The grandMA console from MA Lighting makes its Broadway debut this spring in the new musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. The board is expected to control approximately 60 moving units in the show, which is being designed by Donald Holder. Warren Flynn, the show's programmer, says he chose the console because of its variety of features, including backup tracking via a network. Flynn is a relative newcomer to the board; he says, “Making a transition to a new console is never easy. However, with the help of AC Lighting, it has been as painless as possible.”
Bob Gordon of AC Lighting says, “It's funny, but it has taken, almost to the month, the same amount of time to get the grandMA onto a Broadway show as it took us to get the Wholehog II onto a Broadway show a few years back. I guess it says a lot about the maturity of the product and its feature set.” Gordon previously marketed the Wholehog consoles before Flying Pig Systems, maker of the Wholehogs, merged with High End Systems.
Thoroughly Modern Millie is a new musical based on the 1967 film, which starred Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore, and Carol Channing. A spoof of the 1920s, it features a book by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan, and new songs by Jeanine Tesori, with additional lyrics by Scanlan. It is being staged by Michael Mayer. The rest of the design team includes David Gallo (scenery), Robert Perdziola (costumes), and Otts Munderloh (sound). The production tried out in California last year, where the reviews were encouraging. It opens on Broadway April 18 at the Marriott Marquis Theatre.