Les Mis at the O2 - DPA Microphones

ON THE ROAD: Les Mis at the O2
LES MIS AT THE O2
LOUISE STICKLAND REPORTS FROM THE GREENWICH
PENINSULA ON THE ARENA PRODUCTION THAT
CELEBRATED 25 YEARS OF ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST
POPULAR THEATRE MUSICALS...
Skills, resources, knowledge and style from
both theatre and rock’n’roll production
disciplines were united to stage a very
special 25th anniversary production of the
legendary Boublil & Schönberg musical Les
Misérables at London’s O2 Arena, with
producer Cameron Mackintosh laying some
serious technical challenges on the table.
It was a large and very high profi le one-off
version of the epic show, following a short
celebratory run at the original venue, the
Barbican, and the pressure was on to present it
to all the standards of excellence expected from
one of the most popular world class theatre
works of all-time.
As Mackintosh said himself: “With a Victor
Hugo novel as the base of this, this is the best
story for any musical ever. The brilliant, brilliant
score matches the story and it’s become a sort
of timeless piece that every generation has
fallen in love with and comes back to again and
again.”
52 • TPi NOVEMBER 2010

ON ON THE THE ROAD: ROAD: Les Mallorca Mis at the Rocks
O2
Immediately following a brief, two-week
run at the original Les Mis venue, the barbican,
this one-off, three hour long 25th anniversary
concert presentation featured more than 500
actors and musicians including Alfie Boe as ‘Jean
Valjean’, Nick Jonas (of the Jonas Brothers) as
‘Marius’, Norm Lewis as ‘Javert’, Matt Lucas as
‘Thenardier’, Lea Salonga as ‘Fantine’, Jenny
Galloway as ‘Madame Thenardier’ and Katie
Hall as ‘Cosette’.
They were joined by members of the
original 1985 cast including Michael Ball, Alun
Armstrong and Colm Wilkinson.
Preceded by a short production rehearsal
period at the new LH2 Studios facility in Park
Royal, north-west London, the initial load in to
the O2 was followed by two days of technical
rehearsals. That in itself would have been
straightforward enough, even on the large scale
that it was, but this was where it started getting
interesting.
The whole production had to be de-rigged
and taken out to allow a Santana concert to
take place on the Friday night. It then loaded
back in first thing Saturday, ready for more
technicals and a full dress run that evening,
Above L-R: Lighting designers Paule Constable & Patrick Woodroffe; sound designer Mick Potter.
followed by the two sold-out shows the
following day.
Nick Levitt — whose production industry
credentials need no introduction — was
brought onboard by the Cameron Mackintosh
production team (led by Jerry Donaldson)
to amalgamate the techniques and working
methods of two very different production
genres and make Les Mis work in an arena.
With this, came his wealth of leading
contractor contacts and vast experience of the
logistics involved and parameters needed to
make special events really rock.
RIGGING
Summit Steel supplied all the rigging equipment
and trussing for over-stage and audience
lighting, mother grids, surround and support
for the screens, plus all motors and a Kinesys
system.
Summit Steel’s project manager, Jon Bray
and Nick Levitt have known and worked with
each other for over 30 years, and so Levitt
brought the firm into the equation early on with
Richard Wythes leading its crew. A happy and
convenient coincidence was that Summit is also
the venue’s house rigging services provider.
“You can do pretty much anything if there is good communication between all parties
and if it’s planned and sufficiently thought-through well and in advance...” Jon Bray
DPA Theatre TP 190 x 136.indd 1 02/11/10 14.38
TPi NOVEMBER 2010 • 53

ON THE ROAD: Les Mis at the O2
Bray started working well in advance with
lighting crew chief Rich Gorrod, on a lateral
thinking strategy together with Levitt and colighting
designers Paule Constable and Patrick
Woodroffe. The way the lighting rig in particular
was designed was critical to whether moving
the show in and out in time would be feasible
and possible.
“You can do pretty much anything if there
is good communication between all parties and
it’s planned and sufficiently thought-through
well and in advance,” said Bray, who quietly
relishes these galvanising tasks.
That PRG Lighting and Summit are part
of the same group of companies helped
enormously in terms of fluid and easy
communications, along with Summit’s
relationship and role with the O2, and
consequent intimate knowledge of the building
and its working practices.
In addition, elucidated Bray, Santana’s
production crew were also extremely friendly
and accommodating, Had this not been the
case, there could have been a few potential
stumbling blocks.
Key to meeting all of Les Misérables’
deadlines, the major time-saving solution was
to rig as much of the Les Mis production as
high as possible in the roof, and this they were
able to do with eight of the high lighting trusses
and two mother grids — primarily also used for
lighting positions — which were all hung on
30m (motor) chains.
This allowed them to be flown out into the
roof, dead hung and left in unseen for Santana.
The rear lighting trusses and all the PA effects
stacks and delays were also hung high, so they
didn’t need to be removed.
This left the main left and right PA hangs,
two substantial sub-bass hangs, eight lower
lighting ‘Barricade’ and ‘Buttress’ trusses (which
doubled as scenery in addition to providing
lighting positions), all on a Kinesys automation
system, and one additional truss to come out.
DOUBLE DECKER
The set was designed by Matt Kinley. A large
scaffolding double decker stage was installed
Top: Original CAD renderings of the set. Above L-R: Matt Lucas; Jenny Galloway; Herbert Kretzmer, Alain Boublil & Claude-Michel Schonberg.
54 • TPi NOVEMBER 2010

ON THE ROAD: Les Mis at the O2
Below L-R: The four Jean Valjeans — Simon Bowman, Alfie Boe, Colm Wilkinson and John Owen-Jones; Susan Jane Tanner (the original Madame Thenardier) & Alun Armstrong (original Thenardier); the
girls went crazy for Jonas Brother, Nick (far right).
“It’s become a sort of timeless piece that every generation has fallen in
love with and comes back to again and again...” Cameron Mackintosh
by Star Events, which extended
upwards 5m high at the back and
was built in to the O2’s highest
levels of seating.
Three Flyer 18 LED mesh
screens supplied by Creative
Technology were installed left,
right and centre on-stage,
presenting Summit’s next brain
teaser: how to easily rig these
over the stage above the upstage
seating tribunes.
It was managed by assembling
the screens on the ground, and
‘motor bridging’ them, continuing
to build as they were lifted in
London’s Premier Entertainment
Production Facility
31.5m (103’) Wide / 44m (144’) Long / 18.1m (60’) High
Concord Road, London, W3 0SE
T: +44 208 752 0440 F: +44 208 752 3055 Mob: +44 7584 345 343
Contact: Derek Fudge E: derek.fudge@lh2studios.co.uk
www.lh2studios.co.uk
stepped stages and walked back
up over the stage until they
reached the back, after which they
were drifted up into position above
the seats, an operation utilising 19
two tonne motors.
The screens were also hung
on beams that are not normally
utilised by the O2 in its standard
concert set up, so this involved
a lot of extra interaction and
testing with the venue’s structural
engineers.
LIFTING GEAR
Les Mis at the O2 was the first
major event for PRG Lighting’s
new Kinesys DigiHoist 8 controller,
a product specially developed by
Kinesys to replace all PRG UK’s
existing hoists and standardise
their stock with a robust and
flexible new interface. The
DigiHoist is now also available
from Kinesys’ off the shelf product
range.
In total, the rigging point
count was 147, 44 of which were
consumed by audio (supplied by
Autograph), with 24 on the main
hangs and 20 on the 10 delay
positions which needed two
points each to give the required
focusability. The other 68 were
utilised for lighting, including
audience trusses installed to
illuminate the crowds for the live
DVD shoot.
The trusses were scenically
treated on-site by CTS Theatrical
Services, a division of the Welsh
National Opera, in an operation
overseen by Craig Tucker, who also
took care of stage dressing.
These elements flew in
dramatically at the top of the
second act, resting at jaunty angles
to create those famous Parisian
revolutionary street scenes, in a
flourishing move achieved using 16
axes of Kinesys automation on half
tonne Lodestars, plus two axes of
encoded Kinesys beam trolleys.
The Kinesys system was operated
by Gareth Williams using Kinesys’
proprietary Vector Control.
As a dramatic show opener,
the two Buttresses were raised
from horizontal to 70°, forming
a pros arch effect. This utilised a
Kinesys beam trolley attached to
the upstage points, which moved
and kept everything in place as
the downstage motors began to
lift the ‘top’ end of the trusses via
encoded Lodestars.
MOVING IMAGE
Video was designed by 59
Productions (Leo Warner), who
also designed the content for the
current UK touring Les Misérables
show, with all the screen, camera
switching and production
equipment supplied by Creative
Technology, and project managed
by Stuart Young and Scott Burges.
Visions Mobile supplied an OB
truck and 16 cameras for the DVD
shoot.
The total screen area was 252
modules of Flyer 18, CT’s new
lightweight 18mm LED display,
configured as the three screens.
Playback material was stored on
two fully flightcased Catalyst
V4 Pro systems, run from a Hog
iPC console operated by Steve
56 • TPi NOVEMBER 2010

ON THE ROAD: Les Mis at the O2
‘Spooky’ Parkinson and supplied to CT by SNP
Productions. All screen outputs were routed via
a Christie Vista Spyder run by Dean Turner.
CT also provided a Snell & Wilcox Kahuna
vision mixing system that took split camera
feeds from the Visions truck, which were
directed for the live show screens by Larne
Poland, who then sent a three-camera output
I-Mag mix to the Spyder for outputting to the
screens. All the video production was removed
and re-rigged for the Santana show.
AUDIO
Mick Potter, the sound designer of the West
End production of Les Mis and the touring
shows, continued his role at the O2, as did
audio supplier, Autograph, in an operation coordinated
by senior hire production engineer,
Jim Douglas.
As always, it was a complex show for sound,
specially given the out-of-theatre context. The
main speaker hangs were Meyer Milo speakers
— a left and right of 18 speakers each and then
two side hangs of 10 each.
There were both flown and floor subs — a
total of 24 Meyer 700 HPs, which is a somewhat
serious amount, needed because of the
barricades and the need to have the headroom
to make the air move without any distortion.
A supplementary centre cluster array of 10
Meyer Mica speakers filled in down the middle
of the stalls, and then there were eight drops of
four Micas as delays, and a pair of UPQs under
each drop in a horseshoe shape snaking around
above the raked seating for surround FX. The
main delays were two further arrays of 10 Micas
positioned halfway up the arena floor.
There were around 60 wedges and front
fills (a mix of d&b E0s and E3s and Meyer UPJs).
Fourteen Meyer UM100P monitors were built
into the stage floor.
The Meyer Galileo system was utilised for
all the processing, time alignment and EQ,
and a SIM 3 audio analyser was used for all
the real-time measurement calculations, dealt
with by Andy Brown along with all the audio
networking, which used Meyer’s RMS system.
Meyer’s loudspeakers were all self-powered,
with D6 amps driving the d&bs.
The mic choice, consisting mostly of DPAs,
numbered approximately 150 specific units
— a specification that required sub-hiring from
Europe and the States. The DPA mics were
mainly a combination of 4061 miniature omnis
and 4022 compact cardioids, with some 4011
cardioids and 4007 omnis.
Mick Potter has used DPAs on close to 100
productions since Saturday Night Fever in
1998; either the DPA 4065 omni headband or
the DPA 4061 miniature omnis on cast members
depending on the type of show.
“I’ve used them for so long because they
sound much better than anyone else’s mini
condensers,” he said.
“Saturday Night Fever was one of the first
major uses of the 4065 once it had gone into
production, and we worked with DPA on issues
such as resonance in the tubes and things
bending rather than breaking. They have a huge
amount of gain before feedback for an omni
mic while maintaining a transparent sound,
which is critical in the theatre with multiple
omni mics open on stage. Everything needs to
be set up around high gain before feedback, at
the same time maintaining a very natural vocal
sound.
“Doing Andrew Lloyd Webber shows you’re
running mics at much more preternatural and
dynamic levels than you might on a more
naturalistic show. Until DPA that wasn’t really
possible; other mics would sound much more
ambient and colour the sound. The DPA
miniatures are phenomenal in this respect.”
At FOH, Paul Gatehouse used a DiGiCo
SD7T console with an EX007 expansion unit,
all run over Opticore fibre, with another SD7T
for monitors, engineered by Crispian Covell
and Nick Gray. Tim Stephens was Autograph’s
production sound engineer.
Jim Douglas commented that working with
Summit Steel in the O2 was an “excellent”
experience. Autograph is used to working in
theatre venues where the sound focus has to be
millimetre perfect, and arenas are a completely
different ball game, so getting all the points
spot-on was essential.
Autograph’s hire manager Scott Arnold
liaised with no less than 13 companies to pull in
all the sub hires needed to ensure they got the
exact kit that Potter specified during a very busy
period of the year, proving a really challenging
set of logistics for a one-off.
LIGHTING
Patrick Woodroffe and Paule Constable worked
with their associates Adam Bassett, Miriam
Evans and Nick Simmons on the O2 show
lighting design.
Additional lighting for the DVD shoot
was designed by Steve Nolan, and all lighting
equipment was supplied by PRG, co-ordinated
by account handler Peter Marshall. The lighting
crew chief was Rich Gorrod. The programmer/
operators were Andy Voller for the main show
and Mike ‘Oz’ Owen for the audience and DVD
shoot lighting.
The stage lighting included over 200 moving
lights — a mix of Vari*Lite VL3000 Spots,
VL3500 Washes, VL5s, VL6Cs and VL1000 Arc
shutter Spots; PRG Bad Boys, Clay Paky Alpha
Beams and Martin Pro MAC 250s, plus a large
conventional rig, which was programmed by
Voller on two PRG V676 consoles.
The audience system included 40 MAC 2000
Washes, 39 VL3000 Spots and 26 VL2000
Washes together with bars of six PARs and 4-lite
Moles, programmed by Owen on two Virtuoso
consoles.
Peter Marshall was also involved in the 10th
anniversary at the Albert Hall and could hardly
believe that 15 years had flown by so quickly!
The O2 show was beamed live to nearly 200
cinemas in the UK and Europe. This month, on
November 17, a film of the performance will be
screened in nearly 500 U.S. cinemas. Here’s to
the next quarter of a century!
TPi
Photography by
Dan Wooller & courtesy of
Cameron Mackintosh Limted © 2010
58 • TPi NOVEMBER 2010