Kaleidoscope: A Celebration of Skating, Song and Survivorship aired on FOX Thanksgiving Day and Total was there. The team traveled to the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. for the taping of the holiday special which included cancer survivors Dorothy Hamill and Scott Hamilton as well as fellow skating luminaries Kristi Yamaguchi, Nancy Kerrigan, Rachel Flatt, Brandon Mroz, and Johnny Weir. They were joined by musical guests David Archueleta and Katherine McPhee, both stars of American Idol along with legendary singer/actress and cancer survivor Olivia Newton-John plus one of America's foremost music producers--David Foster. We provided audio, rigging, staging, scenic, video and design/project management services for the show.

Three truckloads of equipment were sent to the site with one 53' semi used for additional lighting, scenic and projection equipment and a separate 48' semi used specifically for audio gear.  A third truck was used to collect additional gear from a remote location and deliver it to the site.  Crew for the show included a Project Manager / Technical Designer, Audio Director/FOH Engineer, Scenic Crew Lead, Production Rigger, Monitor Engineer/A2, a System Tech and Projectionist/Video Engineer. The main lighting package was provided by an additional vendor and coordinated through production management.

Our key areas of involvement with the program were the technical design for the event, designing the staging and scenic elements, providing live audio for the program, rigging for all staging, scenic, audio and projection needs and video playback used for IMAG and graphic displays throughout the program including the monitors seen behind the program hosts on the broadcast program. We provided additional lighting equipment and supplemented needs for the lighting designers which included numerous fixtures and a fiber optic curtain package which was used on the inside perimeter of the ice rink.

 
With the event taking place in a large ice rink there were many obstacles to overcome in designing the stage and scenic elements for the show. Additionally, a number of our normal solutions were immediately eliminated because the entire rink, with the exception of the stage area, was performance space for the skaters. This precipitated the need for all elements to serve multiple functions, and to work within the space as well as on camera.

One of the greatest challenges for our team was designing a dynamic stage set that would captivate the audience and read well on television while providing a backdrop for both musical and skating performances. The solution was to utilize a huge modular, multi-faceted backdrop rigged from a custom truss curve and echo it with companion chandeliers over the ice rink. Due to the size of the ice rink, image magnification (IMAG) was required to engage the audience with the activities on stage and (2) 15' x 20' screens were flown on each side of the stage. The entire scenic, lighting, audio and rigging package was designed to fit the venue based on a realistic 3D model of the space, allowing a layout that worked for all sightlines within the space. Concept renderings provided all parties with a clear view of the look of the event prior to loading the event into the space, saving numerous hours in the space reworking elements to work for both the live event and the television broadcast.

Setup also presented a challenge, since it needed to be done on the ice based on venue scheduling and the time requirements for the ice to be prepared for the show. In addition, the venue had an NBA basketball game the night prior to load-in, requiring a huge turnover of the facility.  Our team had to be specifically cognizant of safety issues for personnel and ensuring that equipment was handled with the utmost care.  Additionally, as with many shows there was no extra time factored into the schedule to accommodate for working on an abnormal surface. The load-in was choreographed perfectly through the use of CAD and design services provided during pre-production, saving time and labor and allowing the show to be ready for rehearsals the morning of the event, and reducing load-in time for the event to 10 hours with what would normally have been a 2-day load-in.

Rehearsals and show taping all occurred on the same day, ten days before the network broadcast. Our team coordinated with the show producers and worked tirelessly for a long day which required many takes. However, the end result was a beautiful show receiving great acclaim. Kaleidoscope: A Celebration of Skating, Song and Survivorship presented many touching moments from famous voices such as Olivia Newton-John and Scott Hamilton, and focused on issues for many men and women who battle cancer on a daily basis.