The famous, leg-kicking Radio City Rockettes have rarely struggled to hold an audiences’ attention.
They have a little bit more competition now, however, since Christie has partnered with Radio City Music Hall to include its Boxer 4K30 projectors to provide a projection-mapping backdrop during performances such as Christmas Spectacular and New York Spectacular.
The Madison Square Garden Company enlisted Christie Boxer for the projector installation.
DWP Live, a video production company that specializes in projection mapping, used Christie Boxer to create a unique visual experience by deploying three distinct arrays—eight on each side of the theater and six in the projection booth—creating an immersive environment fueled by a kaleidoscope of colors and imagery onto the archway ceiling and backdrop, according to a Christie press release.
DWP is no stranger to high-profile performance backdrops, says founder and president Danny Whetstone. “We did a temporary installation on short notice a few months prior for the ‘Adele’ live NBC broadcast at Radio City.
“After some meetings and a demonstration of the ¬¬Christie Boxer projector, we were thrilled to provide our services to the Madison Square Garden Company to enhance their 2016 production of New York Spectacular starring the Radio City Rockettes at Radio City with our content design upgrades to make the show come to life in a big way and more immersive for the audience.
“When discussing projector options for the upgrade install, we knew we wanted 30,000 lumens and a significant improvement in brightness, contrast and color depth. The Boxer was chosen as the best option because of its flexibility, lower ambient noise level, and its ability to natively display 4k resolution.”
The Radio City Music Hall project was completed in only five days with the Rockettes already in full dress rehearsal and only two weeks before the New York Spectacular opened.
“We definitely jumped through whatever hoops we could to get this done and Christie was super accommodating, making sure we received everything we needed to get it done on time,” Whetstone says.
