Broadway musicals lean towards spectacle — flashy lighting, dynamic choreography, show-stopping numbers to rouse the masses. But sometimes subtle is better, especially when it comes to a tragicomic play like End of the Rainbow, which is interspersed with musical numbers by famed singer Judy Garland, portrayed with pizzazz by Tony Award nominee Tracie Bennett. Add a comment

At first glance, the design for the Bon Jovi Because We Can world tour looks extremely simple. When the show opens, there is no video screen, just a wide-open stage and not a lot of lights. On the surface, it seems that Performance Environment Designer Doug “Spike” Brant has taken a severely minimalistic design approach. Nothing could be further from the truth; however. Instead, the environment reveals itself, literally at the cue of the video. Building on their dynamic visuals for the last few Bon Jovi tours, Performance Environment Design Group (PEDG) and Spike Brant have taken advantage of a convergence of new technologies and a few innovative companies to realize their most ambitious design to date.

Hilton Worldwide’s ONE: Full Service Summit Tradeshow, held from April 29 through May 1, 2013 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, TX, brought together general managers and sales directors for three of Hilton’s full-service hotel brands — Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree and Embassy Suites. Add a comment

As the wild-eyed flute-wielding frontman of Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson has often presented, with a hefty dose of camp, highly theatrical musical productions, and he’s been doing in over a span of 40 years. Whether through comic absurdity, interactive props, visual spectacle or dramatic flair, Anderson and Tull rarely disappoint audiences. So it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that Anderson has challenged himself, his band, his creative tech team and potential audiences once again by organizing his latest ambitious tour. Add a comment

Not wanting to rest on their laurels, Global Creatures, the masterminds behind one of the highest-grossing tours of 2010, Walking with Dinosaurs, are once again amazing audiences and pushing the entertainment technology envelope. Having teamed up with DreamWorks Animation, they are now sending dragons soaring through arena skies and immersing audiences in the mythical Viking world of DreamWorks’ How To Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular.

There’s something primordial and mysterious — even psychedelic — happening in the forest. Laser beams cut through the wooded expanse and ricochet off 50-foot white pines sporting bounce mirrors, and artful lighting displays (some inspired by the symbolic designs inherent to Sacred Geometry) radiate throughout well-traveled and isolated locations of the woods. Add a comment

Lindsey Stirling, 26, combines violin performances with dance and performance art, with live shows picking up the momentum generated by her YouTube channel (lindseystomp.com) and her appearances during the 2010 season of America’s Got Talent as the “Hip Hop Violinist.” Along with hip hop, Stirling performs genres ranging from classical music to dubstep. A major goal for LD Joel Reiff, who worked with lighting director Allison Siegel, was to meet the visual expectations set by the artist’s music video performances, seen online since lindseystomp.com got underway in 2007.

Teams and projections don’t look as impressive when they pass through clear air, hence the profusion of hazers and foggers and theatrical scrims for visual impact.
For the 2013 tour for How to Destroy Angels, a band created by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, LD Roy Bennett worked with longtime NIN art director Rob Sheridan on various semi-transparent alternatives. The goal: to come up with something that would create a novel visual twist — surrounding the band members in a box-like shape, yet standing up to the rigors of a touring production.

The 2012 Enrique Iglesias & Jennifer Lopez tour combined two distinct shows into one evening, with each artist performing 13 songs. J-Lo was up first, with looks ranging from vintage Hollywood, complete with male dancers, top hats and canes, to a boxing motif reflecting tough urban roots. Following an intermission, Iglesias stripped away most of the theatrical flourishes and offered up the raw energy of a traditional rock concert.

Green Day released three albums in quick succession late last year — ¡Uno! (Sept. 21), ¡Dos! (Nov. 9) and ¡Tré! (Dec. 7) — along with a documentary chronicling the process — ¡Cuatro! — that premiered at the X Games in Aspen, CO earlier this year (now available on CD). After some preliminary promotional gigs, the band’s “99 Revolutions” tour supporting the album trilogy started in earnest with a North American leg in March and April 2013. The band then headed to Europe for shows slated from May through August 2013.