Kenneth Posner Taps Chauvet Professional LED Pars for Kinky Boots Tour

	Kenneth Posner

More than a few critics have compared the Broadway hit Kinky Boots to another Tony Award-winning production, Hairspray. The two musicals do indeed share much in common beyond their exhilarating music and spangly costumes -- including the fact that both were enlivened by lighting designs created by Kenneth Posner.

This summer, the renowned lighting designer's design hit the road, as Kinky Boots began its first national tour. Included in Posner's Kinky Boots road rig were 18 COLORado 2-Quad Zoom Tour fixtures from Chauvet Professional. The LED par-style fixtures were supplied by Production Resource Group (PRG), which also provided the equipment for the pre-Broadway and Broadway engagement of Kinky Boots.

Used primarily as wash fixtures, the COLORado 2-Quad Zoom Tours, which are powered by 14 quad-color RGBW 15W LEDs, were positioned over the main area of the stage. Once the zoom feature of the COLORados fixtures was used to focus them, they were left in the same position for the entire show.

"We specified the COLORados for the tour to replace a full stage down light color wash we were using," said Posner. "The COLORados have given us enhanced color variety, and they eliminated the need for color scrollers -- plus there were no perishable costs. Overall, the intensity, 16-bit fade of individual colors, and color range made these fixtures a good choice for the tour."

In addition to the Chauvet Professional fixtures, the Kinky Boots tour rig included spot luminaires, ellipsoidals, and linear fixtures. Posner, whose lighting design for Kinky Boots was nominated for a Tony Award (one of 10 such nominations he's received in his career to go along with his 2007 Tony win for The Coast of Utopia), credits his quality rig and dedicated team with making the 2014 tour go smoothly.

"Tours in general are challenging by their nature," he said. "The goal is to replicate the Broadway experience, which is not always easy. We were able to do this on the Kinky Boots tour, thanks to the efforts and talent of Anthony Pearson, my associate designer; Jeremy Cunningham, our first assistant; Jason Badger, our moving light programmer; and Randy Zaibek, our production electrician. Darren DeVerna and his team at PRG lighting also did an excellent job helping us put together a really great touring package."

Kinky Boots, which features a musical score written by Cyndi Lauper, has earned rave reviews at a virtually every stop along the way in its national tour. Critics have lavished praise on Lauper's music and lyrics. The production's impressive lighting design has also earned kudos from critics like the writer in San Diego, who noted, "I've never seen such production values ... Kenneth Posner's lighting design goes from blood-red blinking neon to followspots to a shell spot, along with the usual assortment of theatrical lighting." How right he was!

For more on PRG visit www.prg.com.

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