Aktuelle News & Schlagzeilen

GrandMA3 for “Jesus Christ Superstar” production in Oslo

Scenekvelder at the Folketeateret venue in Oslo, Norway, staged a new production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” bringing fresh and contemporary urban/industrial twists to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s classic rock musical. Lighting designer Matt Haskins used the venue’s GrandMA3 lighting console to control his design.

Haskins 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 explains, wanted “a playground of possibility” with this lighting design. It was also the first time that Haskins, who works extensively in theatre and opera, has lit this popular musical, and the first time he used a full GrandMA3 system set up.

Haskins has always been an MA Lighting 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, with lots of scaffolding structures and wooden platforms to the sides, all used by artists throughout, and a large open space in the middle. 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 Lighting and Chauvet Professional, 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.

Haskins thought the time was 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 five 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.

Haskins 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 were looked after by Chief LX Lars Lunder together with Fredrikke Folvik and Marius Ilerød who tech’d the follow spots.

(Photo: Fredrik Arff)

www.malighting.com

© 1999 - 2025 Entertainment Technology Press Limited News Stories