- Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures played a major role in concurrent East Coast and West Coast tours for The Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s (TSO) winter production, “The Lost Christmas Eve.” Epic Productions supplied the fixtures for the tours.
TSO’s new staging of its rock opera features more lights, more lasers and more pyrotechnics than ever before. “I change the lighting design every single year,” said lighting designer Bryan Hartley. “This year’s design was really special due to a number of things, including the Sharpys. They helped us step up the production a level.”
A total of 184 Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures serviced both tours. On stage two large arches were constructed from 8-foot truss; 36 Sharpys were top hung from the arches and 24 were mounted on smaller arches. Thirty-two Sharpys were placed on the floor. All were grouped in banks of four.
“As a lighting designer I’m into beamy lights. I’m an old-school rock guy – and since the sharpys came out I don’t even use ACLs any more,” Hartley said. “I had 10 Sharpys last year and loved them. So when I designed the new show for 2012 I went with all Sharpys as the primary effects lights. I was looking for another hard-edged fixture.”
The Sharpy fixtures held up well under the demands of two concurrent TSO tours. “There were virtually no reliability problems,” Hartley says. “They took a beating; we put them through the ringer and used them to their fullest extent.”
