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January 2016 entertainment, presentation, installation
www.lsionline.co.uk
Paris
Merveilles
PLUS: d&b audiotechnik’s SoundPLAN • Turbo’s Flashlight Returns • Edinburgh in Lights
University of South Wales • Preview: ISE 2016 • LD Benoit Richard In Profile . . . and more!
Also Inside:
Technical Focus
LSC’s Clarity in Control
On Tour: Bill Bailey
The production of Limboland
Technical Focus
The HES SolaWash Pro 2000
New Order Live
The full show production report
Franco Dragone’s
latest production
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Theatre impresario Franco Dragone has turned his considerable
energies towards the Lido de Paris, the famed cabaret venue on the
Champs-Elysées, where a brand new show is impressing audiences.
Mike Clark reports for LSi . . .
In 1946, Joseph and Louis Clérico, two brothers of
Italian origin, working in the construction trade,
decided on a radical change of lifestyle and
bought the world-famous Paris Lido, located at 78,
Avenue des Champs Élysées, turning it into
a sumptuous venue that attracted the French
capital’s élite with a completely new concept in
entertainment: dinner with a show - a format that
proved incredibly successful and would be
imitated worldwide.
Almost seventy years later, Sodexo Sports et Loisirs,
the current owners of the legendary venue (home to
the statuesque dance group the Bluebell Girls)
recently invested 25 million euros in the
modernisation of the Lido and the production of
a spectacular new show by Franco Dragone, who
has practically revolutionised the art of revue with
Paris Merveilles, giving it his unmistakable trademark,
with in-depth use of breath-taking visual effects and
cutting edge technology throughout the show.
Dragone’s own success story also has Italian
origins: his family moved from southern Italy to
Belgium when he was a young child. Following
drama studies, he began creating his own shows;
emotionally-charged, living works of art. In the
1980s, “action theatre” crossed the Atlantic and
reached Canada. Franco followed suit and soon
joined the nascent Cirque du Soleil and played a key
role in its planetary ascent during the 1980s and
‘90s, signing no less than 10 shows over 12 years as
creative director. He founded Franco Dragone
Entertainment Group in 2000, and his creations and
productions have been seen by over 75 million
spectators worldwide.
Italian sound designer and sound engineer Corrado
Campanelli began his career at the age of 19 as
a sound engineer and programmer on cruise liners
worldwide. This was followed by a period in London,
where he worked as a sound programmer in
theatres, theme parks and tourist attractions. In
2009, he began his “adventure” with Franco
Dragone in Macao, working on the creation of The
House of Dancing Water (see LSi January 2011), and
later Taboo. In 2014, he worked with Director Daniele
Finzia Pasca on the Olympic and Paralympic Games
ceremonies in Sochi, before returning to work with
Dragone on the production of the Han Show in
Wuhan, China.
Campanelli explains: “The audio team at the Lido
has two permanent members - audio chief Samuel
Petit and sound engineer Samy Bensifi. My work as
the show’s sound designer began with the arrival of
guests in the hall with an appropriate selection of
background music. The show lasts approximately
100 minutes, with no interval. The music, composed
by Yvan Cassar, is played back on a redundant
QLab 3 system, with QWidget remote and
a Novation Launchpad for the effects. The audio
console is a Yamaha CL5 and a multi-track recording
is made of the show every night with a 64-track
Sound Devices 970. Everything is interfaced via
Dante, which also enables us to switch the inputs in
the patch, and also to run a ‘virtual’ soundcheck,
using the show’s recordings.”
For the first time in the Lido’s history, a singer is at
the heart of the show - Manon, an incredible
mezzo-soprano chosen by Dragone. As well as the
singer, two musicians - an accordion player and
a violinist - play live during the show, along with an
entire mechanical orchestra, made up of numerous
small robotic arms that play real acoustic
instruments (drums, percussion, piano, marimba,
xylophone, glockenspiel etc.).
Campanelli continues: “The arms are controlled via
MIDI by an Ableton Live session interfaced with
a custom application based on Max MSP, triggered
by one of the two musicians with a remote controller.
Thanks to the control of the velocity, it is possible to
give the right ‘touch’ to the robotic arms and make
them a slightly more ‘human’.”
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One of Campanelli’s collaborators, Christian
Zuniga, was mainly responsible for all the
aspects involving the mechanical orchestra.
Campanelli’s work, on the other hand,
included the mixing, the production of all the
sound effects and surround programming -
in short, all the aspects of the audio from the
beginning to the end of the guests’
experience, working in close collaboration
with the composer and participating actively
in the final stage of the creation of the music.
“I obviously had to bear in mind the
requirements of the in-house team
responsible for the day-to-day running of the
show, as far as set-up time was concerned.
The console had to be programmed in the
most intuitive possible manner, so that, in the
event of automation problems, the operator
is able to run the show manually.
A consecutive, well organised cue list
simplifies this and, if through time any
changes have to be made, the programming
must be understandable to everybody.”
Supplied by Paris-based Best Audio, the
Meyer Sound audio system consists of three
main clusters of UPQ-1P enclosures, with
three left and right and four in the centre,
plus two ceiling-mounted 11000-LFC
subwoofers and left/centre/right delay hangs,
each with three UPJ-1XP VariO speakers and
six UPJunior VariO loudspeakers complete
the main room’s Meyer system. On-stage
monitoring and back-stage cueing are
catered for by two ceiling-mounted
MJF-212A stage monitors and four UP-4XP
loudspeakers respectively. A Galileo
loudspeaker management system with three
Galileo 616 processors handles optimisation
and signal distribution.
The under-balcony and balcony delay
loudspeakers are from EAW, part of the
Lido’s original rig, overhauled and
re-installed in “as new” condition. The
surround system (with two delay lines) is also
part of the previous EAW setup.
Belgian video content designer Patrick Neys
began his career with Franco Dragone as
editor of the video content for A New Day,
Céline Dion’s Las Vegas show. Immediately
after, he set off on the Britney Spears world
tour, then the European tour of Holiday on
Ice. He explains: “Indeed, I’ve done almost
all the Dragone shows since Céline Dion’s
A New Day in 2003 and Le Rêve in 2005.
At that time I was working as a 2D animator
and editor of the video content. I really began
to work as video content designer on The
House of Dancing Water in Macau in 2010.
Since then, I’ve had the opportunity of
working on several very interesting
productions, including (in 2013) the visual
poem in Abu Dhabi Story of a Fort and in
2014 on the mega Chinese production The
Han Show in Wuhan. I’ve also worked on
many of the other show and events created
by Dragone.
“The Lido project was one of my major works
in Europe - it wasn’t the biggest, but for me it
was as important, if not more so, as the
projects done in the US, Asia or Middle East,
since we were almost at home, so there was
a great deal of artistic pressure, for obvious
reasons.”
The team only had four weeks for creation,
and had to be ready to answer Franco’s
‘shaking the stage’ indications, as Dragone
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likes to describe the provocative way in
which he creates his unique shows - pushing
artists and designers to the limit, until he gets
something from everyone, and has all the
required ingredients.
Neys’ brief was to deliver content with
a timeless Parisian style and “no cheesy
cabaret looks”, able to be projected for
a 10-year run. The result was a very large
selection of themes and elements to propose
and adapt ‘live’ in the venue.
Neys continues: “The biggest ‘tableau’ was
for Lady Paris, a 4K animation of the main
sites and monuments of Paris, which evolved
like a giant pop-up book. We used five 21k
Panasonic projectors and Artixium LED walls
as a backdrop with a pitch of 6mm, plus
moving Artixium LED screens with a pitch of
4mm.
The on-going challenge was to find
a harmonious balance between the powerful
LED and the lower projection intensity feeling
due to the fabrics . . . we had around 300
lux/sq.m, but we were projecting on a black
curtain, a deep blue curtain and a chain mail
mesh curtain. So we had three layers of
curtains in the depth of the set, which was
sometimes very challenging, for the balance
of three different images, three different
contrasts, three different proportions and
three different textures.
“Thanks to a powerful Photon media server
[from Montreal-based VYV Corporation], we
were able to bypass some of those complex
issues to create and work our images. We
worked like painters working together, using
two Mac Pros with Adobe Suite and an Aja
Video Card and the Photon itself creates
a whole ‘tableau’ simultaneously on all the
surfaces.”
Neys discovered the Artixium LED screens
on a tour for the Belgian artist Stroma, and
was very impressed with its deep black, with
no reflections. “The image is totally stable
(very high refreshment rate) and really close
to a painting, we could really play with hard
gradients, low gamma images, long fades.
The screen was really good to deliver those
difficult requests and we are very happy with
this choice.”
He continues: “We had already worked with
46 Panasonic 3D pro DZ21K WUXGA video
projectors in 2013 on the Story of a Fort show
in Abu Dhabi and are very satisfied with their
colours, noise (49dB) and powerful lamps,
with a life of approximately 2000 hours.”
Four 4-output Photon media servers are
used on the show. Neys works a lot with VYV
Corporation, who developed the Photon.
Photon’s timeline interface makes it simple to
author shows using real-time effects and
compositing, allowing for immediate
changes and in-rehearsal iteration. For
added interactivity and synchronisation, all
parameters can be slaved to external
controls (UDP, Art-Net, MIDI, SMPTE
time-code, audio analysis). Photon networks
are easily controlled and are built with
robustness and reliability in mind, the
company says.
As far as video content production was
concerned, Neys worked with a team of five
animators and graphic artists provided by
Dragone Studio.
“All of them have worked on many of the
shows I did for Dragone or others . . .
We have really developed our own way of
working to respond specifically to Franco’s
modus operandi, which can be very difficult
and ‘painful’ but full of surprises.”
Karl Boucheker has been lighting and video
manager at the Lido since 2003, at the
beginning of the last Lido show, Bonheur,
and became head of lighting and video with
Stéphane Roumegieras in 2009. He explains
the factors that distinguish this production
from others he has worked on or seen, “That
is first time we’ve worked with less ‘real’
scenery and have a show based on video
mapping (five videos projectors) and LED
walls (one fixed and four movable). That
greatly affected the way we created the
lighting, because videos and light must be
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used in a coherent way in order to create perspective or optical
illusion effects for the audience.
“This is the also first time we’ve used a 1000 MB Network and Wi-Fi
with the lighting system control and [Photon] video mapping system.
Here at the Lido, the video system is being used for the first in France
in a fixed venue.”
Among the difficulties to be overcome in obtaining the required
results, the lighting manager indicated the smoke system: “This is the
most unstable part of the set-up to use, since smoke is never the
same for each show, as it depends on temperature and even outside
weather conditions.”
The rig at Boucheker’s disposal includes 22 Philips Vari-Lite VL4000,
18 Martin MAC Viper Performance, 28 MAC Quantum Profile, 35
Ayrton NandoBeam-S6 compact moving head fixtures in extended
mode (enabling each of the units’ LED sources to be controlled
individually), five Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE K20, 124 ETC Source Four
750W, 11 Ayrton Arcaline 2 LED bars, 52 PAR 64s and 36 PAR 38s.
Boucheker concludes, regarding the Clay Paky B-EYE fixtures: “We
use the B-Eyes for back- and down-lighting effects, and they were
chosen for their 37 independent LED heads.”
The show’s MA Lighting control system consists of a GrandMA2 Light
console, GrandMA2 on PC with a programmer wing (on back-up
duty) and GrandMA2 onPC with a Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Scenographer Jean Rabasse was, without a doubt, faced with one of
the most complex tasks. Revisiting the Lido scenery was a great
challenge, even for someone who has been awarded two César
awards and collaborated on prestigious shows like the Olympic
Games ceremonies. However, supported by Dragone’s technical
team, Rabasse came up with the goods and audiences are enthralled
Top: Sound designer Corrado Campanelli at the Yamaha CL5 console.
Above: Lighting and video manager Karl Boucheker at the MA2.
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by the monumental staircase with its art nouveau spirals, the
five-metre high chandelier with its 40,000 crystals emerging from the
depths, and his designs depicting both shady and aristocratic Paris.
Lifting equipment specialist Comete, headquartered in the eastern
French town of Anthon and a member company of the Fayat
construction group, was entrusted with the complete overhaul of the
Lido’s stage machinery. The company replaced the main 140-ton lift
which moves a 20,000 litre swimming-pool, a 7x7 metre ice skating-
rink, a scenery platform and a dance floor, together with the lift
mechanism of the190sq.m dress circle, where the tables for the
400-plus audience are laid out. There is also a platform for the
enormous chandelier, a liner deck, a three-ton capacity platform that
raises the orchestra from two levels below the stage and a rear
platform with 6-ton capacity that moves up four levels, giving the
possibility of creating three different sets of stairways.
For figure fans and trivia lovers, two years’ preparation and four months
of rehearsals preceded the first night of Paris Merveilles. Sixty artists,
including the famous Bluebell Girls, alternate on stage every night and
a team of 33 behind the scenes takes care of the 600 costumes, which
include 2 million Swarovski crystals and 100 kilos of ostrich feathers,
and were made in Dragone’s workshops in La Louvière, Belgium.
Regarding Paris Merveilles Dragone states: “The revue is a one of
a kind in the world of entertainment, an infinitely noble genre whose
codes have always fascinated me. To create my first show in Paris
was already a challenge, the fact the Lido is such a legendary
cabaret makes it even more demanding. This is the kind of challenge
that will force you to push and surprise yourself in order to captivate
others. I put my dreams, heart and soul into this revue, so it will not
only catch the eye, but also touch the soul of each spectator. Overly
ambitious? To me, the stage is a sacred place, and at a time when
the world is increasingly disenchanted, our mission is to bring joy and
brightness in people’s lives.”
Top: Photon control system with Stephane Roumegieras.
Above: Mechanical band and musicians (photo: Julien Panie).
