Since 1997, when the first of 100 shows was given late-evening screening, the program has grown from a niche show into a true media phenomenon, with its comedians' by-lines becoming part of day to day jargon throughout the country, and the popularity of the live show exploding to such an extent that the producers (Canale 5 and Area Zelig) were obliged to stage the latest edition - aired in a prime-time slot on Canale 5 - in an 1,800-seat marquee on the outskirts of Milan, renaming the show Zelig Circus.
The weekly comedy show ran for three months, followed by a series of 'specials' featuring the highlights. The hosts were actor, comedian and author Claudio Bisio (at his fifth consecutive year on the show) and beautiful Barcelona-born ex-model Vanessa Incontrada, who embarked on a successful Italian TV and film career in 1998.
To ensure the utmost involvement of the packed crowd and maintain as far as possible the intimate feel of the original venue, two of Italy's best-known rental firms were brought in; Backstage PA of Como, with an impressive audio rig, and Milan's Xenon, whose lighting was very much an integral part of the show. The non-stop event had a cast of familiar veterans, almost 20 new talents and a resident band backing the cast's singing performances.The members of the audience furthest from the stage were able to follow every wisecrack and innuendo on two large video screens installed alongside the 700sq.m set, designed by Enrico Dusi as a fantastic version of a commercial seaport.
Backstage's sound reinforcement system, which certainly overcame the PVC marquee's acoustic problems, included a QSC Wideline compact line array system, with six enclosures and two Isis 215 subwoofers, plus five delay systems. The first of these was identical to the main system, the second with four bi-amped JBL 4892s, two more with a pair of Turbosound TQ 440s each, and the last with two M5 enclosures from Italian manufacturer LAN. Four small Electro-Voice Evid 3.2s were installed on the front of the stage on front-fill duties.
One of the show's two interconnected Yamaha PM1D consoles was on the FOH platform, manned by Marcello Mannini, and the other was alongside the stage on monitor duty, manned by Alessandro Roseo, both of whom have considerable experience on the desk. As well as the house band's twin monitor system, with Axis U62 enclosures and a Shure IEM system, Roseo also controlled numerous music monitors (a combination of JBL, Turbosound, Axis and EV), strategically hidden in the scenery, 16 Electrovoice Evid 3.2 for speech mics, and a series of EAW boxes back-stage for stage calls, etc. More LAN enclosures were used for some beefy side-fill work.
Tucked away in a quiet corner near the dressing rooms, live/broadcast audio veteran Piero Bravin manned a Yamaha DM2000, and was responsible for the final mix-down before sending a twin mono feed to the audio team in Mediaset's all-digital Unit 25 OB van. Mannini and Rosea were kept on their toes by the cast's frequent improvisations, but both swore by the PM1D's memory facilities, which enabled them to switch mics from speech to singing settings instantly when the need arose.
As well as a 20W Spectra-Physics argon laser, fitted with a beam splitter, the rig designed by Xenon founder and LD, Renato Neri, consisted of a large array of conventional fixtures, automated units and some custom instruments designed and built by the company's in-house technicians. Neri explained: "I designed the set-up in collaboration with director of photography Massimiliano Cavenaghi, but was more or less given carte blanche. The main idea was to avoid having a division between the artists on stage and the audience - the crowd had to be an integral part of the show."
Neri used a considerable amount of f
