Research for Cinderella- Glee Style

The preliminary (i.e. subject to change) song list for the Gooseberry Park Players production of Cinderella^4 has been released.  It includes music ranging from More Than Words by Extreme to You're My Best Friend by Queen to Today Was a Fairytale by Taylor Swift.  It wouldn't be complete without some Ke$ha We R Who We R.  Since the show breaks into fully produced performances of pop songs, much like in Glee, I have the challenge of lighting a wide variety of styles of music.  I'm starting out by collecting photos of what the original tours actually looked like.  Katy Perry, for example, has strips of vanity light bulbs in one of her tours.  Michael Buble has florescent lights in different colors hanging vertically over the stage.  Queen, of course, has a wall of PAR cans behind them.  Now to try to figure out which ideas to incorporate and which ideas to scrap.  More on that later....

Medea (Unrealized Design)

WYSIWYG Rendering for Medea.

WYSIWYG R26

I had to drive to North Mankato for a package today, but I'm not complaining.  I have been using a student version of WYSIWYG Report R21 for the past few years now, but I couldn't do any rendering and finally my license expired.  Today in the mail, I received my dongle and CD of WYSIWYG Design R26:

ETC Source Four Fresnel

I know, I know... Fresnels are outdated, clunky, inefficient, and whatnot.  But, deep down inside, you have to admit they still hold a place in your heart.  Which is why we still are using 30-40 year old fixtures alongside brand new Source Fours.  USHIO had made some progress in modernizing the Fresnel by introducing a lamp that mimicked the intensity and color temperature of the HPL, but today a fresh breath of life has been breathed into the Fresnel.  ETC announced that they are introducing the Source Four Fresnel, which will use the HPL lamp and a modernized glass version of the old Fresnel reflector.  On ETC's promotional material for the fixture it states "Your lighting rig is now complete."  I agree, no rig is complete without a few Fresnels.  I don't know how long it will be before I see one of these, but I'm excited that they're finally available.

Frozen Sound Design

The major sound effect in Frozen is the sound of ice cracking.  As I'm researching it, I am pondering how to make this sound read to the audience like ice cracking.  Take a listen.  To me it sounds like Star Wars without the visual, but it is an actual field recording of ice by Andreas Bick, a German Composer and Soundartist.



Frozen, part of the studio season at Minnesota State University, Mankato, will be my second realized sound design.  More posts will follow the show!

Jim Cermak retiring in May 2012 after 40 years.

It was just announced that Jim Cermak, Director of Theatre at Concordia College, is retiring in May 2012 after 40 years in his position at Concordia College.  I have had the pleasure of working with Jim on three shows so far (Pinafore Pirates, Godspell, and A Dzsungle Könyve), and I look forward to working with Jim again this summer for Gooseberry Park Players production of Cinderella x4.  Jim has been a great mentor and educator, and I'm sure I speak for everyone that he will be sorely missed in the Concordia Theatre Department and wish him the best in his retirement.

Photos Featured on JimOnLight's blog

Check out JimOnLight's Sunday JimOnLight.com Flickr Group Photo Pool post from this week.  It features a photo from Gooseberry Park Players' A Dzsungel Könyve and Concordia College's Godspell, along with some great photos from other contributers to the pool.  Check it out!