Back on Broadway

Multi Grammy Award-winner Barry Manilow returns to Broadway for the first time in more than two decades and this time he’s accompanied by grandMA2 consoles. Bandit Lites supplied the grandMA2 ultra-light consoles to the St. James Theatre for the entertainer’s limited-run engagement featuring a huge catalogue of his hits.

Production designer Seth Jackson began using grandMA2 consoles during the programming process. “We did a lot of the programming while the band was on the road, then we had a lot of stuff to re-program and no window to do it all at once,” he recalls. “So we did most of the programming with a MA onPC command wing in California during rehearsals. Then we took the MA onPC command wing to New York to do a lot of ESP programming. It was a massive amount of work, and with the MA onPC command wing, it was like having a real grandMA2.”  

Once settled into the St. James Theatre Jackson began to use a pair of grandMA2 ultra-light consoles to control more than 70 lights, most of them moving heads. The desks also controlled a front of house truss with conventional fixtures.

Jackson runs a pair of d3 media servers on Art-Net through the consoles as well. “It’s very helpful to have the grandMA2 for that purpose. They run seamlessly.”

When Manilow finishes his New York engagement his show will revert to a touring model, Jackson reports. But for now, “the grandMA2 ultra-light are rockin’ away” on Broadway, he says.

Jackson programmed with his two associate designers, Nathan W. Scheuer and Brent Sandrock.  The lighting director for the tour is Jason Workman

A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor of MA Lighting in North America.

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