Wind the clock back to the infamous month of March 2020 and sound designer Marcello Lo Ricco was in Tasmania working on this very production of Mamma Mia! Suddenly the world came crashing down with COVID and they had to bump out just after two dress rehearsals in Launceston’s Princess Theatre.
“It feels like we’ve come full circle being able to be back and have a second chance to stage the show now that restrictions have eased,” commented Marcello. “Lucky for Tasmania they have been able to play to full capacity in their venues for a while.”
Marcello was able to enter as an essential traveller with a list of conditions from public health for the first 14 days including having multiple Covid tests and only being allowed to leave his accommodation for work or essential reasons such as buying food and always having to wear a mask.
The FOH speaker system for Mamma Mia! is a d&b audiotechnik consisting of main left and rights line arrays for the stalls and dress circle with Y8, Y12, Y-SUBs and a main centre array of T10s. A pair of B22 subs positioned in the orchestra pit provides an extended low-end response. Front fill speakers are S8s and delays in the rear of the stalls are E8s. All speakers are powered by d&b 30D amplifiers.
“I’m using a DiGiCo SD8 mixing console on this show,” said Marcello. “I’ve been using DiGiCo SD series consoles for years now and I like the workflow for musicals, if I’m not using a DiGiCo I sometimes use Yamaha consoles.”
Sound Effects and click tracks are being cued from QLAB computers at FOH and in the Orchestra Pit.
“The click tracks and keyboard patches for this production were created by Nathan Firmin from Patched Keyboards,” explained Marcello. “We’ve worked on many shows together over 15 years and we recorded some pre-recorded ensemble vocals parts for the click track in my recording studio, LSS Recording Studios in Melbourne.”
The orchestra is using the open orchestra pit which is a relatively traditional rock band set up but with four keyboards, two guitarists and a large percussion section. Marcello is running around 30 inputs for the orchestra. Orchestra foldback is via AVIOM personal monitoring.
Marcello uses 32 radio channels with a mixture of radio microphone systems. Headset microphones on the lead actors are DPA 6066s with JAG IMX6As on the ensemble. Radio Systems are Shure Axient Digital for the leads, Sennheiser G3 and G4s for ensemble and Shure ULX-Ds for handheld microphones.
Two radio microphone technicians monitor radios from backstage using Wavetool and Shure’s Wireless Workbench.
For this production, Marcello is operating sound for all the performances which is not common for him these days since he usually sound designs the shows and then hops onto the next one once the show is open leaving the show to his operators to carry on.
“Since there have been no shows on the mainland with lockdowns and with the extra challenges of having to apply for travellers exception to get into the state, I decided I’d stay to mix the whole season and use all local crew for the bump in and out,” he said. “Mixing all the shows has allowed me to keep up my skills after the long lockdowns and ensure I’m show fit for what looks to be a busy return to theatre now that restrictions are easing across the country. I’ve sound designed a bunch of Mamma Mia! productions so I’m already familiar with the show which helps.”
The Princess Theatre Launceston is one of Marcello’s favourite venues and he has worked on several shows there for the past ten years. In recent years the Australian Musical Theatre Festival has also been hosted there and he’s been managing sound for that too. Marcello says that the theatre is very well run by venue technical manager Malcolm Butters and that he runs a tight ship along with the Theatre North staff.
“The show has been very well received with all performances close to sold out if not a full house with 800+ seats,” said Marcello. “We’re almost halfway through the season now and the comments on the sound for the show has been all very positive from the audience, cast, orchestra and production team.”
