by Priscilla

Jul.14, 2010, under Backstage Blog

The lighting supervisor controls all the lighting for the show; the lights on the bus and the generic rigs around the stage. We make sure it stays as the designer wanted it to look. We also look after smoke and confetti effects. The lights are preset, but sometimes we have to tweak it on the night if things happen that aren’t supposed to happen, but generally we trigger sequences. There are about 1000 lights not counting the bus lights. We operate the show from the lighting desk, which is at the back of the Grand Circle. We get cued from the Deputy Stage Manager or whoever is reading the book.

Priscilla the bus

We come in about 3 hours before the show to check all the lights and the LED’s on the bus. Everything needs to be checked everyday, particularly the moving lights. We also have a maintenance job every week.

I’ve previously worked on Spamalot, Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady and touring rep gigs.

The hardest part of the show from a lighting perspective is the Funeral scene or Venus. There are a lot of lighting cues all the way through them. In the funeral we have the LED net backcloth, which is constantly changing images. The easiest part is when the bus is travelling, because a lot of the time the lights are generally set. There are about 425 lighting cues all the way through the show.

The audiences love Priscilla, so we must be doing something right. The ovation we get each night is incredible.