Theatre Report - Musical theatre accounts for more than half of all box office income despite comprising just 15% of all productions staged, a report has suggested. Full findings from the British Theatre Repertoire report shows that musical theatre shows made up just 15% of all productions staged in 2013, with plays forming 72%. In total, 2,196 shows were assessed, of which 329 were musicals. The report was published by the British Theatre Consortium in conjunction with the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre.

Motown Magic - Motown the Musical is to open in the West End. The musical, which premiered on Broadway in 2013, will begin previews at the Shaftesbury Theatre in February 2016. The show had initially been planned to run at the Dominion Theatre. Featuring m

UK - Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance is one of the UK's top specialist higher education institutions delivering education in single subject - Theatre Training. The College runs an annual symposium designed to further expand the knowledge and skill sets of its students and KV2 Audio were delighted to be involved with this year's Offstage, Onstage and Beyond event.

One of the College's key aims is to expose their students to a wide range of ideas and concepts relating to the various courses offered.

KV2 Audio's involvement in the week-long symposium began with a seminar to students from the BA (Hons) Performance Sound (Live Design and Engineering) course, members of the in-house technical team as well as a selection of people with a general interest in high quality audio systems.

The 300-seat Rose Theatre hosted the seminar beginning with a presentation

Canada - There's nothing reckless about a willingness to explore, as the current Bryan Adams tour is discovering. "If there's one enduring thing with the way Jody Perpick deals with his responsibility for Bryan's front of house mix, it's his willingness to keep exploring new technologies."

Rob Nevalainen, who said this only last month, has many good reasons to celebrate Perpick's sense of adventure. "A little over a year ago my company Gearforce needed to invest in a good medium size PA system. What were the choices? There weren't too many large US audio companies close to the Canadian border, so the field was open. We first looked at the d&b audiotechnik V-Series not long after it came out. We liked it immediately for its natural sound and its great power to weight ratio." Not that he made a purchase straight away. But to understand why he eventually did, it

UK - Lighting designer Conleth White asked leading Irish technical production and rental company Just Lite to supply lighting for the Irish premier of Titanic Dance which was staged at the Millennium Forum Theatre in Derry.

The new production - due to tour in 2016 - has a narrative based around the world's most famous cruise liner, from its beginning at the famous Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Belfast, to its tragic end at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Conleth was given an open book when it came to the lighting design. He's been using Robe's Pointes frequently for lighting musicals and likes to integrate the myriad of beam options possible using these fixtures into the choreography, and this proved "A great opportunity to do the same with an Irish dance show".

For Titanic Dance, he utilised 24 Pointes, 12 600E Spots, 12 ColorWash 1200E ATs, fo

USA / Europe - Tom Kenny, production and lighting designer for the current The Who Hits 50! North American/European tour, has been designing for The Who, as well as Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey's regular solo productions, since 1990.

Kenny has used Chauvet Professional's Nexus panels on a number of his projects since the company first brought him some demo versions to try out. "I've used the Nexus products on a lot of my shows and always wanted to use them on The Who," says Kenny. "They have some very cool effects inside. They give me a great effect; they're very bright; and they can light the whole arena. They're just very powerful and they give lots of different variations."

For this tour, because it was the band's hits, Kenny wanted to go for a clean rock look. "Since I use a lot of the Nexus panels on my other projects, I knew for this design t

USA - Clear-Com will present its latest communication and connectivity tools at InfoComm 2015.

The FreeSpeak II 1.9GHz roaming wireless solution has already proven to be an exceptional wireless intercom system for large scale productions. It supports up to five separate channels per wireless beltpack, providing more expansive roaming coverage using multiple antennas. When combined with the unrivalled flexibility of the Eclipse-HX Digital Matrix Frame, the result is a wireless intercom system with connections to well over 16 partylines and the flexibility to seamlessly cover difficult buildings and remote zones.

New for InfoComm and in addition to the 1.9GHz products, FreeSpeak II can also operate in the 2.4GHz frequency band with new system components. Even though the new FreeSpeak II 2.4GHz will have a separate yet similar set of beltpacks and transceiver antennas to the 1.9G

UK - Renowned engineer David Loudoun and his company DMZ Live have an impressive list of recording credits to their names, including Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Spotify, One Direction and EMI Records. One of the company's latest projects was the recording of Celebrating Jon Lord at the Royal Albert Hall at the beginning of April, where a Bel Digital MADI monitor was deployed for ultimate confidence

Held in memory of ex-Deep Purple keyboard player Jon Lord, Celebrating Jon Lord at the Royal Albert Hall featured performances from many of his friends and band mates. The resulting album, for which DMZ Live recorded and mixed all versions, has subsequently reached number one in the Music Video charts (Blu-Ray and DVD) in four countries.

DMZ Live's high spec digital recording mobile was used for the recording stage at the Royal Albert Hall, with the premix done at the comp

UK - Verbatim has launched two lines of LED track lights for impressive accent lighting in retail, museum and gallery venues. The non-dimmable product line - consisting of four different variants - is geared towards customers looking for easy track light installation and operation at low cost. The other line - which is dimmable - features six products delivering greater lumen output, efficacy and lifetime alongside enhanced luminaire housing design features.

Suitable for accent and spotlighting, the LED track light heads provide a white colour temperature ranging from 3000K to 4000K depending on which SKU is chosen. The products come with a range of accessories, including an anti-glare snoot for the dimmable line and a honeycomb louvre for glare reduction in the non-dimmable line.

Available in three power ratings (15W, 28W and 48W), the dimmable range of track lights delivers

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UK - Miltec Distribution has appointed Greg Oliver as audio sales manager. Greg brings over 20 years of professional audio industry knowledge to Miltec, having previously worked for RCF, EAW and KV2 Audio.

"This is a great time to be coming on board at Miltec Distribution and being an integral part of the company," says Oliver. "Especially with the recent Pioneer Pro Audio announcement and the other great audio brands that Miltec Distribution has on board."

(Jim Evans)

UK - AED Distribution UK has enjoyed the intimate, lively and focused environment of PLASA Focus Leeds for the past three years and the 2015 show last week once again met the expectations of this favoured show. Spread across two separate stands, the new enlarged AED Distribution UK Team enjoyed a busy two days discussing the strong portfolio of bAV products now offered in the UK, all underpinned by the range of AED solutions.

The main stand was home to the lighting and rigging offering from AED Distribution that includes High End Systems, Prolyte, Columbus McKinnon, SRS Light Design, Swisson, AV Stumpfl, Doughty, Verlinde (Stagemaker) and MediaLas.

Prominent were the latest stage lighting luminaires from High End Systems under the LED RISING Banner, including the SolaSpot Pro 1500 with its 400w White LED engine providing a staggering 20,000 Lumens output and the Shapeshifter C

USA - For the first time since moving into a large sanctuary space a decade ago, congregants of Clinton Frame Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana are experiencing the exhilarating power of congregational singing, thanks to a new Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system.

Constellation not only restores the sense of a unified worshipping community that was present in their previous smaller church, but by engaging different presets, it also adds acoustic "life" to the spoken word and energizes both the worship team and the rest of the congregation.

Constellation gives venues the ability to modify their room acoustics at the press of a button, allowing them to host a wide range of events and provide the acoustics most appropriate for them. For houses of worship like Clinton Frame, Constellation offers the ideal sonic characteristics for congregants to feel immersed in t

UK - Four times Latin Grammy nominated producer and mixer Andy Bradfield has completed a complete upgrade of his studio in London's Parsons Green which he calls Studio A. In recent years Andy has carved a remarkable niche being the 'go to guy' for both high end pop and rock acts as well as crossover acts and movie and gaming soundtracks.

Having begun his career at the legendary Olympic and Townhouse studios, it made sense for Andy to turn to ex Olympic maintenance engineer Paul Wilkes for the installation of the upgrade.

He explained: "Paul did a great job and recommended we used Van Damme blue series cable almost exclusively because of its reliability and suppleness when running it around corners and tight turns. The studio is based around a Pro Tools HDX system with Xmon software and I use an Icon 24 mixing surface which suits me and the way I work. Originally the Icon

Poland - The Audio Engineering Society held its highly-successful 138th Audio Engineering Society Convention at the Sofitel Victoria Hotel in Warsaw, Poland, 7-10 May, 2015.

This first-ever AES Convention to be held in Poland was co-chaired by Bozena Kostek and Umberto Zanghieri, and featured a keynote address by ORF (Austrian TV) sound engineer Florian Camerer, as well as the Heyser Memorial lecture given by Genelec Chairman Dr. Ilpo Martikainen.

Other highlights included the popular Project Studio Expo stage, several unique Tech Tours of local Polish audio production facilities, and a wall-to-wall exhibition area, where attendees were given a first-hand look into the latest professional audio equipment and services from leading manufacturers.

Additionally, as part of the Tech Programme events, the Best Peer-Reviewed Paper Award was presented to Frank Schultz, Florian Strau

Spain - The Cafe Teatro La Cerdanya near Barcelona, is an exceptional restaurant, combining traditional and international cuisine, a cocktail bar and a theatre. In order to guarantee quality sound and lighting for all locations, different LD Systems, Cameo Light and Audac products were installed.

In the restaurant, accommodating about 100 people, elegant and discreet Audac ceiling speakers have been chosen to provide an elegant and subtle sound. After visiting the restaurant, guests are invited to make their way to the cocktail bar where they can round off the evening on comfortable couches, with good music and classic drinks.

To make good music sound even better, four LDEB82A loudspeakers from the Stinger series were combined with two Stinger Sub 12A G2 subwoofers. Six Cameo Flat Par Cans Tri 3W IR provide the perfect lighting. In the Private Dinner Room, audio systems from L

UK - Following the highly successful January launch of Adlib's Scottish office which is headed by Graham Cochrane, the company staged two technology based open days at the Glasgow O2 Academy live music venue, showcasing some of the latest innovations available from premium brand partners including L-Acoustics, Soundcraft, DPA Microphones and SSL.

A wide selection of industry professionals from across the installation, live, rental sectors as well as engineers and production managers came to check out the action.

Adlib Director John Hughes explained that the open days were planned in particular to focus on installation and sales potential, and how offering turnkey solutions with leading brands can have a huge impact on assisting venues in being more competitive and attracting new business. He was delighted with the response and turnout as well as the support from the manufactur

UAE - Robe continued its international trade show strategy at the Dubai International Conference & Exhibition Centre for PALME Middle East 2015, with the company presenting their largest booth to date at this show - and also the biggest booth on the show floor.

Robe's general manager for the Middle East, Elie Battah, and his team were joined by Robe International's Nathan Wan and Steve Eastham for the build period, and together they constructed the impressive stand which featured a special Lightshow, designed and programmed by Nathan.

As with other recent Robe exhibition stands, this proved a real magnet in attracting people as well as creating a great buzz and a talking point around the show floor.

Robe also partnered with three dynamic complimentary visual effect companies at PALME ME this year - LPS Lasersysteme from Germany, MagicFX from The Netherlands and fog / haze ex

Scandinavia - As a result of ongoing expansion, SGM A/S has established a new subsidiary - SGM Nordic AB. This follows the increasing demand for products, projects, service and coordination across the Nordic Region, namely Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

SGM Nordic ab is located in Gothenburg, Sweden with warehousing and central administration, but also includes branches in Norway, Finland and Denmark. Heading SGM Nordic are SGM veterans Mikael Uddh and Steen Geertsen teaming up with well-known industry specialists around the region.

Mikael Uddh explains: "Multiple projects and increased communication on dealer and designer level, including cross boarder coordination, require an organisation that has a deeper regional insight, thus improving operational matters. Therefore, we have set up SGM Nordic."

Peter Johansen, CEO o

UK - No Making Your Mind Up! was necessary for EW Productions Ltd - the business arm of charity alternative-teaching organisation, Entertainment Workshops - when they were asked to manage the production of a 30-date UK tour for 80s group and Eurovision winners, Cheryl, Jay & Mike Formerly Of Bucks Fizz.

Indeed it was a chance for recently graduated Entertainment Workshops' apprentice, Phil Smith, to exercise his potential by designing and engineering the live shows for the wide spectrum of venues throughout the tour. Under the guiding eye of MD Paul Byrne, Smith specified lighting fixtures from Prolight Concepts new eLumen8 range as, having trained previously with the units, he knew them to be compact, bright, responsive and efficient.

The specification led Prolight Concepts Ltd, who work closely with EW and also support the Entertainment Workshops charity, to supply th

Brazil - Leading Brazilian production company, Mix 2 Go, selected its modular iLive system to record the 20th anniversary concert for renowned singer, Ivete Sangalo.

"I chose iLive simply because it sounds amazing! To mix 128 live channels is not an easy task but the network options of the system are very reliable for live and broadcast work, and iLive has an awesome workflow with the capacity we need for a recording of this magnitude," explains OB engineer, Beto Neves.

The system captured 128 recording channels and 16 channels from the video recording, including both audio and video feeds. The iLive-144 surface was installed in Mix2Go's OB truck, whilst an iDR-64 and an iDR10 rack were located in the hall. iLive was complemented by Focusrite units and RTS intercoms, all connected with optical fibre

The musical director could speak from within the OB Truck directly

UK - Award-winning temporary event power provider Power Logistics has secured a three-year contract to deliver the New Forest & Hampshire County Show with a site-wide power solution for their event.

The contract includes the provision of all generators, electrical equipment, distribution boards and cabling for the show and a complete project management solution. In addition they will also be supplying lighting for around the site and within temporary structures, from tower lights to fluorescents. This is the first time that the New Forest & Hampshire County Show has used one company to provide all their requirements and Power Logistics were chosen because of their impressive track record at large scale events.

Mike Whitehouse, Power Logistics' managing director said: "Power Logistics is honoured to have been chosen to support such a long-standing and highly respected even

USA - It is not every day that families can make their way through an castle holding a spectacular mirror maze, but in Tennessee's mountain resort town of Pigeon Forge, thousands find themselves embarking on an adventure to rescue a princess in a space with more than 288 potential turns among hundreds of mirrored walls with lighting and effects installed by Bandit Lites.

With a new haunted attraction being installed on the first floor of the Castle of Chaos building at the Hollywood Wax Museum Entertainment Centre, Hannah's Maze of Mirrors moved to the second floor of the same building. Due to the complex nature of efficiently creating a maze of mirrors and since Bandit installed the lighting in the original maze, Kuvera Partners once again reached out to the Bandit Lites' system and sales solutions team for the reinstallation.

Bandit added new elements including video monitor

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