Portable flying grid system for Phantom of the Opera

Our portable flying grid system has once again been in use, this time for the Really Useful Group Limited and a run of The Phantom of the Opera. This allowed a full-scale production of this internationally acclaimed musical to take place in Adelaide and Taipei, cities that otherwise wouldn't be able to play host to a production of this size.

Following last years successful first outing of our grid system, for a production of Disney's The Lion King, the grid was reconfigured at our Australian workshop in Sydney to meet the demanding requirements of The Phantom of the Opera. It was then transported to Adelaide where it was installed for 24 performances, before being shipped back to Taipei for a further 20 performances, completing the run at the end of July 2009.

Richard Martin, Technical Director, said, "The Phantom of the Opera was always going to be a challenge with its multitude of traditional flying scenery and the famous Chandelier 'crash', but working with Stage One and their Qmotion control system meant that this challenge was met seamlessly." He continued, "you would need to go a long way to meet a more professional bunch of engineers and riggers. This gives us all great comfort as we work under a 40-plus ton truss rigged over us!"

Greg Gowans, Managing Director of Stage One Australia said,"we are delighted to have delivered The Lion King and both seasons of The Phantom of the Opera without any significant technical issues along the way. And importantly for the Producers this has all been achieved without compromise in the technical or creative domains, with the highest level of system availability and safety."

The adaptability of our portable flying grid system meant we were able to offer everything that a modern opera house could, as well as fulfilling all of the creative and technical requirements for this production of The Phantom of the Opera. The grid consisted of a 36m x 20m truss from which 26 computer-controlled power lines were suspended at 150mm intervals, each capable of lifting 500kg and travelling at a top speed of 2m/second. Fully portable, the system was installed in each venue in under 24 hours by our specialist team of 12.

Greg continued, "We arrive at 8am on Monday morning to install the system and by 8am on Tuesday morning we have a fully commissioned power fly system that is ready to hang production scenery."

Using our in-house motion control system, Qmotion, we were able to pre-programme all of the show's flying sequences before reaching the venue, allowing the control system to provide the highest degree of creative control with repeatable millimetre precision throughout the rehearsals and performances.

Alongside the grid, we were asked to provide an integrated solution for the movement of the huge central chandelier, a scenic item intrinsic to the story. The chandelier was required to fly out over the orchestra pit and audience and later crash to the floor in a controlled, fast, yet spectacular manner. This was achieved once again via Qmotion, which allowed us to deliver complex multi-axis 3D motion using 3D modelling and animation. This process allows the direct transfer of positional data from the virtual animation to the physical automation.