Sight & Sound Theatres bring the action-packed musical stage adventure titled “Jesus” in two separate, purposefully similar venues, one located in Branson, Missouri, the other in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.
The production requires a forty-five-member cast, a seeming zoo’s worth of live animals such as horses, dogs, pigs, goats, sheep, camels, alpacas and more, plus one of the largest LED screens ever used in theatrical production (100 x 30-feet). It also utilizes a Clair Brothers surround sound system including C8 line arrays, CS218 cardioid subwoofer arrays and a growing collection of monitors.
Gary Parke, audio integrator at Sight & Sound, explains, “The venues are almost the same except for one big difference. The control rooms at Strasburg are located behind the continental aisle, where the control rooms at Branson are at the top of the theater, so the Branson room feels slightly bigger. Also, the raised seating at Branson feels less closed in than Strasburg’s raised seating.”
Jim Devenney, senior engineer at Clair Solutions, the project integrator, adds, “Because the two theatres are nearly identical, the logical idea was to keep the two performance systems as close as possible for a cohesive, consistent audience experience at both locations.”
Says Devenney. “We had restricted space in both venues to place the C8 side and corner arrays, but because of the C8’s multiple coverage angles of 90 degrees and 120 degrees, they more than handled the coverage and output we needed for the rooms. And to provide an even, very low-frequency response throughout the rooms as required for the show’s special effects and music, we installed two Clair Brothers CS218 cardioid subwoofer arrays. It’s a sound system that delivers on the promise of such huge on-stage productions.”
Parke agrees. “To say the least, we’re all quite pleased. A production of this magnitude certainly deserves to be, and should be, experienced through Clair Brothers speakers.”
