Ten years after its debut at The Public Theater’s LuEsther Hall off-Broadway in New York City, Here Lies Love has returned to the Big Apple to claim numerous ‘firsts’ including being the first Broadway event to use L-Acoustics’ L-ISA immersive technology to deliver spatialised sound.
Following subsequent runs in London and Seattle, the musical – created by Talking Heads founder David Byrne with music from Byrne and Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) – is now enjoying its Broadway debut at Manhattan’s Broadway Theatre. It is also distinguished as the first Broadway production to feature an all-Filipino cast who dramatise Imelda Marcos’ rise to prominence and downfall in the Philippines.
For the production, Scenic Designer David Korins gave the Broadway Theatre’s classic layout a major transformation, converting the venue’s traditional proscenium floor space into a dance club environment by first removing all of the orchestra seats. Here, standing audience members can enjoy moving with the performers, acting as an integral part of the story. For those preferring to sit, there are multiple options: two 90ft-long rows of elevated gallery seats flanking and overlooking the left and right sides of the dancefloor; a large mezzanine; and an exclusive Club Lounge section located just under the front mezzanine.
‘Here Lies Love is a unique show in which the audience blends with the performers; it can be experienced from the dancefloor, from seats around the dancefloor, or seated in a traditional setting,’ says Sound Designer Cody Spencer, who co-designed the show with M.L. Dogg.
‘We chose L-ISA immersive sound so we could provide the same enveloping immersive experience no matter where the audience is. We actually have six different zones that we are controlling with two L-ISA Processors, which we’re running in tandem. We have an L-ISA Processor doing the dance floor’s 360° sound, and then we have another one for the frontal system, which is the voices in the front with surrounds and stuff all around. Where L-ISA came in really handy here is to give people up in the mezzanines the experience of sound going around them and not just in front of them, because with most theatrical experiences, the sound is only in front of you.’
The Broadway Theatre’s current L-ISA installation employs more than 220 L-Acoustics loudspeakers in a full surround configuration. The fully immersive dancefloor area is covered by 14 L-Acoustics A Series arrays – three hangs of a single A15 Focus over two A15 Wide are flown above the two short ends of the rectangular floor space, while four hangs of two A10 Wide line each of the long sides of the floor. Runway fill is supplied by two centrally flown arrays of A10 Wide, with a pair of X8 providing additional fill when the axis of the runway is rotated 90°.
A ring of 16 5XT dot the perimeter of the walkways surrounding the dancefloor to provide localised fill.
In the traditional theatre audience seating area upstairs, three more A Series arrays – each comprised of four A15 or A10 – hang above the first mezzanine in an LCR arrangement while three arrays of seven Kara II cover the larger rear mezzanine.
A variety of X12, X8, and X4i enclosures provide fill for other locations, including the gallery seating areas, while two dozen KS21 subs distributed around the room solidly anchor the system’s club-like low end.
In all, 50 LA4X amplified controllers, all fed via Milan AVB, drive the system, fed from a Madi output converted from the show’s DiGiCo Quantum7T mixing console in the house mix bunker under the DJ station.
‘L-ISA spatial audio gives us the tools we need to quickly and efficiently program a 360° experience that conveys the excitement and nuance of each musical moment in the show,’ Spencer says. ‘On Here Lies Love, whether you’re standing on the floor or you’re sitting in the mezzanine, you really feel like you’re encompassed and you’re part of the show as opposed to watching the show that’s down there. I am excited for people to experience the sound of this show; I am confident this is just the beginning of L-ISA on Broadway.’
See also:
Here Lies Love
EM’s Halo Lies in Seattle
More: www.l-acoustics.com
