The complex, three-ring, non-stop show is a cornucopia of aerial action, with acrobatics, nine automated lifts, and a central 5.18m (17ft) diameter rotating device, all contributing to the Circus theme, and with over 100 lift cues there's not a moment to draw breath.
The concept is the work of co-lighting designers Nick Whitehouse and Bryan Leitch, with tour director Steve Dixon and show director Jamie King. Whitehouse and Dixon, together with Bryan Leitch and William Baker, make up the recently formed Road Rage production company.
Literally topping the visuals is the giant carousel-style Stealth screen, four metres high and 18.9m in diameter and made up from 990 panels. It's suspended from 11 CyberHoist CH1000 one ton intelligent variable speed motors and controlled at stage-side by programmer Arjen Hofma using XLNT's InMotion3D software running on a CyberHoist FPS Full Production System with dual Apple MacPro's.
The screen is, besides the multi-level stage itself, the show's key visual component, at times descending an exact 11.58m in 63 seconds to shroud the stage completely, with a dark red circular scrim above completing the masking-off of the central lighting rig. It was designed to fit around Madison Square Garden's centre-hung scoreboard, the largest encountered on the tour, explains Whitehouse, part of a modular, pre-rigged production that can go from load-in to show time in just 15 hours if necessary - and be out in four.
Nick Whitehouse says: "The complete screen weighs about four tons including the rigging, the custom frame that Tait Towers built for us, and the power supplies which we had integrated into the frame. That's picked up on the 11 CyberHoists and the shows starts with it dropped in over the main stage, followed by a big reveal.
"It's vital to the show that the screen moves at the right speed at the right time and we're very happy to have CyberHoist doing that. And now that there's are CyberHoist systems based in America and Asia, as well as Europe, it's great because we can just pick up motors locally wherever we go and take the USB key and the show's there."
(Jim Evans)
