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For Brooklyn-based and five-time Tony-nominated lighting designer Japhy Weideman, it’s all about the angles.
“I think first about angles when designing a rig – whether it’s back light, top light, side light or silhouettes, the angle determines the psychological impact of light,” explains Weideman. Fortunately, in The Heart of Rock and Roll, the Broadway jukebox musical based on the songs of Huey Lewis, scenic designer Derek McLane gave him all the angles he needed. “Derek is very precise and understands the needs of LD’s. Sometimes set designers don’t leave enough room for moving light rigs,” adds Weideman. “In this case, his set gave me all the positions we needed.”
“The show takes place in the ‘80s with dream sequences and very specific locations such as a hotel lobby, hotel rooms, a rooftop, and big, full-out dance numbers with the feel of an ‘80s dance party,” Weideman continues. “As an LD I wanted to honor each segment.”
The show’s blend of intimate scenes and raucous chorus numbers dictated a rig heavy on moving lights and Source Four LED Series 3 ellipsoidals with the X8 Lustr array, all controlled by an ETC Apex 10 console, backed up by an Apex RPU.
A diehard fan of the incandescent look, Weideman used an equal number (72) of LED Source Fours and traditional incandescent units to get the looks he wanted. Like many Broadway designers, Weideman did not become completely comfortable entering the LED world prior to the arrival of the Series 3. “That changed everything for me and now I can barely tell the difference between LED and incandescent light sources.”
Heart uses no video – amazing in itself – but relies heavily on a traditional cyc with metallic, latticed scenic pieces moving in and out, to suggest different moods and locales. “Those reflective pieces were a gift to me as they could both absorb and reflect light at almost any angle,” adds Weideman.
In a career spanning twenty years, Weideman has been a fixture on the Broadway scene with Tony nominations for Dear Evan Hansen (2016), The Visit (2015), Airline Highway (2015), Of Mice and Men (2014), The Nance (2013) along with countless regional and international productions. Despite this impressive resume, his approach is refreshingly down to earth. “If I get a set that has three walls and a ceiling with a hole for a light, I will figure a way to make it work. I’ll make it as interesting as possible,” he says with a grin. “Designers always want more time, but I’ve found that too much time can often work against you.”
Weideman’s journey into theatre and his approach to lighting owe a lot to his early years, taking art classes and studying black and white photography in the deserts of New Mexico. “I saw a lot of music concerts in those days which allowed me to experience lighting that was effectively heightening the reality of the audience’s experience,” he recalls.
Like all top designers Weideman has strong ties to his programmer Jeremy Goldenberg. “We’ve done lots of video work together. He does a lot of Augment3d stuff with ETC and he always brings new ideas to show me. I’m not tech-y enough to know how it all works, but I really appreciate having another set of eyes when we cue a show.”
Weideman outlines a workflow where Goldenberg puts together scene pictures that look like a light plot, laying out the electrics and creating a working cue list as place holders to give them a starting point for each scene.
“I’ve learned tricks to program faster as we never have enough time. On Heart we had three days of dry tech rehearsal to create over six hundred cues,” says Weideman.
Show programmer Jeremy Goldenberg ran the Eos Apex 10 to capacity for the elaborate production numbers. “Within the cues we had ballyhoos, pan and tilting effects, circle effects, fly-ins and outs, strobing, chases, and pixel maps,” says Goldenberg. “So much pixelation that we had to ask ETC to give us more control addresses. The lighting equivalent of ‘we need a bigger boat,’” he jokes. In the end there were 28,000 patched addresses or 56 control universes. “We gave it a workout – that’s for sure,” laughs Goldenberg.
Working with Weideman has allowed Goldenberg to access his inner designer. “We work in a collaborative way – he is very open to suggestions – not every designer is,” smiles Goldenberg.
Despite universally rave reviews The Heart of Rock and Roll closed in June after a short run, but there are plans to create a tour in 2025. Weideman noted, “Other shows on Broadway with unfavorable reviews are still running – I’m glad The New York Times seems to no longer have total control over the success of Broadway.”
