Best Of Musical 2006

THE STORY:

Until recently it was not uncommon for promoters to build a completely new venue for a new musical show, or at the very least to refurbish. Stage Entertainment, the undisputed market leader in Germany, now takes some of its shows on tour. For example “Best of Musical 2006”. When a production takes to the road every part of the staging has to go along for the ride. Everything from the costumes and make-up through the scenery, props, all the specialized special effects and stage machinery, not, of course, forgetting all the lighting and audio equipment, has to be made transportable and reliable. This is the only way to ensure absolute consistency between venues and to manage the time required for the get in and get out at each site.
For “Best of Musical 2006” all this equipment means a total of 24 trucks are needed. So, quite apart from the technological challenges, a show this size also requires considerable logistical wizardry. There are challenges for the audio professionals as well. The huge conventional analogue consoles traditionally used for such productions are barely practicable for this kind of touring. They are too big, too heavy and too unreliable. Furthermore, the vast amount of copper cabling they require is too bulky and unwieldy for fast and reliable deployment during a hectic tour schedule. All this goes some way to explaining Stage Entertainment’s decision to depart from convention for “Aida – The Musical”, the first musical on tour with the digital console. The reasons behind the decision to invest in a STAGETEC AURUS console are based on familiar benefits. Small footprint, light weight and greatly simplified interconnects, not forgetting superlative sound quality and class leading ergonomics. AURUS quickly convinced the decision makers and so two consoles made their debut on the opening night of “Best of Musical 2006” at the Olympiahalle in Munchen (Munich, Germany). One used for the main front-of-house mix and one for on-stage monitoring duties. The tour through eight major German and Austrian cities presents excerpts from the company’s current musical productions such as “Cats”, “The Phantom of The Opera”, “Mamma Mia!” as well as Disney’s “The Lion King”.