UKExploring the boundaries between classical opera and popular musical theatre, English National Opera are mounting the first-ever London revival of the original 'New York, New York' musical, Leonard Bernstein's On The Town. Directed by Jude Kelly and choreographed by Stephen Mear - joint winner of this year's Best Choreography Olivier Award for his work on Mary Poppins - the production will play just seventeen performances at ENO's home, the London Coliseum, between March 5th and May 24th.

Fitting a full-scale musical into ENO's already-busy rep meant that lighting designer Mark Henderson and ENO's head of lighting Kevin Sleep decided to add some additional automated lighting equipment to complement the automated Robert Juliat 2.5kW PCs in Licht Technik yokes that were added to the rig aspart of the Coliseum's spectacular refurbishment in 2003/2004.

Continuing the long relationship between White Light and ENO and between White Light and Mark Henderson, the company has supplied the production with six Vari-Lite VL2000 Spots and eight High End StudioBeam washlights.

White Light has also supplied a Strand 530i lighting console, which is being used as a remote console allowing operators to program the show from the auditorium rather than the control room. Combining leading players from the world's of musical theatre and opera, with a cast including Adam Garcia, Caroline O'Connor and Willard White.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)


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