This was my third musical as Lighting Designer and Programmer. Along with those duties, I trained two follow-spot operators and one board operator. I also called cues for both groups during the show. Beauty and the Beast was the first show where I had a significant number of lights to work with, totaling around 120 fixtures, strictly conventional. Those lights consisted of Source4 Pars, ETC Lekos, and Fresnels. All of these fixtures were programmed on ETC’s ion classic.

The scene that I am proudest of is the Prologue. As the audience was seated for the show, the castle was visible on stage, backlit in blue (R68). Once the narrator started the show, all of the backlight faded to a single spot, highlighting the throne in which the Beast would sit. Later in the scene, when the Beast transforms, a gobo with claw marks shines upon the chair, which looks like moonlight through a slashed curtain, showing his transformation into the Beast while the actors were swapping. This design gave the scene an eerie, almost scary tone that was received very well by the audience in their audible reactions every night.

This production was nominated for 7 Blumey Awards, including a nomination in Bank of America’s Best Musical Tier 2 in the Charlotte Metro Blumey High School Musical Awards.