Casting Light Podcast
64 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 17 ratingsFeaturing leading practitioners of the art, craft, and business of entertainment lighting, we serve the need for user-driven information in the hope of creating a forum for sincere, unscripted community interaction.
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Episodes
Jeff Croiter Pt 2: How to make lighting and influence people
July 28, 2021 21:23 - 57 minutes - 35.7 MBJeff Croiter is back on the show! This time, we discussed the musical Bandstand – Jeff explained what he did, why and how he did it, and how his design supported the show’s messages and concepts. He also went into great detail on his design for Freestyle Love Supreme, including the show’s structure, how the programming and playback worked, and how he cued a show that could go seemingly anywhere on any day. Jeff also spoke about some of his other projects, as well as his thoughts on things...
Jeff Croiter Pt 1: making magic with light
July 08, 2021 17:04 - 59 minutes - 36.4 MBJeff Croiter has had quite a career thus far. While best known for his Broadway lighting designs, his work on theater, dance, and opera has been seen from coast to coast in the United States as well as internationally and on broadcast television. He has been recognized with Tony, Hewes Design, and Suzi Bass awards and nominations for Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lortel, Ovation, Irne, and Audelco awards. This past Spring, Jeff joined us for an in-depth discussion of some of his best-...
Jeff McCrum Pt 2: Theater renovation, construction, and improvement
May 05, 2021 15:48 - 1 hour - 35.3 MBJeff McCrum of Fisher Dachs Associates is back with us for more discussion about how new venues are built, how old venues are renovated, and what theatrical consultants do. We discussed some of his key projects as a theatrical consultant: renovation of the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre aka The Muny, the construction of a new venue for BlueBarn Theatre in Omaha, and his work on the Tribute In Light at the World Trade Center. We also discussed the software used in his end of the business...
Jeff McCrum Pt 1: how to make a venue from scratch
April 16, 2021 18:19 - 59 minutes - 32.6 MBHow does a new venue go from concept to completion? Who asks the key questions and makes the decisions that the venue’s utility hinges on? When a lighting position has no realistic way to access it or the houselights don’t dim, what happened during that venue’s design process? Jeff McCrum of Fisher Dachs Associates is here to answer those questions, and many more. Jeff handles Stage lighting systems design at FDA, and has extensive experience as a theatrical consultant, architectural lig...
Elizabeth Harper Pt 2: on being inspired, and inspiring others
April 02, 2021 14:53 - 53 minutes - 29.5 MBWe are back for more with LA-based theatrical lighting designer Elizabeth Harper! This time we got to get into the details of her work on the world premiere of Kemp Powers’ Little Black Shadows at South Coast Rep, and the West Coast run of Sarah Jones’ Sell / Buy / Date at the Geffen Playhouse. We discussed what she’s done to teach her lighting design students at the University of Southern California remotely during the pandemic, and how the situation helped both her and her students see t...
Elizabeth Harper Pt. 1: in Los Angeles, the play's the thing
March 22, 2021 18:03 - 51 minutes - 28.9 MBElizabeth Harper chooses to do great work that she can be proud of, to focus on important new plays, and do it all in L.A. Her love for art and for the creation of vital theater has fueled a career the speaks for itself, including numerous world premieres including Julia Cho’s Office Hour and Michael Mitnick’s Mysterious Circumstances, along with new works by Eliza Clark, Lucy Alibar, Kemp Powers, Kimber Lee, Shelia Callaghan, Gregory Moss, Jeffrey Hatcher and The 1491s. She has also worke...
Bill Berner Pt. 2: the serious business of lighting comedy
March 01, 2021 12:00 - 1 hour - 42 MBBill is back on the show with even more information about how he creates lighting for television, how the TV business works, and the protocols he works under on set during the pandemic. His nearly 40 years of experience on camera, first as a lighting designer and then as a director of photography, gives him insight into and informed opinions about nearly every aspect of the job. After a multi-camera show finishes shooting, the DP’s job isn’t done until they have worked with the colorist to...
Bill Berner Pt. 1: 40 years behind the camera
February 15, 2021 15:06 - 1 hour - 45.5 MBThere are few people who know more about lighting for television than Bill Berner. Over the course of a nearly 40 year career, he’s lit countless series and episodes of celebrated television, and picked up six Daytime Emmy Awards and 11 nominations. He shares a nomination for Sesame Street and a win for Between The Lions with previous podcast guest Mitchell Bogard and his credits span from corporate theater to TV Funhouse to Cosby to a slate of Disney sitcoms. Today, Bill is a Director of...
Susan Rose Pt. 2: Cruise ships, installations, and programming, oh my!
February 01, 2021 11:25 - 1 hour - 42.2 MBThe Squintress has returned, and we are thrilled to have her back on the podcast! This time, we discussed her extensive experience handling lighting on cruise ships, including how shows are set up and what the wide range of entertainment types and venues on these ships requires. We talked about her work on the Disney Spectacle Of Dancing Lights, how she pushed the Wholehog II system to the absolute limit while programming it, and the solutions she used to solve problems on that and other i...
Jason Badger Pt 2: Lighting Everywhere Else
January 15, 2021 11:30 - 55 minutes - 29.9 MBJason Badger is back on the show! We talked about his work as projections programmer on a stunning production of Ring Cycle at the Los Angeles Opera, the curtain shows he’s created at the El Capitan Theater, how DMX based fountain control works, and what inspired him to get so deeply under the hood on lighting control software. We also continued our discussion about lighting for theme parks, this time discussing area development in detail, with examples from Galaxy’s Edge and Cars Land. W...
Jason Badger Pt 1: Lighting the Happiest Place On Earth
January 04, 2021 11:00 - 1 hour - 34.6 MBMany lighting designers have been tasked with lighting a corporate campus, but it’s rare for that campus to include rides, attractions, and theatrical performances that range from brand-new technological marvels to beloved, decades-old experiences. After 25 years of work in theme parks, Jason Badger has become a master of this craft – as well as a Principal Show Lighting Designer for WED Imagineering. He told us about his work on Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge and Tron Lightcycle Power Run as wel...
Susan Rose Pt. 1: The One and Only Squintress
November 16, 2020 11:00 - 1 hour - 37.3 MBNashville is the place to go when you want to become a country music star, but when Susan Rose got there, she found her life’s work waiting for her. She knows how to take advantage of an opportunity – not only did she become a professional musician, she had the opportunity to learn to program the original Wholehog. That experience quickly led her to programming on tours, becoming a designer in her own right, and expanding into corporate events, cruise ships, and amusement park spectaculars...
Mike Grabowski: a Philly street magician lights Times Square’s biggest night
November 01, 2020 19:15 - 1 hour - 46.7 MBMike Grabowski is on the show by listener request! He’s a Senior Lighting Designer at LDG, a member of Local USA 829, and has lit innumerable projects for broadcast over the course of his 15 year career. We discussed several of those projects, including the intricacies of his work on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest. Mike was MTV’s Broadcast Lighting Consultant when they did a major overhaul of their Times Square studio, and we discussed that project in detail. We also...
Eddie Kramer: He knows more about electrics than you
October 18, 2020 10:00 - 1 hour - 43.1 MBIs six circuit multicable code compliant? Why do LED fixtures put load on neutral? What did old-time producers dislike even more than organized labor? Eddie Kramer knows the answers. He’s a member of the electrics crew at Radio City Music Hall, a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, an ETCP Certified Entertainment Electrician, and your host’s Local One brother. Eddie is from the Lower East Side, and got his start in high school. He worked at The Theatre at...
OK, Now What?
October 02, 2020 08:08 - 1 hour - 54 MBIt’s the 50th episode of Casting Light, and we’re doing something different this time. With our business in flux and many people looking for some guidance, we’ve put together an incredible panel to answer the question, “OK, now what?” Reinvention, keeping abreast of industry changes, knowing how to nurture relationships, continuing education, and financial planning all play a part regardless of the state of the business, and our guests discuss all these topics and more on this episode. We’v...
Hillary Knox: lighting director, programmer, and problem solver on stage and in studio
September 22, 2020 08:00 - 52 minutes - 33.4 MBMultitalented and multi-genre, Hillary Knox has found himself involved in fascinating projects throughout his career. Growing up in Nashville, he thought he would be a musician – but he soon discovered that the lighting department was where he fit. He cut his teeth working at Opryland before attending Carnegie Mellon University. During his last semester, he interned with the great design team of Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, and he’s been on the move ever since. Hillary was an early ad...
Tony Bonilla Part 2: on building structures, building a team, and building your career
September 10, 2020 16:13 - 1 hour - 34 MBTony Bonilla is back on the podcast! We had so much to discuss during our interview, we had to separate it into two parts. This time, we’re talking about a massive project that Tony and his company BNW Rigging worked on at The Shed in Hudson Yards, how lighting and rigging can work together wore effectively, and what lighting practitioners should know about rigging. We discussed what elements designers might want to leave up to the production rigger to specify, the expansion of OSHA certifi...
Tony Bonilla Part 1: An artist becomes a rigger, a rigger becomes an entrepreneur
August 31, 2020 16:43 - 54 minutes - 32.2 MBFifteen years ago, Tony Bonilla was already an experienced rigger, having toured with theatrical productions and rigged special events. Seeing some gaps in what was being provided in the business, he decided to create his own company: BNW Rigging. At the time, it was intended to be a D/B/A for his own work and an organization through which he could conduct training. Now, BNW is a multimillion-dollar company, one which has distinguished itself with the design, installation, and operation of m...
Cha See: designing new, vital, non-traditional plays, and helping others in need
August 15, 2020 10:30 - 55 minutes - 40.2 MBComing off a run of standout work, including designing lighting for Aleshea Harris’ What To Send Up When It Goes Down, Donja R. Love’s one in two, and Sarah Einspanier’s House Plant, Cha See joined us to discuss some of her productions in depth – and talk about how the pandemic has affected us all. We discussed the See Lighting Foundation, a project she and colleague Kimie Nishikawa created to help support immigrant theater artists impacted by Covid-19. We also had a chance to discuss the i...
Christopher Robinson: lighting for revolutionary productions
August 05, 2020 10:00 - 1 hour - 48.8 MBOur guest Christopher Robinson has a lot going on, or at least did until the business shut down this past March. His position as the associate production electrician on Hamilton has taken him all over the country, he is Leslie Odom Jr’s lighting designer, he creates lighting for music videos and live musical performances, and runs his own gear business: Revolutionary Lighting. Christopher got a lot farther by working a lot harder – his hustle and drive pushed him to succeed as a designer, p...
Mike Wood: lighting designer, educator, previs contest creator
July 27, 2020 09:00 - 1 hour - 47.5 MBThe Casting Light Podcast is back, and we’re talking with Mike Wood of Mike Wood Lighting Design. Mike is based in Nashville, TN, and works as a lighting designer and lighting director throughout the United States. Joining Mike and your host is Abby May, a frequent collaborator of Mike’s. Mike primarily works in theater, and we discussed his work on “American Prom” for Theatreworks in Colorado Springs, the outdoor work he and Abby do with American Stage in the Park in St. Petersburg, FL, an...
Scott Barnes: making movies one cue at a time
October 18, 2016 17:01 - 1 hour - 57.4 MBScott has worked with cowboys, aliens, the Whos down in Whoville, recording stars, and marvelous superheroes of all kinds, and now we're lucky enough to have him on our show. He's a highly specialized Wholehog programmer, working almost exclusively on big-budget, general release films. In this episode, we learn how equipment we use on stage and television is adapted and used for everything from interactive scene lighting to stand-ins for supernatural characters. Scott was one of the pionee...
Chris Landy: experienced TV LD, business owner, cheesemonger
October 05, 2016 04:34 - 1 hour - 56.5 MBEven before founding Vibrant Design with his wife Ellen Waggett, Chris Landy already had a colorful career as a TV lighting designer. With a start in theater as a teenager, he moved on to a BFA in theater from Wagner College, an MFA from NYU, and then broke into television at LDG. The acronyms don't stop there – he's designed lighting for shows on NBC, CBS, MTV, MTV2, VH1, BET, Comedy Central, HBO, Showtime, FX, PBS, Spike, Oxygen, Food Network, LOGO, AMC, FUSE, Style Network, NBATV, MSNBC,...
Pete Borchetta Part 2: a new home at Altman Lighting
September 18, 2016 21:02 - 1 hour - 59.5 MBWe're back for more from Pete Borchetta in the second half of our interview with him. He's been with Altman Lighting for just over a year, but has over two decades of experience in the business. On the last episode, we discussed his beginnings, his career up until Altman, his work as an educator, and his experience as a consultant. This time, we're discussing Altman itself, what Pete does there, and why he chose to move back to the NY Metro. We discussed color and color control in-depth, ...
Pete Borchetta Part 1: How to rappel into a life in lighting
September 06, 2016 15:38 - 1 hour - 57.2 MBPete Borchetta, who's worked everywhere from the Far East to the far end of Ashburton Ave in Yonkers, is kicking things off in the first part of our interview with him. He's been in the business for 20 years, and in that time, he's been a lighting consultant, educator, product manager, and manufacturer representative. He's also worked for some of the industry's critical designers and manufacturers, including the venerable Altman Lighting, where he is now Product Manager. In this episode, w...
Dennis Parichy Part 2: Sharing a legacy, educating the next generation
July 15, 2016 20:02 - 53 minutes - 49.4 MBWe are back for part two of an interview with "The best creator of mood, time and place through light in the contemporary theatre," as per the Cambridge Guide to the American Theater. There was still so much to talk about with Dennis and Mike Baldassari, including Dennis' work with Athol Fugard, his book Illuminating The Play, and his thoughts and philosophy on teaching lighting design. We had a chance to take a close look at Athol Fugard's play Playland and discuss how Dennis analyzed the ...
Dennis Parichy Part 1: 50 years of illuminating the play
July 02, 2016 09:02 - 57 minutes - 53.1 MBThere are few who know more about lighting plays than Dennis Parichy, whose career has brought him into close collaboration with giants of American playwriting. His lengthy association with Circle Rep, and its founders Marshall W. Mason and Lanford Wilson, yielded legendary productions like Burn This and Talley's Folly. His collaboration with Athol Fugard was also quite productive, with productions ranging from Scenes from Soweto in 1978 to Valley Song in 1998. He has an Obie Award, a Dram...
Kellen McNally: Accuracy in surveys, models, and layouts lead to more successful designs
June 16, 2016 05:54 - 52 minutes - 47.8 MBWhen a production takes place in a 300 meter long tent that has to be set up with almost no margin for error, or spreads across hundreds of acres where environmental and safety requirements necessitate accurate placement of dozens of elements, who makes it happen? As we become increasingly dependent on lighting and video previsualization, where do sufficiently accurate 3D models of venues come from? After years of adjustments, renovations, and changes, what can venues do to get all their dr...
David Arch: here comes the general
June 01, 2016 01:15 - 1 hour - 70.2 MBWe want you to join us in the room where it happens with David Arch. David is a multi-talented lighting director and lighting programmer, and among his credits are 40 Broadway shows including Hamilton. Those, however, are only one part of a career that has spanned continents, genres and decades. David got is start designing lighting for bands in his native Australia. He made his way to the US while on tour with the band Icehouse, and made connections there that would lead to work on major...
Steve Lieberman: tripping the light fantastic
April 03, 2016 00:18 - 59 minutes - 54.1 MBA great light show has been an element of the most well-loved and successful nightclubs and music venues since Jules Fisher and Paul Marantz put together the iconic designs for Studio 54 40 years ago. It took some time for promoters, club owners, and event producers to catch on, though – when Steve Lieberman entered the business 25 years ago, he didn't know he was getting in on the ground floor of an industry that was about to grow into a global powerhouse. While he started lighting events ...
Daniel Connell: take us to church
March 16, 2016 18:56 - 56 minutes - 51.6 MBLighting and production design for houses of worship combines the design needs and skills for theater, concerts, and television in a new segment of the industry. This market is still evolving as more churches and organizations decide to add production to their services, and our guest Daniel Connell casts a long shadow in it. Daniel worked in theater, concerts, and live events as a designer and technician before finding a home in church production, and he took some time from his busy schedul...
Robert Mokry: on lighting service, guitars, and becoming a businessman
March 01, 2016 23:27 - 1 hour - 56.4 MBWhat happens when a fixture is discontinued? Normally manufacturers will continue support for a given length of time, but no matter how long that is, production/rental shops, venues, and other users don't stop using them. More importantly, they don't stop needing spare parts for them – and that's where Robert Mokry and LightParts come in. A reverse logistics company specializing in lighting equipment, their business may not be the stuff of splashy magazine features, but it is critical for ...
Kelly O'Connell: designing, building, and installing educational theaters
February 17, 2016 14:26 - 1 hour - 60.1 MBKelly O'Connell joined the team at YES after working for the past decade as a professional Production Manager, Lighting Designer and Associate Designer in NYC and nationally. She's had to build systems from the tightest off-broadway budget to a fully funded 6000 seat outdoor theater. Most recently Kelly has been a Production Manager for; The Altman Building, Image Technologies Corporation, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, The NYC Fringe Festival; an Associate Lighting Designer for; Ella (Natio...
Norman Coates Part 2: in service to his industry, his city, and his art
February 01, 2016 15:29 - 52 minutes - 48 MBWe're back for more with the Director of Lighting at the UNCSA School Of The Arts Design and Production Department! This time, we discuss an exciting project that serves the area around UNCSA, as well as the lighting students themselves: the Winston–Salem Light Project. Students create major architectural lighting installations on landmark buildings and in other spaces, and in the process, are introduced to an entirely different part of the business from performance lighting. We discussed ...
Norman Coates Part 1: the life of a designer, the responsibilities of an educator
January 15, 2016 16:15 - 50 minutes - 46.7 MBJust over 40 years ago, Norman Coates took a trip from Philadelphia to New York to see a production of Waiting For Godot. Before the show was over, he knew he'd found the art he truly loved. Norman's passion for lighting has driven him to create stunning designs on Broadway and off, for national tours, in regional theaters and opera houses all over the US, as well as become the Director of Lighting in the Design and Production Department at UNCSA, a position he has held for over 25 years. ...
Haskell Wexler, ASC: Legendary cinematographer, 1922—2015
January 01, 2016 17:31 - 53 minutes - 49.4 MBOn December 27, 2015, the legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler, A.S.C. passed away at the age of 93. He lived an incredible life, including a tour in the US Merchant Marine during World War II, and had an amazing career running from 1953 through his death, including winning two Academy Awards. With 80 credits as cinematographer, he was judged to be one of film history's ten most influential cinematographers by members of the International Cinematographers' Guild. Haskell's first big-bu...
Chris Lose: lighting director and programmer on tour, on ships, and in demand
December 16, 2015 00:57 - 54 minutes - 49.6 MBHailing from Las Vegas, Chris Lose has had a varied and consistently interesting 17-year career in the business. He found theater in high school, went pro during college, got another education at Vari*Lite, went cruising as a production manager and lighting director, and went on tour as a dimmer tech. He worked his way into the Cirque Du Soleil family, became the lighting designer at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel, then went back out on tour as a lighting director / programmer, first with...
Randy Wade: the Morpheus circle is complete
December 01, 2015 17:38 - 1 hour - 56 MBRandy is the Senior Accounts Manager at Morpheus Lights, which is both a major production rental shop as well as the US distributor for Ayrton LED lighting fixtures. He has been in sales and rentals for 27 years, having gotten his start at Morpheus back in the early 80's and then moving on to work for and with many of the industry's leaders and innovators. Randy has been back with Morpheus for just over a year, and both he and they are up to some very exciting things! Randy's career has gi...
Miriam Nilofa Crowe: creating lighting, creating community, and the business of art
November 15, 2015 09:06 - 1 hour - 57.4 MBMiriam Crowe has been a lighting designer for nearly 20 years, and has worked at every level of the business, from the Fringe Festival to Broadway. She is a founding member of Wingspace Theatrical Design, a design collective which promotes collaboration in and fosters larger conversations about design. She also designs lighting for diverse musical acts, from Rosanne Cash to Lila Downs. She is based in New York, but has traveled extensively throughout her career for musical and theatrical p...
Chris Conti: managing some of the most exciting developments in the business
November 01, 2015 16:26 - 59 minutes - 54.4 MBWhen Chris Conti became a PRG Product Manager in 2008, he became part of a team responsible for moving the goalposts on the state of the art. He is now the manager for PRG Bad Boy, PRG Best Boy, Series 400 Power & Data Distribution System, and the newly launched GroundControl Remote Followspot System, which won Best Debuting Product in Staging and Rigging at LDI. His position is a fascinating amalgamation of specifier, designer, and advocate. Chris became part of Vari*Lite after college, a...
Vickie Claiborne: control systems expert and educator extraordinaire
October 15, 2015 16:23 - 1 hour - 67.7 MBWhen Vickie Claiborne became the head lighting programmer for the opening and closing ceremonies during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, she was just getting started. Over the course of her distinguished 25 year career, she has programmed lighting and media for shows – and trained lighting & media programmers – all over the world. Join us as we discuss how she went from a small theater in Branson, Missouri to the Rock In Rio festival earlier this year, how thoughts on training & education, and ...
Brad Schiller Part 2: Building The Machines
October 01, 2015 15:04 - 55 minutes - 51.1 MBIn order for us to go through the process of creating lighting for theatricals, events, broadcasts, films, and performances, any number of other creative processes needed to happen first – including the specification, design, and engineering of fixtures and control consoles. We dive into some of those in the second half of our interview with Brad Schiller, and discuss his time as a product manager for High End Systems and Philips Vari*Lite, and his current job as Business Development Manager...
Brad Schiller Part 1: Feeding The Machines
September 15, 2015 13:37 - 1 hour - 58.8 MBBrad Schiller was there as the job of Automated Lighting Programmer emerged, and he has influenced the job's evolution over the last 25 years as he moved from freelance to High End Systems to Philips Vari*Lite to Martin Professional. We sat down with Brad and discussed his remarkable career, but the interview was so packed with information that we decided to present it as two episodes. In this episode, we discuss his philosophy on programming and how he's seen the programmer's role evolve, ...
Laura Frank: Building a new paradigm for media management, programming, and planning
September 01, 2015 12:23 - 1 hour - 68.1 MBToday's televised events tend to lean heavily on video; in some cases, 80% of the scenery is actually a video surface. How does the content for all that real estate get created, handled and played back seamlessly? To find out, we sat down with Laura Frank: a screens producer working on some of the highest profile events in the world, including the MTV Video Music Awards, the CMT Music Awards, and Black Girls Rock!, as well as theatricals, corporate events, films, and other events too numero...
Bobby Hale: High End fixtures need high-end solutions
June 16, 2015 11:57 - 1 hour - 57.3 MBHow are complex automated lighting fixtures conceived, designed, and built? Our final guest of Season One, Bobby Hale, has some answers to that question – he is a Business Development Manager with High End Systems, and has been with High End for over 15 years. While he works in sales now, he was a product manager and engineering operations manager for many of those years in Austin, TX. During this episode, we look in depth at High End's new SolaSpot Pro 1500 fixture, the history of High En...
Anne E. McMills: She wrote the book on Assistant Lighting Design
June 01, 2015 14:13 - 1 hour - 57.4 MBAnne McMills knows well how important the job of Assistant Lighting Designer is. She has been an Assistant and Associate LD on an incredible array projects over the last 15 years, from Broadway to Vegas to touring to television, and has employed many Assistant and Associate LDs on her own design projects all over the US. A unique and interesting combination of skills and knowledge are required for the job, but for all of its importance, there have been few reliable resources for learning a...
Panel Discussion at 4 Wall NY: today's DJ's, tomorrow's designers
May 16, 2015 14:17 - 50 minutes - 46.4 MBTo help new people them find their way, Al Ridella and CJ Wescott of 4 Wall Entertainment reached out to DJs and nascent production companies working in events in the NY Metro, and invited them to a panel discussion about this end of the business. Your host was one of the panelists, as were Zach Lambrinon of Intelligent Lighting at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and Zakaria Al-Alami of Arc3 Design and Jazz At Lincoln Center.
Fred Bock: Making a home at 30 Rock
May 01, 2015 12:33 - 1 hour - 55.5 MBBack when he was completing a double major in theater and broadcasting, Fred Bock dreamed that he'd be able to make 30 Rockefeller Center his workplace. He made that dream into a reality, one that has included working on Rock Center, Today Show, Nightly News, Football Night in America, Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular, Carson Daly New Year's Eve and Saturday Night Live at the NBC studios there. Most significantly, he also became the lighting designer and lighting director for The...
Mike Baldassari Part 2: theater, concerts, touring, and real estate
April 15, 2015 13:43 - 1 hour - 56.8 MBConcerts and theater share many things, from the uniqueness of any single performance to the dedication of their artists to the techniques used to move them from venue to venue. One other thing they share is Mike Baldassari, who has lit innumerable concerts on tour, on stage, and on film, and has lit plays and musicals from Broadway to Moscow. In this episode, we discuss Mike's theatrical and concert lighting designs, the touring he's done, and the state and business of show business.
Mike Baldassari, Part 1: from The Garden to The Road to The Street
April 01, 2015 13:02 - 1 hour - 62 MBIt was 1977, and Mike was headed to a Kiss concert at Madison Square Garden. The audience blinders came up, 20,000 people cheered, and Mike knew he'd found a home. Since then, he has lit Broadway musicals, including collaborating on Cabaret with the great Peggy Eisenhauer; television shows, including episodes of Saturday Night Live; theatrical tours, including Camelot; major events live to broadcast, including A (RED) THANK YOU; concerts, including tours with icon Neil Young; and feature fi...