Luz Studio, based in Montreal and led by Matthieu Larivée, was selected by producers Entourage to create the visual design for their staging of Peter Pan the Musical at the city’s Espace St-Denis theatre.
It was the first time this famous fairytale musical had been presented there and in Quebec, and the challenge was to ensure that the adventure and charm of the original story were reproduced in a more contemporary setting.
Matt and his team set out to highlight the magic and drama of the story —which traditionally includes flying performers— through lighting, video, and scenic elements, ensuring a memorable experience for audiences of all ages.
When it came to choosing the lighting, Robe was selected as the main brand to bring the dreams and energy of Peter Pan to life, with 28 FORTES, 42 Tetra2 and 8 LEDBeam 150 fixtures included in the design, supplied to the St-Denis production by SoftBox Integration.
Luz Studio also created the video content. The set design, video, and positioning of the different projection surfaces, together with the flying systems for the performers, were key starting points for the lighting design.
It was important to keep the flying tracks as concealed as possible. In addition, with an LED proscenium arch, an LED screen upstage, and projection onto a downstage scrim and the scenic edge of the proscenium, it was essential that the lighting could be precisely controlled, as well as accurately focused and shuttered.
Highly flexible and multifunctional luminaires were required, with extensive effects capabilities and fine control. Another key aspect was that the projections —generated by two 40K projectors positioned at FOH— were used to texture many of the scenic elements, so it was crucial to be able to direct the light with great precision.
With the front and rear LED screens positioned around 35 metres apart, the lighting elements had to be installed in a compact semicircular arrangement above the stage.
Robe is a regular choice of moving lights for Matt on specific shows and applications, and the FORTE/iFORTE series is his preferred option for key lighting and achieving excellent skin tones. In this production, the FORTES were rigged on side towers left and right of the stage and in FOH positions. Six FORTES were operated via RoboSpot controllers; Matt often leverages the adaptability of this system, which allows fixtures to be easily switched between follow-spot duties and use within the general lighting rig.
The LEDBeam 150 is another fixture highly valued by Matt for various reasons, including its compact size and relative power, making it a reliable and versatile tool. For Peter Pan, the LEDBeam 150 units were positioned on the downstage towers and around the front of the stage to assist with face lighting. Their output is subtle and soft enough to serve as an excellent foreground light for illuminating dancers. “They produced a nice layer of focused light from those positions”, Matt noted. The LEDBeam 150 units also proved highly effective for highlighting scenic props.
They can be very directional even without snoots, making it possible to pick out specific objects and achieve strong effects without flooding the stage, he added.
Although only 8 LEDBeam 150 fixtures were used in this show, they played a prominent and essential role.
Matt explained that treating lighting, video, and set as a single visual entity allowed the team to optimise the synchronisation of these elements in both aesthetic and dramatic terms, combining art and technology intelligently to achieve vivid and consistent results. This supported the narrative and reinforced the mystery and charm of this timeless story of the boy who never grew up.
Robe’s Tetra2 moving LED battens were used as the main wash light, adding colour to the stage and helping to integrate set, lighting, and video into a cohesive and harmonious visual environment.
The Tetra2 units also proved ideal —thanks to detailed programming and effects such as the “flower”— for adding layers of shimmer and sparkle during the flying scenes.
The team also enjoyed lighting these scenes and the character of Tinker Bell, represented in this production by a pulsing LED light. The iconic villain Captain Hook and his ship also provided plenty of creative opportunities and striking lighting treatments.
Matt values collaborative work with his team at Luz Studio, which is essential to their working method and success:
I have an overall view of the project: I define the initial concept and set the creative direction, and then I let the team of lighting and video designers and programmers develop the proposal; it’s essential to give them space to create.
His collaborators on this project included lighting programmers Charles Morin and Pierre-Luc Bédard; video designers Sébastien Deschênes and Laurence Payette; and video programmer Philippe Marquis. Charles Morin was also responsible for the previsualisation.
The video content also included a significant amount of virtual lighting, which had to integrate with the real lighting on stage—another advantage of producing all visual elements together.
Photos: SNAPePHOTO
