Lonestar sets the right mood for new Anne Frank musical

A new musical  “Anne Frank – Ein poetisches Musical“, based on the true story "The Diary of Anne Frank" made its debut at the Stadtgalerie Mödling, in Austria, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, 2023. Norbert Holoubek staged the thoughtful play, with Austrian lighting designer lecturer Johannes Felber taking the lead on lighting. The lighting concept was centered around Lonestar automated luminaires from ETC.

"It was the ideal lighting fixture for this production," says Felber. "Lonestar is quiet, and the light output is impressive. In addition – despite its compact design – it has framing shutters, and this was important to me. I wanted to use them in the production to be able to manipulate the light in a targeted way." This feature was demonstrated impressively at the end of the production: " I was able to light only one step with shoes on it in front of the stage, and it was a great effect."

The musical is characterized by two extremes of mood, and the flexibility of Lonestar was really appreciated for this purpose. "The first act is quite cheerful and musical-like, so I lit that accordingly," says Felber. "However, the second act takes place in hiding. There are still a few songs, but it's more like spoken theatre. I adjusted the lighting and kept it simpler and more serious. During these quiet parts, it was a real advantage that you could hardly hear any noise from the Lonestars."

Based on these two very different moods, Felber used almost every feature of the Lonestar . "I was happy with every one of the features," he says. “Especially because I had to accomplish a lot with a small number of fixtures, due to the limited space and budget."

In addition to the Lonestar quartet, the lighting package included several ETC Source Four jr fixtures and an ETC Ion console. Felber has been using the Ion for several years. "It's a slightly older model but it offers consistent user experience and still runs the latest software,” he says. “It’s an excellent service from ETC."