The Producers Conquers Broadway

The lights of Broadway have certainly never shone brighter than this year as a number of top shows, including the wildly successful musical The Producers, have incorporated versatile MAC moving heads into their lighting designs. The most critically acclaimed musical to come along in years, if not decades, The Producers is arguably the most successful Broadway show ever.

Recipient of 15 Tony award nominations (a record), and winner of 12 (also a record), The Producers opened to unanimous rave reviews on April 19, 2001 at Broadway’s St. James Theatre.

Lighting Designer for the smash hit is Peter Kaczorowski whose design was hailed as exceptional, winning a Tony for Best Lighting Design. He incorporates 46 Martin moving heads (MAC 500s and 2000s) extensively throughout the show.

The stage play is based on Mel Brooks’s (producer of Hollywood classics Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein) Academy Award winning 1968 film of the same name, the story of a desperate theatrical producer and a timid public accountant who create a scam to raise more money then they need for a sure-fire Broadway flop, Springtime for Hitler, then pocket the rest of the money.

Acknowledged by The New York Times as “turning the stage into a bright, endlessly evocative dreamscape that skewers and celebrates the looks of great musicals,” and by the New York Post as “fantastic and inventive,” Kaczorowski’s design relied on extensive use of 29 Martin MAC 2000 profile spots and 17 MAC 500s.

Peter Kaczorowski comments on the MAC 2000 and lighting The Producers, one of Broadway’s most successful shows ever

Martin: First of all, congratulations on the success. What was it like to win a Tony award?

Peter: Thank you. It was very thrilling. It’s nice to have one’s work acknowledged in this way.

Martin: What has your past relationship been with Martin products?

Peter: This was actually my first time using Martin gear. We brought in a lot of different lights and the MAC 2000 was far and away the brightest compared to the other fixtures that we looked at. I had my concerns because they had yet to be used on Broadway but they have proved to be a workhorse - they are definitely the workhorse of the show. There’s not much space on stage, very little wing space and a lot of scenery. Everything is so packed in and there was little space to get to the fixtures to change or adjust something. The MAC 2000 is a nice little package and fit into our size parameters.

Martin: How do you incorporate the MACs into the lighting design?

Peter: I had a modest amount of lighting to work with which was a challenge – 3 lightpipes, strip lights and wing lights and front of house. I used 46 moving heads altogether, 29 MAC 2000s and 17 MAC 500s, all supplied by Fourth Phase N.J. I use the 2000s for everything. Dream sequences,  “Springtime” numbers...I left the specific stuff to the MAC 2000, lighting such as specials on the couch, the desk, door entry, isolated lighting. They are on all night and are used in every scene, 22 in all. They solve problems in all sets. I use them as washes, spots, effects, front lights, rotating patterns, for everything.

Martin: Can you tell me about your use of the MAC 2000 in a specific scene?

Peter: At the end of the Act 1 finale for example, there are groups of people on stage, all isolated in different sets of downlight using three MAC 2000s each, sharp edged. When one group begins to sing I highlight them in first white light to attract attention, then color down as the song ends and another group begins. The color racking (color mixing) is crucial to bring people in and out of focus. The color mixing abilities are great. It’s nice to bring the intensity up to add a little extra, mixing for example from a medium pink to a brighter pink is nice. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the old system. It’s nice to be able to get the colors you want. The color flag system is great.  The color flag mixing did a good job – the tints are really good and the colors are clean and bright.

Martin: Any other special lighting scenes?

Peter: Mel Brooks had an idea for the lighting, which we were able to do. In the number “That Face” Brooks wanted Ulla’s face, the Swedish bombshell secretary, to appear as multiple images. I used 4 MAC 2000s to project 4 special lithos of Ulla’s face which then change to 12 with use of the prism. The gobos then slowly rotate. As Bloom (Matthew Broderick) helps her down from the desk and she slips into his lap, the pictures fall lower and fade down as well. The office is drab and brown at the start of the show but when the second scene opens and Ulla has been hired, the scenery changes to white, which gave me an opportunity to do something with the lighting. We do the same with Mathew Broderick’s face later in the show.

We also made custom swastika gobos for the “Springtime for Hitler” sequence. We wanted a bubbly champagne effect at the beginning and start with a small dot still projection. The texture starts to spin, the swastika coming more and more into focus. As people realize what the image is, changing from a positive image to a negative image, you can feel the atmosphere changing. It’s a good effect.

In the Along Came Bialy sequence with the old ladies, we use valentines on the scrims which we iris larger. Before the curtain opens, we iris open, larger, fading to open the scene.

Martin: Are you using MACs in any other Peter Kaczorowski projects?

Peter: I did the lighting for Thou Shalt Not which will be opening at the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway on Oct. 25th with 26 MAC 2000s. And on the US tour of Kiss me Kate I use MACs. Kiss me Kate will also be opening on Oct. 30th in London’s West End at the Victoria Palace with MAC 2000s.

Peter Kaczorowski has designed lighting for many Broadway, Off Broadway and West End shows. He has also designed extensively for most leading regional theater and opera companies in the U.S. Kaczorowski has dominated lighting design on Broadway from 1999-2001, with design on four shows.