Based on the novel by Wilkie Collins, The Woman In White is being directed by Trevor Nunn, the man behind Cats, Les Miserables, Starlight Express, My Fair Lady, Anything Goes and, until recently, artistic director of the Royal National Theatre. The show's designs, which will make heavy use of video projection, are by William Dudley, while the show's lighting designer is Paul Pyant.
Facing the challenge of matching lighting to the projected scenery while not obscuring the projections, Pyant has opted for a core rig of automated lanterns - but using predominantly tungsten-based units. His rig includes City Theatrical Autoyokes with irises and scrollers, Strand Pirouette PCs with Rainbow scrollers and ETC Revolutions; the Revolutions can also be found lighting the new tour of Miss Saigon and will soon also be seen on Mary Poppins. The rig also features Vari-Lite's 3000 Spot, giving the designer a high intensity colour-mixing spotlight with a wide zoom range and three gobo wheels.
The conventional rig includes ETC Source Fours in all beam angles, White Light Toccata VSFX effects projectors, High End Dataflash, R&V 500W beamlights, Rainbow Pro colour scrollers plus Viper smoke machines and Unique haze machines from Look Solutions. The rig will be controlled by a Strand 500-series console to be programmed by Vic Smerdon; Gerry Amies is serving as the show's production electrician with David Howe as associate lighting designer and Richard Bullimore as production manager. The show is being produced by Sonia Friedman Productions and The Really Useful Theatre Company.
The Woman In White opens in mid-September at the Palace Theatre in London, until recently home to the hit musical Les Misérables, now transferred to the Queen's Theatre and also using a rig from White Light and The Moving Light Company.
Further information about The Woman In White can be found at the show's website, www.womaninwhitethemusical.com.