grandMA3 for Jesus Christ Superstar production in Oslo

Scenekvelder at the Folketeateret venue in Oslo, Norway, staged a fabulous new production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” bringing fresh and contemporary urban / industrial twists to the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's classic rock musical. Lighting designer Matt Haskins was delighted to use the venue’s grandMA3 lighting console to control his eye-catching design, as part of a talented creative team who ensured audiences enjoyed a thrilling production full of cool lighting, sound, and technical effects to assist their emotional journey.

Matt has previously worked in the theatre on a production of Miss Saigon, and was asked back to light this show, together with director and choreographer Cressida Carré, who, he explained, wanted “a playground of possibility” with this lighting design.

It was also the first time that Matt, who works extensively in theatre and opera, has lit this poplar musical, and a solid grandMA advocate, the first time he used a full grandMA3 system set up.

Matt has always been an MA user, but this was the first year he had used the grandMA3 in full 3 mode, having opted to run their grandMA3 console in grandMA2 mode when he was last working there for the “Miss Saigon” show.

The set was minimal and industrial, lots of scaffolding structures with and wooden platforms to the sides, all used by artists throughout, with a large open space in the middle full of the raw energy of the performance. Dramatic props, including a huge cross, came on and off for specific scenes.

The lighting rig comprised over 250 fixtures, a combination of moving lights from Martin and Chauvet, plus 46 vintage PAR 64s cans for the “Jesus Christ Superstar” number, together with Astera PixelBricks and custom LED strips … all controlled via the grandMA3.

Matt thought “the time was absolutely right” for him to make the transition to full grandMA3, having talked to numerous other LDs who had already completed the process.

No pre-viz time was allocated, but the onstage tech rehearsal period was a generous 5 weeks, kicking off with a week of rehearsals with cast onstage, followed by four solid weeks of programming, then a week of dress rehearsals and previews.

One significant change was utilising CuePoints software during pre-production to align all cues in musical numbers with timecode, which were then imported into the grandMA3 console.

The grandMA3 was programmed in ‘hybrid’ style, combining theatre and rock show techniques and treatments, underpinned by a theatrical cue structure with multiple playbacks for instant recall. This was also handy for the many recurring narrative and character motifs that ran through the performance. All the main characters had their own lighting motif.

grandMA3’s Selection Grid was “always a big help” commented Matt, adding that while it sometimes added complexity, ultimately everything becomes much easier when utilising this powerful feature, like allowing access symmetrical effects very swiftly via the onboard Visualiser.

The new Tracking Shield feature is “very clever” he notes, especially the ability to store and update with this feature and Dimmer CueOnly, which speeds the process up and protects from tracking mistakes. “You can work faster without having to see what the light is doing next” he stated.

He also made the most of being able to run Absolute and Relative Faders simultaneously – like a 0-minus100 strobe effect with an Absolute chase on top of the same fixtures at the same time, creating an intermittent high frequency flicker effect on selected cylindrical set practicals.

The Search functionality in Patch is “also great – it allows you to search, filter and find things really quickly” says Matt.

Possibly his favourite feature is the ability to add comments to the general readability of the Cue List and through it, the external playbacks. You can reference the unique ID beneath the Cue List, and move or rename sequences later, while all the command links all stay in place for playback.

Matt’s overall experience of using a full grandMA3 system for the first time that it really boosted their efficacy and what could be achieved during the programming sessions, including finessing cues and effects.

He also worked closely with set designer Sara Perks, and some of his multilayered lighting treatments involved the integration of different palettes, with a nod to the old skool large banks of PAR 64s, blended with the more modern look and output of the inbuilt LED set lights.

On site at Folketeateret, all their lighting needs on site were looked after by Chief LX Lars Lunder together with Fredrikke Folvik & Marius Ilerød who tech’d the follow spots.

Photos: © Fredrik Arff