RC4 dimmers and dramatically extended the working life of the batteries. “Plus the RC4s great control of LEDs meant we had no problems at all when the TV cameras came in for the NT Live world-wide broadcast of the shows,” Laurie Clayton notes. He also comments particularly on the compact dimensions of the RC4 units, which lets them be hidden away in even the smallest of props or tightest of spaces: “no-one else makes anything as small.”
All of the receivers are fed by one RC4Magic DMXio transmitter, mounted behind the proscenium on one side of the stage. “The signal from that gets everywhere; we have had no problems at all with coverage, which is pretty impressive given that we’re using the full width and depth not just of the stage but of the scene docks behind and next to the stage!” However, the RC4 system’s unique ID ensures that there is no chance of interference with RC4 systems in use in the National’s other two auditoria.
While most of the RC4 units are used very traditionally, as wireless dimmers, one is used for a more complex effect: a telephone switchboard has a Raspberry Pi computer hidden inside to detect which buttons on it are pushed by the actor. This information is transmitted via WiFi to the sound control computer to trigger the relevant sound effect; the sound desk then triggers the ETC Gio lighting console via the OSC protocol, which then turns on the appropriate light in the switchboard via RC4 dimmers.
Though Angels in America is now approaching the end of its National Theatre run, the National’s RC4 stock will be kept busy with uses already lined up on the company’s next two productions. “They’re a great product,” Laurie Clayton notes, “tiny, versatile, reliable, do just what they promise, and with great support from the manufacturer and their distributor here on the odd occasion when something does go wrong or, more likely, when you need to make the dimmers do something no-one’s ever made them do before.”
Girlstar, which closed in mid-November at the Signature Theater of Arlington, Virginia is a modern fairy tale described as “The Voice meets Maleficent.” Anton Dudley wrote the book and lyrics, while the lighting design was provided by Jason Lyons. The production was one of the largest that has ever played the theater. A crucial part of the magic that made Girlstar a hit was possible because of RC4 Wireless of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Creating the magic that was entwined throughout the production was a challenge. Lyons explains, “The craziest and most fun trick came from the sorceress- legendary record producer Daniella Espere (actress Donna Migliaccio). Her hands needed to glow green several times throughout the show as she was working her spells and then at the end of the play fade to red as her power starts to wane.”
The Signature’s head electrician, Sarah LaRue, was charged with creating that effect. LaRue asks, “How do you make hands light up? We went back and forth– is it going to be a prop, is it going to be a costume or is it electrics? What is it?”
At first, LaRue looked at LED gloves; they didn’t work at all. So she began the process of research, and found an unexpected solution: LED headlights for cars and motorcycles. “They come in a bunch of different diameters; we measured the actors hand to determine what size to get; we basically used this car headlight as a bracelet and sewed it inside her costume,” she explains. The solution was perfect, and was used in several of Migliaccio’s costumes. “For the final scene– we called it the nightmare scene–she had two colors in there, a green and a red. They turned green, then red and then they went back to green during her demonic transformation,” LaRue notes. The headlight was also used for Uncle Derek (actor Bobby Smith) “when his heart had to pulse red as the magic was taking hold,” explains Lyons.
Then there was the Jar of Souls– filled with Galaxy Goo and an LED headlight– that descended from the air. “We wanted to keep it as light and seemingly floating, so it flew in on the thinnest of aircraft cable. But we were able to get a battery and an RC4 unit into the base that allowed the Jar to glow from within,” notes Lyon.
The RC4 units that controlled the Jar of Souls and the headlights used for Migliaccio and Smith were DMX2dims. “The RC4 DMX2dim is very small, and it’s extremely reliable. We wanted it to light up every time it’s used, and it did,” LaRue states. The DMX2dim is a two channel, 16 amp dimmer that features RC4 OneTouch for quick and simple assignment of DMX channels and dimmer curves. RC4 Digital Persistence is also part of the DMX2dim, with basic options controlled via OneTouch. “RC4’s Digital Persistence makes those LED headlights respond like traditional halogen headlights, with very smooth dimming and a natural fade-out when turned off, explains James D. Smith, President and Chief Product Developer at RC4 Wireless.
The DMX2dim could also be found in a prop guitar. LaRue notes, “I drilled holes right below the bridge and ran six individual lengths of EL wire from inside the guitar and then up to the pins, stringing it like normal guitar strings. Inside the guitar there was a splitter and an inverter for the EL wire which connected to the DMX2dim pack.” There was also an automated Plexiglas stage that used RGBW tape which was controlled via two RC4 DMX2dim units.
LaRue has been a long time user of the RC4Magic DMX2dim. “The first time I needed some sort of wireless control was for Witches of Eastwick; we needed a fake fireplace to light up and come on stage. At the time, the other wireless dimmers on the market were really large and bulky, and I was looking for something smaller,” she says. LaRue has been using original RC4Magic DMX2dim wireless dimmers at the Signature since 2007; the theater has also purchased a handful of newer models, along with two new units on loan from Ford’s Theatre. Smith notes, “Our original RC4Magic dimmers, released in late 2006, provided simple, bare-bones, work-horse features. It was a rock-solid wireless dimmer with linear and inverse-square-law dimmer curves and 14-bit resolution at the power outputs. That resolution made LEDs look pretty good, but it would be a few years before high-frequency 16-bit resolution eliminated visible stepping almost entirely. The extended features and performance introduced in RC4Magic Series 3 — a PLASA London Award for Innovation winner in 2014 — are astonishing in comparison to where this journey began. It’s the equivalent of moving from a flip-phone to a smartphone.”
Lyons found RC4 a few years later on Saved at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre in 2010. He needed a pregnancy test to light up on cue each and every night. “We needed something bright enough to be seen, but small enough to be wirelessly controlled in the palm of her hand. With RC4’s equipment [specifically the Series 2 DMX4dim], we were able to create a rather incredible and effective moment with something so small and powerful, that allowed us to hit that perfect moment onstage every night to help tell the story. There was nothing else that could have done that- we were able to make something so small a powerful wireless controllable light. It kind of blew my mind because up to that point I did not think something like that was possible,” Lyons admits.
When asked if she’d recommend RC4 and their products, LaRue replies with a hearty, “Yes. First and foremost, the customer service is always phenomenal- I can ask them any questions, big or small, and they’ll always have an answer for me in a timely manner.”
Lyons has a very similar answer. “I know when I have an idea or an issue that I can call RC4 to get info and solutions that help me get my work done every day. Not all shows are the same and not every wireless moment is the same, and it’s so helpful to have such a range of gear to choose from to allow us to dream up new ideas and new ways of creating theatre magic. Sometimes having these kinds of moments on a show can be daunting or worrisome, but I’m always happy to have RC4 products on a show as the experiences I’ve had with them give me the confidence to know these will be solid and effective effects.”
Girlstar ended their run at the Signature Theater on the 15th of November 2015.
From the opening of George and Ira Gershwin’s timeless score for An American in Paris through to the final note, the RC4WirelessRC4Magic Series 3 wireless DMX and Dimming System plays a leading role in free-flowing seamless moves from one enchanting scene to another. With some of the world’s finest ballet dancers telling this classic tale, there simply is no place for power cables to run across any part of this stage.
Originally produced in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet, the show’s RC4Wireless gear was supplied by AVAB Transtechnik France. Production Electrician Michael Pitzer explains the extensive gear list in the show. “We are using a RC4Magic DMXio transceiver as the transmitter, four more DMXio receivers, ten RC4Magic DMX2dim 2-channel dimmers, four RC4Magic DMX4dim 4-channel dimmers, and eight RC4Magic DMX4dim-500 high-power 4-channel dimmers. They control a variety of sources, from single lamp sconces and cabaret table lights to multiple circuits of birdies on the Baurel Stage. In the Morris Columns and Shop Counters they are driving several circuits of incandescent lamps and sending DMX out to LED fixtures.” All 22 scenic and prop pieces are controlled using RC4Magic devices. The overall aesthetic of the show is markedly enhanced by this untethered approach, helping realize Natasha Katz, Bob Crowley and Christopher Wheeldon’s beautiful vision.
Having previously used RC4Magic systems in a number of productions, including Once and On The Town, Mr. Pitzer was confident that the show would arrive fit and ready for installation in the Palace Theatre in the heart of Times Square. Only the RC4Magic system supplies unique digital IDs to every customer and project. This means nobody has to go to the theatre next door or across the street, asking if they already use RC4Magic and try to determine what ID they are using. EveryRC4Magic customer and project is unique and will never interfere with any other, worldwide.
The RC4Magic Series 3 system has taken the world by storm since its release at PLASA London in 2014, where it received the PLASA Award for Innovation. That was followed by an Honorable Mention at the LDI New Product Awards.
About RC4 Wireless
Winner of the 2014 PLASA Award for Innovation, RC4 Wireless has specialized in low-voltage dimming for arts and entertainment since 1991. RC4 products are used in top venues around the world, including New York City’s Radio City Music Hall and London’s National Theatre, and supporting touring artists including Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. RC4 products are recognized for their reliability and their compact size, making them ideal for easy integration into props, costumes, and set pieces.
Palace Theatre opened in 1913 and became one of the world’s most famous vaudeville movie house—until its demise in the 1930s. In 1965 the Nederlanders purchased and renovated the theater, which became legitimate in 1966 with the opening of Sweet Charity.
After further renovations, the theater was transformed in 1994 as it housed Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and later Aida.
This is the year that iconic crooner Frank Sinatra would have celebrated his 100th birthday, and to mark that milestone, Sinatra – via 3D rotoscoped imagery and never before seen video – is on stage once again at the London Palladium, starring in Sinatra: The Man & His Music. The sleek, cutting edge production, mounted by Producer Karl Sydow, takes place 65 years after Sinatra played his first gig outside the United States. Sydow explains, “Sinatra: The Man & His Music is the official celebration for the centenary of Frank Sinatra’s birth, and we’ve brought some of the biggest names in the industry together to do it justice. A show of this magnitude requires the best in the business.” Those biggest names in the business include Set Designer Ray Winkler of Stufish Entertainment Architects, Lighting Designer Patrick Woodroffe of Woodroffe Bassett Design, Projection Designer Leo Warner of 59 Productions and a 24 piece orchestra headed up by conductor Richards John.
As one would expect, the production is projection heavy, relying on images and vocals from Sinatra’s colored past. The songs featured in the production include ‘Come Fly With Me,’ ‘Fly Me to the Moon,’ ’New York, New York’ and ‘My Way, ’among others. The set features an impressive band stand with two moving sets of stairs; there is also an area below the band stand that’s comprised of 18 rotating LED panels that are 6’ 5” high by 3’ wide. The back of the LED panels utilize blue velvet with LED strip lighting; six of the center panels can move on and offstage, allowing entrances and exits of performers and set pieces.
The production itself had a rather accelerated production schedule. Sinatra: The Man & His Music Senior Production Electrician Harrison Cooke explains, “We didn’t have a lot of time; pre-production was only four weeks and typically for the West End it could be months.” Pre-production was done at the LH2 rehearsal facility in London.
Lighting is tastefully integrated into the scenery – specifically in two sets of stairs and a curved deck piece. Because these are moving pieces, there was a need for reliable wireless DMX for lighting control. Cooke says, “It’s certainly the biggest wireless system I’ve ever come across and normally we would have a dedicated technician to look after the wireless equipment. In our instance, we didn’t.”
The original wireless DMX that was specified for the show had significant issues. “The only thing that we had to spend a lot of time dealing with was the wireless system,” admits Cooke with chagrin. Those issues seemed to relate to a firmware issue within their transmitters. “We were the first in the UK to have their new transmitters, and it was going to take them three weeks to fix it,” Cooke reports.
Time was the major challenge. Cooke adds, “I didn’t feel like they [the original wireless vendor] were particularly interested in our project. I told them that I have a big lighting designer behind me, and the production won’t accept anything but the system working. And neither will I.” Stresses were high.
Since waiting weeks for a workable, reliable system wasn’t in the cards for Cooke, he turned to Technical Performance and Presentation, the London-based representative for RC4 Wireless and the firm’s owner, Beverly Grover. He says, “We didn’t try any other systems; we simply didn’t have the time. I’ve used RC4 before; you plug it in and it works.” That kind of reliability was exactly what Cooke and his team needed for Sinatra.
It was June 18th when Grover came out to the LH2 with a pair of RC4Magic Series 3 DMXio transceivers for the staircase unit. They did a simple side by side test. She notes, “We put the RC4Magic receiver on the stage right side, and we left the stage left as it was; then we switched them back on and the difference was quite remarkable.” The original unit was still non-functional, while the RC4Magic DMXio receiver worked perfectly with a solid connection to its associated DMXio transmitter. Cooke notes, “I said, ‘That’s it then.’ So we got the RC4 system.”
Grover has been working with RC4 Wireless for five years. “I went up with the completed order on the 6th of July and we put part of it in, tested it, and again it worked the first time and it’s working to this day.” The show opened on the 10th of July.
There are several RC4 products that comprise the Sinatra wireless DMX and dimming system. The production has four RC4Magic Series 3 DMXio receivers that deliver DMX data to the lighting on the two sets of stairs – the main performance stairs and the rolling stairs – and on the curved deck piece that enters when the center LED panels open. James D. Smith, President and Chief Product Developer at RC4 Wireless explains, “More and more, modern musicals have no room for blackouts. Directors are thinking cinematically and want the show to be tight with quick changes. Scenery, furniture, and props rush on an off with the fluidity of film edits and dissolves. In the past, a crew member could run a cable out to a floor pocket and connect the odd set piece equipped with on-board lighting. Now there is no time for that — and no room, either, because many more set pieces have lighting in them.” Wireless products have solved the dilemma.
The RC4Magic Series 3 DMXio can receive – and transmit – a full universe of DMX data. Any number of receivers can be used in the system, replacing splitters and distribution boxes. RC4Magic avoids RF channel hopping, and consequently avoids competing with most other devices using the 2.4GHz band. “Unlike other products on the market, RC4Magic uses only 1/15th of the 2.4GHz spectrum. Rather than hopping through, over, and into other systems in the room, we play well with them. RC4 systems are ideal for use in congested areas with many theatres right next to each other, as is the case in London’s West End,” notes Smith.
The back of 16 of the rotating LED panels are using new RC4Magic Series 3 DMXmrx miniature DMX receivers, which the firm created for Sinatra: The Man & His Music. Cooke notes, “In the soffit panels there’s lots of LED strips, and there was in issue with the amount of cable that could be run to them. The easiest thing for video, lighting and power, was to remove the DMX and do that wirelessly.”
So the engineers at RC4 got work, and created the miniature DMXmrx receiver. Smith explains, “Creating new products for customers is something we do regularly — pretty much whenever the need arises; in fact, every product and feature in our RC4Magic Series 3 line-up was requested by a customer. Sinatra needed small and reliable wireless DMX receivers, easily connected to batteries. The ideal solution was a product much like our Series 3 DMX2dim, which includes DMX data output, but without the dimmers. In this case we had the concept, the basic outline of what a DMXmrx should be, on our to-do list before Sinatra came along. The immediate need just moved it to the front of the line and we were able to deliver it — a brand new product — in a matter of days.”
RC4Magic Series 3 DMXmrx miniature DMX receivers are indeed small – 2.40″ x 1.41″ x 0.79”. The receiver DMX data output replicates the DMX data input at the RC4Magic DMXio transmitter, providing the same number of DMX channels and the same number of packets per second with excellent data integrity. It’s output can drive more than the DMX specification limit of 32 devices downstream, and, as expected, the DMX output meets USITT DMX512/1990. “We knew that space was an issue in this installation, so we offered them the choice of standard RC4Magic Series 3 DMXio receivers or new DMXmrx receivers. They chose the DMXmrx because it provided a shorter installation time and we were able to deliver it at a lower price than our standard DMXio. That’s right – it was a brand new product, less expensive that the previously existing option, and available in the same time frame. When does that ever happen?” Smith asks with a smile.
To ensure good signal propagation throughout the theatre, the wireless transmitters installed for Sinatra: The Man and His Music are two high-gain RC4Magic Series 3 DMXio-HG units; Sinatra: The Man & His Music is running two full universes of wireless DMX. “Our Series 3 DMXio-HG is the most versatile RC4Magic Wireless DMX transceiver. It can operate as a transmitter or receiver, has an RF connector for use with a wide range of external antenna options, automatically scans the RF environment to find a clear channel with the least interference, and provides unmatched system security with RC4 private digital IDs,” Smith notes.
Things have been running smoothly for Cooke and his team at the Palladium with Sinatra: The Man and His Music. “I don’t particularly feel that you should have to employ someone who is a specialist in wireless DMX to put a system in and operate it; it shouldn’t have to be that complicated. The RC4 Wireless system has been brilliant for us,” Cooke concludes.
Sinatra: The Man and His Music is playing at the Palladium until the 10th of October.
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