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Opera North’s dazzling staging of Kurt Weill’s 1940’s Broadway song-and-dance hit, Love Life, featured a sound package from Autograph and a complex sound design from one of our in-house team of masterful sound designers, Luke Swaffield.
Staged at Leeds Grand Theatre in January, the vibrant performance (partly funded by, and recorded for release in collaboration with, The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music) is to be broadcast at 18.00 on Saturday 22 February as part of BBC Radio 3’s Opera on 3 series.
Photo: James Glossop
From a sound design viewpoint this was a busy, challenging show, with a large cast and multiple characters – many of the parts being played by Opera North’s stunning chorus members. Also featuring was Opera North’s own orchestra, on the stage itself, in full view of the audience. It took 36 radio mics, 15 float mics and 55 orchestra mics to pick up all the action.
Adding to the challenge, the schedule was tight. “We had just nine working days between load-in and opening,” says Luke, “but it was great to be working with Opera North again. This was our third new production with them over our 10-year working relationship.”
Alongside the sound design for the show itself, further flexibility was needed from Luke to accommodate the broadcast operation. To enable this, he provided full splits of all 128 inputs to the BBC OB truck (parked on the Leeds Grand Theatre’s lorry lift), where a team from the BBC handled the broadcast mix. “That’s something we’re always ready and able to do if needed,” he says.
Of the staging (called “Ingenious” by The Times) he adds, “This was a great way to really celebrate the music and show off Opera North’s full-time orchestra.”
“Brilliantly reconstructed . . . possibly only Opera North could even attempt it today,” said The Arts Desk’s review. It also included a clear nod to the quality of the sound, stating: “. . . (if the sound captured for the recording is as splendid as what was heard in the auditorium last night, credit is well deserved by all the musicians and the technical team as well).”
(You can read the full review here)
As the photographs clearly show, this was a sumptuously-produced slice of rare theatre history. With Weill’s music plus lyrics from another legend, Alan Jay Lerner (My Fair Lady, Paint Your Wagon, Gigi) this musical production was an inspiration for many great works that followed, from Cabaret and Chicago to Company.
View our gallery by clicking on the photos below . . .
The creative team behind Opera North’s Love Life included:
Look out for the broadcast here!