The sound and lighting designs for BILLY ELLIOT

[morosco]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 9:51am

Anatomy of a Musical

[Mamie]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 10:19am

That's terrific. I thought this paragraph was particularly interesting:

"For “Solidarity,” the use of mics is actually impossible because the choreography is based around miners and police swapping helmets over and over again. In London, some of the vocals are recorded, with the tracks created in the theatre using the wireless mics to match the sounds of the live voices. “Incidentally,” Arditti points out, “in the US, Actor's Equity will not permit the recording of vocals on the grounds of ‘vigorous choreography.’ So if you come and see Billy Elliot The Musical in New York, you will see the extremely vigorous finale danced by the entire company and climaxing in the singing of a final chorus of ‘Shine’ and ‘Expressing Yourself.’ It's all live. Suffice to say that, in London and Australia, where there are no such Equity rules, we have chosen to record these vocals!”"

I've heard a lot of criticism about the use of pre-recorded vocals being used in this and other productions. Sounds like the complainers might not know what they're talking about!

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 10:48am

Every other bloody show here in the UK uses a click track to 'support' the ensemble vocals during big dance numbers, personally i hate it, ive performed in many long runs inc high energy dance shows like Fame and Grease and we never used them, now all of a sudden everyone is using them.
One of the worst for it recently was the UK production of The Wedding Singer. Every other song was using a click track. Poppins does it too.

[Elke]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 10:51am

in the US, Actor's Equity will not permit the recording of vocals on the grounds of ‘vigorous choreography.

Hm, what about "You Can't Stop The Beat" then?

[mormonophobic]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 10:54am

Hmmmmmm maybe THAT'S what stopped it, Elke.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 10:56am

How are you all reading this? It's making me sign up.

[Mamie]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 12:29pm

I didn't have to sign up to anything - it just appeared on the screen when I clicked the link.

[morosco]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 12:47pm

It appears that the Live Design website allows a predetermined number of page visits before requiring the visitor to sign in. There is no obligation to register. Free.

[lindatnyc2]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 1:07pm

After several attempts, I finally was able to access it.
No registration needed, but it was a little slow in uploading the article.

Great article! Some of the details are a bit technical to me, but overall very interesting. As a matter of fact, I sat right behind the musical director last night and had a 1-1 with David Chase who explained some of this to me (the double sizing of the orchestra and the staging designs).