It's Opening Night

As excitement mounted for the big gala opening night performance of Lion King in Singapore there were a couple of special events.

First on the list was the farewell drinks for Scott, our followspot caller.
Unfortunately Scott was so popular on the night, I was unable to get a photo with him. I did however catch Ross the Vari-lite programer from the Las Vegas version of Lion King.

Next was the blessing of the new theatre and specifically the season of Lion King.

The whole company was invited out to the loading dock, where this table had been set up. We were asked to take some incense sticks, walk to the table, bow three times and place the sticks into the bowl at the centre of the table.

Here I am with my incense sticks

After a short prayer and song we were all invited to eat everything on the table. Gosh it was all very delicious.

Here's to a prosperous season!

Opening Night 10/3/2011

After two months of very hard work opening night had finally arrived. Lisa was very excited and asked me to be her chaperone for the evening. A perfect job for a gentleman suchas myself.

Here I am beside Lisa waiting for the opening night performance to begin. Look at all the very dressed up people down there.

After the performance it was time to enjoy ourselves! Below is a selection of the photos taken at the party.

Lisa's father flew in to support her and here are he and I along with the Lighting Designer Jeanne.

After the main party finished the Lighting team moved to another venue. Here is Lisa's boss, Evan and myself.

I think he found my joke quite amusing.



I suppose the only thing left now is the final end of week shot. This was taken on the Sunday after Opening night. All these photos were taken at approximately 9:30pm on the Sunday nights of each week. Our final one comes at interval on Performance Six.

Thank you everyone for following and supporting Lisa through a very tough bump in. In the coming weeks I will start to show you some of the other fun, un-work related things Lisa and I have been up to during our time in Singapore.

Bump in and Rehearsals

I know this has been a long time coming and hope you can forgive the delay.
When I left you Lisa had just been given her last two day weekend for the foreseeable future, since then the show has progressed through a lot.

Bump in Concludes

Week three of the bump in was about finishing the bump in and starting to Focus the rig. Lisa allowed me back to the theatre for a few days this week, as with last time I visited the Lx team put me to work.

Because I had had some experience with the lighting desk I was asked to help with the focus by running the riggers remote.

Here you can see me with the lighting plans preparing to bring up the next light to be focused.

Later in the week the followspots were set up. I of course was on hand to help Lisa move into her new home.

As you can see I made sure the chair                         I also made sure Lisa's cans         

was a comfortable one and that there                         worked and that she could

was enough light to read cue sheets by.                     see the stage from her position

For the photos at the end of the week I took two as to show you the progression. Just before the coffee break Sunday night the Lx crew were finishing up the focus.

If you notice the bones on the stage are only half lit in this shot

But now they are fully lit.

You will also notice the cougar has moved closer to centre stage. The marvelous Sir Scott Smith is up the top of the cougar.

Technical Rehearsals

Technical rehearsals started with, Lisa tells me!, the usual excitement and soon slumped into the usual, Lisa tells me! boring slow days. I certainly know she came home most days over these two weeks grumpy and tired.

Hello Stage Management! Yes the spots are all here.

Standby to do the scene under work light

And now in full show conditions

Lisa made me pose for this photo. She told me that this is a typical position for a followspot operator to spend 60% of their time during Tech week. As a gentleman I would never dare argue with a lady.



Sunday night at the end of week 4, the Lion King company has bumped in, focused, plotted and gotten to the end of Act I of the tech rehearsals. 



Dress Rehearsals

Week five consisted of finishing the technical rehearsals and starting the dress rehearsals.

The big news this week however was not what was happening on stage but the change going on in the followspot room.

See if you can spot the difference.

 

The Great Spot Changeover of Lion King Singapore 2011. Lycian Long throw to Robert Juilet Cyrano in an afternoon. The smile on my face mimics the one on Lisa's.

By the end of week 5 technical rehearsals were over and dress rehearsals had started.

End of week five photo. Notice the lights are off, the stage is bare, people are packing up ready to go home for the weekend and rest for the Previews and Opening Night to come.