Spectacle of Lights - PLSN.com

Gear List
3 Lycian 1293 X3K followspots
4 10° ETC Source Four 750W
113 19° ETC Source Four 750W
4 26° ETC Source Four 750W
7 36° ETC Source Four 575W
2 36° ETC Source Four 750W
8 ETC Source Four PAR (NSP) 750W
2 ETC Source Four PAR (MFL) 750 W
6 PAR 64 (VNSP) 1kW
84 PAR 64 (NSP) 1kW
48 PAR 64 (MFL) 1kW
94 PAR 64 SN (NSP) 1kW
3 2’-8” ETC Source Four MultiPAR
(VNSP) [4 ckt] 750W
2 8’-6” ETC Source Four MultiPAR
(VNSP) [4 ckt] 2250W
31 8’-3” MR-16 Ministrip EYJ [4 ckt]
750W
we could just put the hot power feeds in the
Who house, and we took the WDS system from
City Theatrical to supply the DMX for a Leprecon
six-pack dimmer that runs the LED window
boxes, the tree, the hanging garland and
the Arris plus the Color Kinetics. We also interconnected
it so that the smoke for the chimney
would program through the Hog. Usually
the effects board, the moving lights and the
conventional units would all be separate, but
the Color Kinetics were already being done by
the Wholehog. For that situation it was best for
the Hog to take it all.”
Even though there is plenty of modern
technology used for The Grinch, “we still do
a little old school,” says Karamon. There are
seven dimmer racks because they are using
1K PAR cans, so they could not do any multiplexing.
“There’s a little more technology there
with the Color Kinetics, the WDS system, LSG
machines, finger strobes, tiny foggers and a
few other tricks. On the sleigh we have wireless
dimmers. The WDS system has some Color
Kinetics on there besides cute little hanging
hurricane lanterns on either side of the sleigh.
That’s all wireless, too.”
Effects-wise, the show has confetti (for the
climax) and fog, for which Look Solutions Tiny
Foggers and Le Maitre Power Foggers are used.
Karamon says that each chimney has its own
little Tiny Fogger in it, and they have a Power
Fogger for the snow puffs behind the Mount
Crumpet set. One stagehand randomly puts
little puffs of smoke out with a hand held, battery
operated fogger.
“We’re also using the MDG Atmosphere
Haze Generator a little bit in the show, and
we’re also using four LSGs, low smoke generators,”
continues Karamon. The LSGs operate off
of 350-pound CO 2
tanks, and the show goes
through about 12 to 15 a week. He estimates
that they go through a quarter tank per show,
per machine. “There are two LSGs upstage and
two downstage. The upstage ones are just
hoses laid on the deck, and the other ones are
ducked into the floor, into the show deck, with
PVC and a grating so it gets it right out towards
the center of the stage. The LSGs have a Power
10 8’-3” MR-16 Ministrip EYC [4 ckt]
750W
5 8’-3” MR-16 Ministrip EYF [4 ckt]
750W
3 8’ PAR 64 Strip (WFL) 1kW
3 8’ PAR 64 Strip (MFL) 1kW
15 Vari*Lite VL3000 Wash fixtures
1 3.2” Arri Fresnel
1 4.2” Arri Fresnel
7 4.2” Arri Fresnel 650w
6 Color Kinetics iColor Cove MX
15 Diversitronics Finger Strobe
1 Snow Shaker 100W
2 Ropelight 100w
2 RAM/10°
64 RAM/P64
4 LSG Low Smoke Generators
1 Le Maitre Power Fog
9 Look Solutions Tiny Fogger
6 Snow Machine
1 City Theatrical WDS Dimmer
Fog Industrial 9D Fog Machine by Le Maitre
that supplies the smoke. The LSG is just about
the CO 2
.”
For those who don’t know how an LSG
machine works, Karamon offers a quick
primer. “Basically instead of dry ice, a regular
smoke machine, in this case the 9D, shoots
into the LSG. The LSG has a chamber that is
receiving the CO 2
to cool down the smoke so
that it lays flat to the stage like fog, and you
don’t have that dry ice issue of the stage getting
wet and dancers slipping. We are using
a little bit of dry ice with a Tiny Fogger. When
the Grinch comes in from his cave, we shoot
a Tiny Fogger into a dry ice bin that has a fan
that pushes it out. Its stays a little low to the
ground, it’s kind of like a rolling fog. Nowadays
people are mainly using the LSG for a
full stage effect, for low fog effects.”
The production team behind The Grinch
did not want the smoke to overwhelm the
stage, but humidity can throw a monkey
wrench into that plan, as evidenced two days
into the show’s official run when the November
weather was unseasonably warm. “Believe
it or not, the weather will have an effect on the
fog day by day,” remarks Karamon. “I’ve had
the LSG machine on an inhibitive submaster.
Yesterday I was pulling it down, all the way out
at times, because it was too overpowering and
wasn’t going anywhere. It would come out to
the sixth, seventh or eighth row in the audience,
so I would pull it back and start riding it
manually in the cues. The past two days have
been real tough. From opening night on it was
just humid, and the fog would just hang there
and not dissipate.”
With everything going on, the Grinch’s
light board op has his hands full. It’s a challenge
he relishes. “This show is pretty cue intensive,”
confirms Karamon. “A lot happens in a
70-minute show with 22 scenes, I have roughly
250 light cues and 220 call cues. There are 40
light cues in the Whatchama Who song alone.
There are so many different beats to hit with all
of the flashing and craziness going on, you really
need to be with the orchestra on that. Who
has time to get bored?”
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PLSN DECEMBER 2006 23
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