Martin on Tour with Broadway Musical “Wonderful Town”

“Wonderful Town,” a Broadway musical based on the movie and play “My Sister Eileen,” began touring across North America last October with a run through May 2007. On tour with the show, which chronicles the story of two sisters who move from Columbus, Ohio to big city New York, is lighting designer Scott Phillips of SPLD, Inc. Scott has been a fan of Martin gear since the mid ‘90’s, having used MACs in a variety of applications from live shows to corporate events and television. “All of them are great lights,” he comments.

For “Wonderful Town” Scott is using MAC 2000 Performances and MAC 600 washlights, supplied for the tour by SPLD. “The reason I chose the MAC 2000 Performance was simple; this is a Broadway show and I needed a light that was very versatile and could withstand seven months of touring across North America. Being that it is a theatrical show, I needed to have a bright source, smooth color mixing, a good zoom range, and a versatile shutter system. The color mixing matches well between both lights. I have tried other lights with the same features, but Martin was the best. The choice of the 2000 and 600 was easy for me, I really trust these lights.”

It was a challenge for Scott to have a moving light package out for a theatre tour, but he was confident he could pull it off. He uses MAC 600s as side wash on the down stage truss (3 per side) with 6 at mid stage “so I can have back light down stage and top light mid stage.” There are also 6 MAC 600s on the up stage floor for silhouette effects and cyclorama lighting.

Scott has 2 MAC 2000 Performances down stage left and right for projection and special effects, with 4 hung on the down stage truss for FOH lighting, 6 mid stage right in front of the 600s and 4 up stage behind them. He has 4 on the up stage floor to complement the 600s already there. “I have got pretty much all angles covered and I seem to have a perfect balance of light sources in a 40’ x 32’ space,” he says.

To complete the lighting package - supplied by GSD productions of New York - Scott uses a few conventional fixtures: 20 ETC source 4 lekos and 5 Strand T/3/9 Cyc lights. All of these are hooked up to an ETC sensor dimmer rack. To complete the lighting package Scott also utilizes the FOH lighting within the theatre.

“This is a pretty tight package and the reliability of the Martin lights are amazing. Aaron “Torg” Torgenson (Assistant electric) and 6 local crew guys set up this system in 4 hours (focus and tracking included). Load outs are a little under an hour. I work with a great touring crew,” Scott concludes.

Producer: Music Theatre Associates
General Manager: Paul M Rambacher
Production Company: GSD
Company Manager: Nicole McClendon
Production/Stage Manager: Bridget Welty
Lighting Designer/ Director/ Programmer: Scott Phillips
Lighting Technician: Aaron “Torg” Torgenson
Sound Designer/ Director: Brian Canonico
Sound Assistant: Chris Schaffer
Head Carpenter/ Rigger: James “Cubbie” mccrory
Assistant Carpenter/ Rigger / Props: Peter Van Vliet
Wardrobe: Maggie Barnett
Assistant Wardrobe/ Wigs: Kim Beland