MANCHESTER, UK – It is close to impossible to improve on the power of a flower to give rise to warm feelings and good thoughts, but Ed Warren managed to do just that when he lit The Lottery Winners’ recent homecoming show.  The “flowers” that this well-known lighting designer planted on stage at the iconic […]

ROTTERDAM – Kerstcircus Ahoy has pretty much everything fans expect to find in a circus, from trapeze artists and acrobats to jugglers and clowns, including the disarmingly charming Austrian clown, Don Christian. But this popular wintertime event, which has been captivating audiences for over a half-century, doesn’t stop there. Drawing unique acts from across the […]

The Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, MD, about 10 miles south of Washington DC is a perfect site for any event. The carefully manicured grounds are elegant, and guests can gaze out the main ballroom’s 270-degree floor-to-ceiling windows to enjoy stunning views of the Potomac River. Small wonder then that the […]

With few exceptions, most notably traditional Chinese culture, the number 6 is not considered particularly lucky. Metallica and Rob Koenig might beg to differ, however. For a time, after Koenig started his tenure with the iconic band, they referred to him as “Number Six,” a name chosen because he was their sixth LD in 2008. […]

As a rule, Andrew Cass prefers to stay away from having a single massive video wall behind the band, but like all rules, this one can be bent, especially in the interest of collaboration. Such was the case in December when Cass served as lighting designer and programmer for Closer to the Sun, the annual […]

Does a lighting designer need to have a musical background to create an evocative show?  This Emmy winning Muscle Shoals, Alabama-based LD says it isn’t absolutely necessary, but allows that one way or another, musicality and rhythm must find a way to run through the heart and soul of every memorable lighting design. A former […]

LOS ANGELES – “Dazzling!” The word was used often by the entertainment media when reporting on the Red Carpet at this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards. Journalists used this and similar plaudits to describe not just the TV stars as they exited their limousines, but also their sartorial splendor, from Jessica Chastain’s chartreuse Gucci dress, to […]

LOS ANGELES – Eric Nam is a “natural born performer,” wrote one admiring critic when describing the US-born and South Korean-based star’s recently concluded “House on a Hill” North American tour. The multi-talented Nam’s smooth, engaging personality does indeed make him seem right at home on stage, but why stop there? His incredibly broad vocal […]

LOS ANGELES – Just about everyone who saw The Struts on the UK band’s recently concluded North American tour felt two things when they left one of its sold-out shows: exhilarated and exhausted. “Exhilarated,” because the irrepressible glam rockers kept pedal to the metal with their relentless stage presence and hard-driving music from the moment […]

RAPPERSWIL, SWITZERLAND – A circus is magic. How else to explain how, in a single afternoon, it can turn even the most serious adult into a child, eyes wide open with wonder, marveling at acts that turn reality on its head. Circus Knie, one of Europe’s oldest and among the world’s most famous circuses has […]

MONTREAL – The 1960s saw many wild, wonderful and colorful transformations, but the modern moving light that would one day lead to the reimagination of stage design was not one of them. That creative breakthrough was still a decade away when “Hair,” the Tony-winning counter culture musical from James Rado and Gerome Ragni, made its […]

SAN JUAN – “Every moment of light and dark is a miracle,” wrote Walt Whitman. All lightshows are proof of that. But on rare occasions, when the meaning of the moment aligns perfectly with the aesthetics that celebrate it, the “miracle” becomes frozen in time, ensuring that it will always burn brightly in the minds […]