BLACKPOOL, UK – It doesn’t matter how experienced you are, sooner or later, you’re going to be in a situation where you find yourself doing something for the first time. Ollie Wilkinson can vouch for that. A lighting designer for over 15 years, Wilkinson has been involved in shows, large and small, in all kinds […]
MILWAUKEE – Some venues just lend themselves to creating evocative looks on stage, believes Glenn Ottenbachker. That’s one reason why the lighting designer from A.G. Entertainment USA was only too happy to take on the project of lighting a shared headline show at The Pabst Theatre recently. Opened in 1895, the Renaissance Revival style theatre […]
MONTREAL – At their best, creative works do more than captivate us through the power of their originality, they also inspire us to take our own journey of imagination. Such is the case with Hironobu Sakaguchi’s “Final Fantasy” series, which has been hailed as “the gateway to the enchanting world of role playing games.” Today, […]
LOS ANGELES – When Allen Branton and the rest of the production team saw their design concept for the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction in place at the Microsoft Theater, their first reaction was something along the lines of “wow, this feels really modern!” This might have come as a surprise to […]
NORTH TONAWANDA, NY – Using technology to enrich entertainment is nothing new at the Riviera Theatre. At the time it opened in 1925, the 1000-plus seat venue was outfitted with an early Mighty Wurlitzer “demonstrator,” meaning that the instrument’s manufacturer would take potential customers there to show them how the powerful pipe organ could enhance […]
PILTON, UK – It’s a common sight outside the Glastonbury Festival Circus Big Top tent: people walking away shaking their heads in amazement at the astounding acrobatic feats performed inside the popular attraction. Less apparent to the casual fan, though equally impressive in its own right, is the way James Loudon and his team […]
PARIS – Words like “magical” and “enchanting” come up often when travel and entertainment writers, not to mention food critics, describe their experiences at Cabaret Du Bout Des Près. Anyone who’s ever visited this pastorally beautiful 17-hectare site in the Chevreuse Valley would readily agree. Although it’s located only 30 minutes from Paris on a […]
NEW YORK – Designed by the acclaimed Frank Gehry, the architect responsible for the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan and Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, among other celebrated structures, the Pershing Square Signature Center is a theatrical jewel. Comprised of three performance spaces, it affords every advantage to directors, performers, and other creatives… including lighting designers. […]
BLACKPOOL, UK – Ollie Wilkinson could have been forgiven if, at times, he felt as if he were being pulled in as many directions as “Doc,” leader of the Seven Dwarfs when he was putting together the lighting rig for the Panto performance of this Brothers Grimm fairytale turned Disney classic at the iconic Grand […]
NOVI SAD, SERBIA – “Migration” comes from the Latin word Migrare, which means to move to a new place. Many are hoping that, despite all the obstacles put in its way, the world today is indeed moving to a new and better place through the migration of different cultures, ideas, and forms of artistic expression. […]
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – A scan of the uniformly positive social media comments on the Slow Burn Theatre Company’s production of Kinky Boots at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts reveals that more than a few people in the audience had seen the Cindy Lauper-Harvey Fierstein musical before… sometimes quite a few times before. […]
ANTWERP, BELGIUM – Everyone has the ambition to become a jester at some point in life. Famed Belgian TV star Ingeborg Sergeant, called forth this quote from Ben Johnson when announcing online that she would be hosting Winterrevue Made in Belgium at the Theater Elckerlyc. The good doctor’s British ancestry notwithstanding, his words capture the […]