A quick recap: 2010: My musical, Beaudy, some 45 years in the making, wins awards including showcasing and workshopping with Stephan Schwartz (who, I’m told has written some wicked stuff) and his team. Such a buzz ensues that for 15 minutes I am soaring above the stratosphere. With only one direction left to go. I think the word is “plummet”.
I foolishly decided to take on sound duties for the Sydney premiere (how hard could it be?). Everything is meticulously programmed within my Yamaha DM2000 and controlled from the biobox via my laptop. Halfway through the show, a polite message appears on the screen: “Windows XP has experienced problems and needs to close”. The audio suddenly becomes a mess. The lighting guy, who services computers for a living, jumps across to get the laptop back online. Unsuccessfully. And while the lighting console is abandoned, performers are stumbling around in the dark. I sprint backstage and try continuing audio directly on the console which is sonically isolated from FOH. The results were excruciating. The production version of “The Play That Went Wrong”. All the reviews were based on that fateful night. The one line that stuck was “If Basil Fawlty was producing a musical, this is what it would look like”. So, despite the 14 perfect performances that ensued, this was all people would remember.
OK, now that you have the backstory, you can understand how important it was to get Beaudy 2024 right, from the get-go. Wonderful that my work had been given a second chance. But one thing is for sure: no one would give it a third.
Yellow-Line is a theatre company based in outer Western Sydney with their primary production venue being The Allan Mullins Studio, within The Joan Sutherland Complex, Penrith. An intimate theatre seating 80 people. The challenge is that it is four times wider than it is deep. With 10 headsets in play, the inhouse speakers proved problematic. We needed even coverage of audience seats with minimal vocal spill to performers. We relocated the inhouse sub-speaker to a stage corner and flew DAS 8″+HF cabs over the audience. Perfect results. All the gain required before feedback.
There is nothing sleepy about Michael Orland’s adaptation of Sleeping Beauty. With an Australian setting and a constant undercurrent of dry Australian wit, this original musical adaptation of the classic tale brings joy and laughter to its audience.
Tracy Payne, www.the4thwallreviews.com
I feel like I’ve used the words “energetic” and “funny” a lot in this review, but that’s exactly what “Beaudy” is. This production is positive, entertaining, and funny. Every element exudes energy and heart. I give this 3.5 Red Plastic Party Cups out of 5.
Unlike the 2010 production which featured 12 in the pit, this was scaled back to a four-piece band. In an intimate space, it was essential to use digital drums and no amplifiers. Each musician and Koren (the MD/conductor) wore headphones plugged into Behringer P16M (Aviom type) personal monitor mixers. Due to space constraints in the biobox, the small footprint Midas M32R was chosen as the mixer for this show. Significant automation is used to help free the audio operator up for the actual task of mixing the show as opposed to finding which cast mic to turn on when!
Normally programming a show in this manner is a gargantuan task and not something that can be afforded in amateur theatre but it can now be achieved through an amazing piece of software called Theatremix by fellow Australian software developer and theatre audio operator; James Holt. The key to this software is that it allows rapid programming of a show mixing workflow that places all the necessary actors’ microphones front and centre on faders as they are needed scene by scene. The software can also be configured to trigger commands to Figure53 Qlab, the ubiquitous theatre staple for playback of the various sound design elements present in the musical.
The versatility of the M32R allows it to not only comfortably mix the band and cast with appropriate processing and effects but also send its multitrack audio to a recording computer. Reaper DAW is the software of choice here allowing for a record of the show to be kept for future playback via Virtual Sound check or for mix-down and archival purposes. The M32R can also be remotely controlled by several applications including Mixing station, which allows the audio operator to walk the room as they are sound checking to ensure that levels are adequate for the audience.
The most important element in the audio production was Kieran Vella, the audio operator. I have heard his work many times during Blackout (another Sydney theatre company) productions and never doubted that he would make this happen. The most important thing in a production like this is understanding words. One hates it when a line is sung or spoken and people just turn to each other and ask “what did they say?” On opening night, every joke “landed” and got the response I wanted.
The whole production was delivered with so much energy and enthusiasm, that I was overwhelmed as an audience member and teared up for most of the show. Looking forward to the rest of the run.
Tickets via link or in person at Box Office–> https://www.thejoan.com.au/events/beaudy/
by: @gerarodrigues
