Star Wars In Concert

It’s only fitting that Coemar Infinity Wash XL fixtures are playing a key role in “Star Wars: In Concert", a new touring production based on George Lucas’s infinitely entertaining “Star Wars” franchise. Show Director and designer Steve Cohen is deploying 42 Infinitys as the main wash lights for the show’s 86-piece symphony orchestra, according to Cohen’s associate production designer, Seth Jackson.

A unique multimedia event featuring music from all six of John Williams’s “Star Wars” scores, “Star Wars: In Concert” began its worldwide tour October 1 in Anaheim, California. It features a full symphony orchestra and choir accompanied by a montage of specially-edited footage to fit each theme. The montage is displayed on a three-story tall, HD LED screen and narrated by Anthony Daniels, the actor who portrayed C-3PO in all of the “Star Wars” films. Original movie props, artifacts and production artwork - many seen for the first time by the public - are also on hand.

“The star of ‘Star Wars: In Concert’ is the film,” emphasizes Jackson, a production, set and lighting designer who has many years touring experience to his credit. “Rather than being downstage center, the screen is nearly 72 feet away from the downstage edge behind the orchestra. That creates a whole different set of parameters for how you light things and where you put things. It’s very challenging to keep the screen at center focus when it’s in the back. It’s rare to hear a symphony orchestra playing in this kind of environment and delivering this awesome, completely live sound every night!”.

Jackson, who is traveling with the production, calls the Coemar Infinity Wash XLs the “workhorse” wash lights for the orchestra. “They’re mounted in overhead positions above the orchestra, and their function is to cut through everything with a strong color base for the visuals in the show,” he explains. “We use their wheel prism effect to add texture without having to rely on gobos. We also have Infinitys uplighting all the scenic surrounds around the LED wall from the floor. The Infinitys’ color choices are rich: We can get a real red through mixing and deep greens and blues as well, so we don’t need to use the color wheel.”

The Infinitys are also “very bright and can cut through an awful lot of gear, not to mention a huge LED wall,” he adds. “They are not massive instruments and ride well in the truss. They work fantastically and are holding up very well on tour.”

With so much more than just superior brightness to their name, Coemar Infinity Wash XL lights sport a groundbreaking new color mix system able to achieve CMY and RGB colors (CMY patent pending). They also boast an effects wheel for creating texture and aerial effects with wash light (patent pending) as well as a beam shaper rotating and indexing at 360 degrees (patent pending).

Upstaging supplied the Coemar fixtures for the tour. “They have a tremendous crew over there; everyone has been fantastic,” Jackson reports. “This tour is the most fun I’ve ever had!”

“Star Wars: In Concert” is produced by Another Planet Touring in association with Lucasfilm Ltd. Steve Cohen is the production’s director and designer.