Although a new name to the concert touring market, SW19 Production's team is packed with familiar faces and its involvement in the Glassheart tour was the result of close associations with key members of Leona's team.
"I'd worked with creative director Emma Bull and musical director Steve Anderson on Kylie Minogue tours, and with Leona's Front of House engineer Dave Wooster on many occasions," explains SW19 production manager Kevin Hopgood. "Leona had also changed management companies immediately before the tour and they were open to a change and a fresh eye on things."
With only a three-week lead-time, SW19 delivered a production, which included some interesting creative concepts, both on time and on budget.
"Lighting designer Paul Normandale and Emma came up with some great ideas," says Hopgood. "The set looked classy, but was technically relatively simple, which was a benefit with such a short time frame."
"Although there were some specialist bits included, we didn't have to manufacture big items," adds SW19's Lisa Santos Hannan. "That worked in our favour. And with Mike Clegg on board to run the tour on the road, we knew things would be in safe hands."
"At the outset, we're given a fairly artistic brief and we turn that into something we can tour with and Emma is really good at that," Hopgood continues. "The overall idea was based around a broken heart and shattered glass, to reflect the tour's title. We wanted to give the show different sections that have different themes within them and we were able to achieve a great look using projected video onto multiple layers of gauzes on stage. With Leona's incredible vocal range, audio is also of paramount importance, and Capital Sound was able to provide us with a first class system."
(Jim Evans)
