W-DMX™ is once again gracing the stages of German musical theatre. Following a successful run with Wicked – The Witches of Oz, the system is being used on another popular musical, Ich Will Spaß (“I want to have fun!”)
The soundtrack of the 80´s-themed musical Ich Will Spaß dominates the “Neue Deutsche Welle” music style. Tennis socks and net shirts, a “Make Love Not War” attitude, riots vs. peaceful demonstrations – the eighties had many expressions. It was also the time when Neue Deutsche Welle, short NDW, was born. With I Want to Have Fun! stage entertainment has made a landmark in the form of a musical for the sound of the eighties. The period will be revived in the Colosseum Theater Essen with around 20 NDW hits like “Hurrah, hurrah, die Schule brennt” by Extrabreit, “Hohe Berge” by UKW, “Leutchtturm” by Nena, “Codo” by DÖF, “Ich will was mir gefällt” by UKW, and – of course – “Ich will spaß” (I want to have fun!) by Markus. With 83 moving lights, amongst them 49 x Vari*Lite VL3500 Spot & Wash, and 99 ETC Source Four, the lighting rig offers a professional design. To represent the colorful feel of the 80´s, the stage is dominated by a giant Rubik´s Cube equipped with 293 MR16s, custom created for the set design, with 197 LED/RGB-Modules built in. The 950 square foot (88 sqm) large video wall is one of the largest moving screens in German staging. Furthermore, the edge of the stage is fitted with 54 “B250” LED stripes from Schnick-Schnack-Systems. Power and data distribution for the lighting of the Rubik’s Cube is located beneath the stage in a revolving custom rack. The inner lighting of the cube is controlled by 10 pieces of 12 x 2.3kW MA Digital Touring dimmers. The lighting system is controlled by a grandMA full-size, one grandMA light, one grandMA replay unit and five MA NSPs. To enable extreme flexibility for the onstage cube, for instance by turning and folding several elements, the installers fitted a Wireless Solution W-DMXTM BlackBox Transmitter and a BlackBox Receiver for wireless DMX transmission. “The Wireless Solution technology was already utilized in the musical Wicked – The Witches of Oz in Stuttgart,” Production Electrician Andy Peistrup explains, “Wireless Solution W-DMX is more reliable than any other wireless system. Other convincing features were the compact design, the possibility to expand the system on demand and the option to run the receiver on low voltage power, which is especially helpful with the battery powered stage sets and props in use.” Andy Voller was in charge of the lighting design. Carline Brouwer directed. Stage design was made by Christoph Weyers. Arjen Klerkx and Coen Bouman took care of the video design. Thomas Giegerich handled media servers and LED panels. Ich will Spaß! (I want to have fun!) is the second largest German stage-entertainment production after Ich war noch niemals in New York (I’ve never been to New York). Lighting equipment was provided by Flashlight BV and RentAll BV. W-DMX by Wireless Solution Sweden AB is the number one system on the market for Wireless DMX, winning awards at major trade shows on both sides of the Atlantic. Lighting & Sound International magazine proclaimed that W-DMX “outshone the rest” in an independent test, “The Great Wireless Shootout”. It has been used in high profile projects all over the world, including the Céline Dion World Tour, the Pyramids of Giza, Times Square in New York City and on the world’s largest ferris wheel, the Singapore Flyer.