Full steam ahead!

Sorry for the lame title, but we're all having a heap of fun in Wellington, New Zealand this week for the first bump in of Starlight Express, which Mandylights is supplying lighting direction, crewing and equipment for as the show tours for the next few months.

The show has a spectacular lighting design by Howard Eaton and we're working with the associate designer, Stu Stacy here in New Zealand to get the show up and running. With over 100 moving lights and 120 scrollers, the show has more than enough toys to keep our four man crew busy.

We'll put some photos up soon....

rich

More traveling

Howdy all from the tiny islands of Fiji - where I've been working on a couple of events for the last week. I can honestly say the Fijians we've been working and staying with have been some of the most dedicated, caring and fun people to work with anywhere in the world. Big thanks to Adam and Staging Connections this week as well who provided gear for us... those in the industry will appreciate how much easier a job becomes when everyone is on the same side and working together. It's been an absolute pleasure to be involved with the events and I really can't wait to get back on holiday or on business soon.

I'm now going to enjoy a whopping 48hrs back in Sydney before heading off to New Zealand for a week on Tuesday.

Hopefully I get a chance to catch up with some friends and colleagues in the next little while when all this calms down!

Rich

Mandy's All Shook Up

Hello Mandy followers over the past two weeks i have been Lighting the Knox Grammar School musical All Shook Up. Its a great show directed by Mr Charles Hambling. Lighting wise i tried to highlight the huge set elements designed by Tom Bannerman. The set was inspired by the 1950's vinal Record and encorporates this huge archway resembling a Jukebox that i have filled with LED. I havent taken any photos as yet but I will post some on the website in the next week!

Almost three

Mandylights (as a concept) turns three in a fortnight... it's pretty cool how much we've accomplished in the first three years and we're looking forward to many more ahead of us. Might add a bit more to that later on this month.

Dan and I have had a great time experimenting on a new play Picasso at the Lapin Agile which we've been lighting in Sydney. We created a design based around heaps of hanging lamp shades and the play opened last night with everyone loving it. I'll put some photos up soon.

The second half of the year is almost upon us and with it comes the prospect of more travel than we can handle.... in the coming weeks you'll find us in Brisbane, all over New Zealand, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Johannesburg, London, Shanghai, Beijing and more... and that's just the stuff we know about!

See you soon.... somewhere!

rich

A Busy Week

This week's been flat out for all of us - when I haven't been really sick I've been lighting the massive Presence Conference at Sydney's Convention and Exhibition Centre and also making sure the launch of Australia's Next Top Model looked as hot as the models did on the catwalk. Dan's been lighting the Australian Children's Choir and the continuing Peace Train tour which went through Sydney last weekend.

Mike's been over at the Vogue Magazine Fashion week launch, setting the scene for a week of fashion-week related events for us next week. There'll be lots of clothes, lots of beautiful people and lots of champagne. Looking forward to it!

rich

Singapore Sling

  With Mardi Gras barely over I jumped on a plane on Tuesday bound for Singapore where I'm currently lighting a couple of big events at the Raffles Hotel. We've got a great crew from Perfectus in Singapore who are providing the gear along with Hamid and the events are shaping up to look great. While the 95% chance of rain is not looking good for our big outdoor gala, it's still refreshing to be up here for a few days.

  Last week was a blur - on Tuesday and Wednesday Mike and I braved the elements on top of Centrepoint Tower in Sydney for an awesome launch event, and then I spent the rest of it holed up in the RHI at Fox Studios programming the Mardi Gras party which was a tremendous success - watch the main page for pictures of the party which I'll get up in the next couple of days.

  The next few weeks are incredibly busy for all of us (I should stop saying that in blogs because I think it's just a given that we're always busy now). There's a lot of television coming up, some exciting corporate work and of course Greg will be at the theatre just down the road from me here in Singapore at the beginning of April as we continue touring with Cats around South East Asia.

  Anyway, it's off to bed for me ready for the conference to begin tomorrow morning.

rich

Busy busy busy

The pace has definitely picked up throughout the Mandylights team in the past few weeks. I've been from one job to the next (quite literally) with the Korean Production of Cats, a regional NSW tour of Peace Train and a car launch in Canberra. The coming weeks see a Tasmanian tour of Peace Train, Mardi Gras Party, jobs at Sydney Uni and Sydney Ent Cent before more touring of AUS and the rest of the world... Does anyone want to rent my appartment???

Peace Train starring Darren Coggan