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Technical Information From The National UK Tour In 2000

It played to packed theatres, touring the UK during 2000/2001, Ken Hill's original tongue-in-cheek production, is the story by Gaston Leroux, much loved by all and thrilled audiences wherever it appeared. Lit with a minimal, virtually self contained touring lighting rig, Phantom of the Opera proved to be a good show to work on. A great deal of the general illumination was to represent the yellowy green tones of old town gas light. This was achieved using LEE 213 with added units in 079. Otherwise there were washes of purple, green, red and amber to help enhance the individual qualities of each scene.

Using small moving mirror lights, all the "specials" were catered for. They are used as tab warmers to gobo washes and tight highlighting to window gobos. An absolute bonus for a tight touring schedule! One of the simplest scenes was the Roof of the Paris Opera House. Two railings and a Statue on a plinth. This scene was lit with a wash of blue moonlight a touch of breakup gobos for texture and one keylight to the statue. Add some smoke and some soft follow spots and it sums up the very essence of the production - pure simplicity.

Having said that, it was quite a complex show to stage and move around the country. It looked simple to any audience member but to the crew it was quite a jigsaw puzzle to piece together.