HARRY POTTER IN CONCERT A Harry Potter Concert Series took to the road recently, bringing one of the world’s best-loved bookturned-film franchises to not only the big screen, but the stage. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was shown in UK & Ireland arena venues for the first time, with a live score performed by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. The production, brought to fans by producers CineConcerts and production / promoter Senbla, delivered a first-class audio-visual cinematic experience, and the end product didn’t disappoint, as Kel Murray reports…
They say no two touring jobs are ever the same… and that’s certainly the case for the crew and companies behind this hybrid arena tour. I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve never seen the Harry Potter films. (Well, it turns out I’ve seen bits of the second one, probably on long haul plane journeys as an adult.) What could be so different about watching the film in an arena, instead of a cinema, I thought? Foolishly... The contrast is stark. Not only is this style of production interactive, but it delivers a sound quality that traditional cinema simply cannot rival. Mid-way through the tour, TPi visited the show and spoke to the team behind the film fun. Harvey Leslie, Technical Production Manager at Senbla works for the promoter in both an advancement role and on-site during the tour. Before curiosity got the better of me, I sat down with him to better understand what I was about to see... “Senbla has worked with CineConcerts, the tour producers, beforehand with a screening of The Godfather, so we knew roughly what we needed to achieve for a full tour. In terms of my suppliers and crew, I wanted to use people either myself, or my Stage Manager [DNG’s Martin Barraclough] had existing relationships with. DNG have a lot of experience in these UK venues, so Martin’s knowledge
was invaluable. My audio vendor, Adlib, brought the right equipment together for this cinematic experience, and ultimately, my decision to use them came down to a great rapport I developed with Phil Stoker and Phil Keility; they gave me a sound solution which worked really well. “We use SFL for all of our video projects and I wanted the show to be as impressive as possible, production wise, so I was always going to bring them in. The extra key details such as lighting [from Zig Zag] and rigging [UK Rigging] were also a clear choice for us.” Tour buses are provided by StarSleeper and trucking via ETS. Working very closely with Leslie was Senbla Rep, Kitty StaffordClark: “Kitty and I are both reps in some sense… she’s an asset to the smooth running of the tour, taking care of all things front of house while I concentrate on the needs of the technical production.” The results certainly seemed to work, and the screening TPi attended was a hit with varied generations of fans. Leslie concluded: “I think both the customers and the technical crew are were happy with this tour. We got just the right set up. Senbla uses various orchestras depending on the type of show we’re running, but we always work with a very high standard, and The 44