Premiered Off-Broadway in 2013, Here Lies Love is an immersive theatrical and musical experience conceived by Talking Heads founder David Byrne who wrote the lyrics and collaborated with Fatboy Slim on the music. The show charts the life and times of former first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, following her rise to power and subsequent descent into disgrace with the People Power Revolution.
Its most recent residence was with the Seattle Repertory Theatre, directed by Alex Timbers, where it has seen its original run extended by three weeks as Broadway beckons.
The musical abandoned traditional seating, allowing theatregoers to mingle with the actors. The Seattle production offers seating for those who’d like it in galleries surrounding the main floor area as well as standing-only room on the floor itself which features a central (moving) stage as well as the traditional proscenium stage.
Sound designer Cody Spencer and associate designer Tony Gayle turned to Masque Sound who provided a full EM Acoustics PA system based on Halo-C and EMS-51s cabinets. ‘We used two hangs of six Halo-C elements for the vocal centre speakers and sixteen EMS-51s for gallery delays, plus four i-12 subs for the band stage,’ Gayle explains. ‘I was very impressed with the clarity and smoothness of the Halo-C. It’s the first time I’ve used it on a production like this and it performed amazingly well, giving us all the vocal presence we needed, even with the volume running over 95dB at times.’
He was equally pleased with the EMS-51s, an ultra-compact passive loudspeaker for use in situations where size is critical: ‘We had a lot of speakers to fit into a small space and the EMS-51s were an ideal choice – they allowed us to achieve optimum vocal coverage in the galleries with minimal intrusion,’ Gayle says.
‘It was really refreshing to see speakers from an independent UK manufacturer being used on a US show that may very well end up on Broadway,’ he adds. ‘It’s fair to say EM Acoustics wasn’t our first choice, but given the performance of Halo-C in particular, I’m anything but disappointed – on the contrary, I was genuinely impressed and wouldn’t hesitate to use it again.’
More: www.emacoustics.co.uk
