Based on the John Updike novel and film of the same name, The Witches of Eastwick is written by John Dempsey and Dana Rowe and will feature Ian McShane in the leading role played by Jack Nicholson in the film. The new production will be directed by Eric D Shaeffer and designed by Bob Crowley with lighting by Howard Harrison.
Currently one of the most prolific lighting designers in the UK, Harrison was nominated for the Olivier Award for best lighting in both 1998 and 1999. His recent projects have included Martin Guerre on tour in the USA, Putting It Together in New York and last year's London smash hit Mamma Mia. Working alongside Harrison on the show will be assistant lighting designer Oliver Fenwick, production electrician Alistair Grant and lighting programmer Rob Halliday; Nic Harris is the show's production manager.
Harrison's conventional rig for The Witches of Eastwick will include ETC Source Four profile spotlights, Strand SL Zooms, PAR64 cans, Wybron ColorRam II scrollers and Cadenza EP effects projectors with custom disks in White Light's VSFX motor units. Control will be from Strand 500-series consoles.
The Moving Light Company will be supplying the production with eighteen Strand Alto Pirouettes, fifteen DHA Digital Light Curtains, four DHA Digital Beamlight 2s, six City Theatrical AutoYokes and nine compact moving mirror units which will be hidden around the auditorium to light the show's innovative flying effects.
The Witches of Eastwick continues the long relationship between White Light and Cameron Mackintosh; White Light supplied the rigs to the recent touring productions of Les Miserables and Oliver!, to the record-breaking run of Oliver! at the London Palladium, to the original West End production of Martin Guerre and to the charity concert Hey Mr Producer as well as to the ten-year run of Miss Saigon at Drury Lane, the theatre that is now to house Witches.
The Witches of Eastwick will open on July 18th after previewing from June 24th. More information about the show can be obtained from the Witches of Eastwick website, www.witchesofeastwick.com.