South African pro audio company Prosound has supplied DPA microphones for two major new Disney stage musicals: High School Musical and Beauty and the Beast, co-produced for the theatre by local impresarios Hazel Feldman and Pieter Toerien.
The stage production of Disney’s High School Musical kicked off at Cape Town’s ArtsCape theatre in December 2008, and transfers to Johannesburg in 2009. Meanwhile Beauty and the Beast, which opened at Johannesburg’s Teatro Theatre in October 2008, will transfer to the ArtsCape in 2009, swapping over with High School Musical. To facilitate an easy move, the system designs for the two shows have been made relatively similar, so that only show specific hardware will need to travel between the venues.
Prior to the stage show of High School Musical, broadcaster M-Net hosted a brand new reality TV show, High School Musical: Spotlight South Africa. Based on the Disney original, viewers could vote for their own ‘Troy’ & ‘Gabriella’. The winners of the reality show have gone on to play the leads in the High School Musical stage production.
Auditions were held in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, with the reality show recorded at the Pieter Toerien Theatre-on-the-Bay in Cape Town, and the Pieter Toerien Monte Casino theatre. Twenty-five DPA 4065 miniature omnidirectional headworn mics were used for the cast, with DPA 4061 miniature omnis used where mics had to be hidden. The finale of the reality show was held at the Monte Casino Teatro theatre, where once again Prosound provided DPA microphones for all the cast.
With the stage show now up and running, 28 DPA 4061s are being used across the cast, with a DPA 4066 headband mic for the school’s disc jockey, Jack Scott. Meanwhile, for the band, a DPA compact stereo kit is being used on percussion, with two DPA 4090 omni mics on guitar cabinets.
Based on the Oscar-winning film, Beauty and the Beast had to remain true to the standard of all previous productions and retain the ‘Disney Magic' of the movie. This was the only instruction from Disney, and the method to attain this and to offer any enhancements was left to Prosound. The company also chose to use DPA 4061s – a total of 35 – for cast members, while the Beast and Belle are miked up with three and two 4061s respectively. A further three 4061s are being used in the pit for cello, violin and double bass.
Prosound’s Donovan Calvert, who acted as technical supervisor for both shows, comments on the choice of DPA microphones. “High School Musical in particular is a very loud production,” he says. “The great thing about the DPA mics being subjected to high SPLs on percussion and guitar is that they don’t ‘break up’: the audio quality stays clear and constant throughout. The 4061s have proven to be extremely reliable, with minimum failures and replacements. It’s the only lapel that can be soaked in sweat, and after being left to dry out, will carry on without the audio quality being compromised in any way.”
Prosound: www.prosound.co.za