Lighting Designer Justin Townsend specified 38 High-End Systems SolaWash 2000 High CRI automated LED luminaires for Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Since its summer opening at New York City’s Al Hirschfield Theatre, the show has received critical acclaim not only for the glam costumes and glitzy scenery but also for its rich lighting.
A review on Broadway World said it’s “sumptuously designed in more shades of red than you previously knew existed on the colour spectrum.”
The Hollywood Reporter wrote about “watching performers of this calibre bathed in the caressing colours of Justin Townsend’s lighting…”
New York Stage Review noted “the real stars are the artists who don’t appear on stage. Lighting designer Justin Townsend can evoke anything from a pulse-pounding nightclub to the shadowy alleys of Argentina to a hallucinogenic electric-green drunken dream.”
Townsend, a two-time Tony Award nominee, said: “The SolaWash 2000 unit has been instrumental for my work on Moulin Rouge! The Musical.” He chose the High CRI version of the automated luminaire for requisite features such as its incredibly accurate colour rendering and key light for face lighting.
“It is a silent, super-bright light that can be Fresnel-soft and still sharpen razor-edge to its own shutters,” he said. “I was able to cut around the complex scenery in the show and really pop the costumes and faces with clarity.”
The silence refers to the fixture’s patented whisper-quiet cooling system. “The fixtures do great work for me front-of-house where fan noise is essential to eliminate in modern musicals,” he added.
The designer also enjoys using the colour palette – using CMY colour mixing and a colour wheel – which played a starring role in the production. “The colour is rich and detailed, the whites clean and sharp,” he noted.
“I haven’t used a High-End System lighting fixture before and was thrilled to find they absolutely perform reliably and solidly for our extreme needs on Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” Townsend affirmed. “This is my new workhorse light.”
