Les Mis- Elegant, Moving, Nuanced, Eye-popping.

All eyes are on this production of Les Misérables, as it’s the only one currently playing in the world. Hale Center Theater’s Les Mis has been one of my favorite works to be involved with. The creative team is of another caliber, and the reviews agree!

We opend the show a little over a week ago now, and the reviews have begun to come in. One reviewer recognized the work that the Set Designer Kacey Udy and myself put in to collaborate on how to utilize both lights and the set to tell the story. Remember that Tinder Box from Tale of Two Cities? Well it made a comeback in this production, as well as all the inlaid plexiglass windows. Rather than the lighting of the tinderbox and scenic elements following the arch of one character, this time around I expanded the use of lighting in each piece to reflect setting and immediate action. The design heightened the emotion of the moment and interpreted the story through color as it was played out on stage. Here’s what the BWW reviewer had to say:

The lighting by Jaron Hermansen is elegant, moving, nuanced, eye-popping, and any number of other adjectives anyone could come up with to attempt to describe something so stunning, pleasurable, and meaningful. The stage is constantly awash in color and light that generates the feeling of a large and intricate stained glass window, befitting the epic size and spiritual overtones of the story.

From exquisite floating candles to a heart-stopping suicide to an awe-inspiring starry sky, this is quite possibly one of the most spectacular productions of LES MISERABLES ever staged.

-BWW

What a generous review. Thank you for the kind words and attention to the detailed thought we put into creating our world of Les Misérables. Of course my element of design was not the only thing reviewed, you can access the full Broadway World Review from the link below. I can’t wait for you all to see what we are cooking up next!

Photo by Gage Peterson

MDQ at HCT

“Jaron Hermansen's exciting lighting design nearly single-handedly does the job of filling the space, as each musical number elevates the purposefully drab record studio to a fantasy concert sequence.”

-BWW

This show was originally set to play in the @halecentretheatre proscenium space. This last spring, we had the show ready to go for its May open date. The set was drafted and ready for construction. The light plot completed and I was on to the cueing process. Then COVID-19 swept the nation and everything was put on hold. We received some good news though, this show, even though postponed, would still open. However, the show would open in the Center Stage Space at The Hale. This meant we would be in the round and that it was time to go back to the drawing boards.

In the re-design Set Designer @jenntaylor8 and I decided to have fully exposed lights on our beautiful new lighting truss. We needed some efficient and effective units to rock out with. Naturally I went with @chauvet_pro. Utilizing the SlimPar Pro H on our outer ring to give that “flash and trash” feel of a we all love to see in a rock concert. This also gave me some dynamic color range, and responsive effects. Doing this show in the round also meant we needed to have 360 degrees of awesome, so I loaded the inner truss with Batten Quads for effects and audience blinders. Then topped it off with R1 fx-B’s to get some individual pixel and pan/tilt control. Combining this with the plexiglass floors under lit by Batten Quads and Rogue Spots tucked away in the corners, we had one fantastical rock concert! When that truss starts moving, and the lights start spinning there is no way you can keep yourself from dancing.