Elation Flies On Peter Pan Tour

The recently-launched Tom McCoy-Cathy Rigby national tour of Peter Pan hit the road with all-new lighting rig, supplied by Pacific Coast Entertainment , of Huntington Beach, California.

Working with the show's lighting designer Michael Gilliam, PCE put together a complement of automated spot, wash, and specialty fixtures that included Elation Professional's Design Wash 1400E 1,200W DMX moving head wash and Power Spot 700 CMY-II 700W DMX moving head spot.

The tour, which will run through 2013, marks a reprisal of the production, starring Tony Award-nominee Cathy Rigby in the title role of this classic tale about a boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up. Olympic gymnast-turned-actor Rigby, who co-owns the production company with her husband Tom McCoy, has been playing Peter Pan since the early 1990s.

"This show is a juggernaut," said PCE's Ryan Steidinger. "It just continues to power on. Cathy continues to fly across the stage. Like Peter Pan himself, the story never gets old and still draws people of all ages."

But lighting design and technology have changed over the past 20 years, and the set of the iconic show needed an updated look; thus the creation of the new rig. "This is the first time Pan has gone on national tour with this many moving heads," said Steidinger. "All of the down light on stage is created with moving heads." The makeover has gone over exceptionally well, he reported. "The producers told me it's the best lighting they've ever had for the show."

Included are 14 Elation Design Wash 1400E and 16 Power Spot 700 CMY II. Both fixtures feature full-color CMY mixing. The 1 200W Design Wash 1400E operates on 17 DMX channels and includes variable CTO color correction. The Power Spot 700 CMY II is equipped with two gobo wheels, a replaceable animation wheel (four extra animation wheels included), variable-speed strobe, mechanical dimming system 0-100%, iris and frost effect. Six Elation Opto Branch 4 DMX splitters are also being used, mounted on a rack that sits on top of the dimmer rack.

The Elation moving heads were chosen because they offered cost-effective solutions for the automated spots and washes, said Steidinger. "With the economy the way it is, the show was on a very tight budget. We worked hard to find fixtures that would provide the most bang for the buck, and Elation delivers tremendous value."

Reliability was also a huge factor, Steidinger added, as the tour will run nearly two years. "The stuff has to be durable because it gets picked up and moved every few days," he said. "It also has to be lightweight. And it has to perform reliably, because you're going to all these different theaters, yet you need to create the same look over and over again." Steidinger said his previous experience with Elation made him confident that the Design Wash 1400E and Power Spot 700 CMY II would hold up and perform reliably and consistently on the Pan tour.

Steidinger also commended Elation for the extensive support the company gave Peter Pan's moving light technician Amy Carr prior to the tour. The lighting supplier hosted Carr for onsite training to teach her how to service the Elation movers in the field. "Amy's got a direct line she can pick up and call if she's got a question. But she can do any necessary repairs on the road herself, because she's gotten all that training. This makes her very confident," said Steidinger. "It's great to have industry partners like Elation that will support the shows we are doing."