CARDIFF, WALES —The brand new musical Never Forget opened in Cardiff last weekend on the start of its U.K. tour — with plans to bring the show to the West End in the autumn.
Based on the book by Danny Brocklehurst, the show is the fictional story of a Take That tribute band, featuring a host of hits and a large-scale sound system designed by Richard Brooker and supplied by Blitz. At its core, D16 Digital Mix Matrices and M16 Remote Controlled Microphone Amplifiers complement a combined analogue and digital Cadac system, comprising an 82-input Cadac J-Type Live Production Console. The main P.A. rig is from OPUS, representing the company's largest theatre system to date, including 8 x AT1000 cabinets and 8 x SB218 subs, plus Sennheiser SK50 and SK5012 radiomics and XTA 26 processing among the comprehensive system.
Production sound is by Mike Walker and Mark Cornwell of Loh-Humm Sound. Brooker’s sound team consists of Tom Marshall as assistant sound designer, Chris Dunkin as operator, with Robin Conway and Roisinne Mamdani backstage.
According to Brooker, “My challenge has been to give the sound design a theme, enabling the audience to follow the story with crisp, sensible dialogue before moving into the big numbers. The Cadac chain for the input stage gives a fantastically clear, defined and beautiful dynamic. I am using the M16 splits into the D16s, routing half into the J-Type — giving me an all-Cadac signal path into the Opus system. I am also thrilled with the separation and definition from the Opus — the whole sound is perfect. We have a seven-piece band that is working really hard all through the show, and the audiences appear to be loving it!"
Never Forget had its world première at the Wales Millennium Centre, produced by Tristan Baker, Bronia Buchanan and Charlie Parsons, directed by Ed Curtis with choreography by Karen Bruce, and starring Stephane Anelli, Dean Chisnall, Tim Driesen, Craige Els and Eaton James as the tribute band members. The U.K. tour will take in Glasgow, Manchester, Stoke and Edinburgh before transferring to London's West End.
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