The play Pippin’ is currently on a six-month, 73-city tour across the United States, and CHAUVET Professional is helping them light the way.
Lighting and production manager Russell Thompson replaced the old incandescent ellipsoidals with 12 Ovation E-260WW LED fixtures from CHAUVET Professional for Pippin’s time on the road.
“Anything we can do to simplify our rig, reduce power consumption and lower transportation costs is a good idea,” says Thompson. “That is provided it doesn’t compromise the quality of our stage lighting, and the Ovations are certainly up to or better than the performance of our previous fixtures. We wanted to go as much as possible with LEDs for many reasons, one of which is so we wouldn’t have to carry dimmers. After looking at different LED ellipsoidals, we did a shootout — and the Ovation fixtures clearly won.”
On the new lighting rig, all but eight fixtures in the Prather rig are LED units, saving the Pippin’ team about $7000 a week. With 12 12 Ovation E-260WW ellipsoidals on Thompson’s rig, he positions them on the first and second electric as well as on booms, changing the exact arrangement to complement the stage configuration at each venue.
“We play in a wide range of theaters,” Thompson said. “Stage width may vary considerable from one site to the next. It may go from 35’ to 60’. In all cases, the Ovation ellipsoidals, with their smooth dimming curve and other features, have the flexibility to adapt to any stage. In terms of brightness, the output is never in question.”
