Les Misérables revived into West End staged concert with disguise at the heart

The beloved musical returned to the West End for the summer of 2021 as a socially-distant staged concert, with disguise pre-vis at the heart of the production redesign.

When the newly refurbished Sondheim Theatre reopened its doors in December 2019 to welcome back the West End’s longest-running musical, Les Misérables, the excitement was unfortunately cut short following the swift and unexpected impact of the pandemic. 

But hope was once again restored, when a staged concert version of the musical opened at the same theatre – first for only 10 shows in December 2020, and now for a limited season until 5 September. Award-winning video designers Finn Ross of FRAY Studio and Jonathon Lyle were brought on to adapt the original show’s video design to its new concert format through the help of disguise’s pre-visualisation software that is powered by a disguise solo server. 

Despite being thwarted twice by Covid-19 restrictions (in the initial opening and then by a UK lockdown ahead of Christmas), the show has enjoyed critical acclaim as theatre-lovers gather every day to “hear the people sing”.

“What we’re doing with video is containing the space and tuning into the emotional temperature of the scene,” explains Finn Ross. “We chose disguise because of the excellent support and the solo specifically for its suitability for smaller theatre shows from a form and cost perspective, while still offering power, flexibility and the full disguise experience.” 

The new design is much more simplified in comparison to the musical production as it removes scenography and choreography, while lighting plays a much bigger role, tuning viewers in with the emotions of the performers. 

“A subtle hand was taken to create this unique concert experience. The connection with the performer and the stage is very intense, as we tried to find a sensitive way to support the atmosphere and the work of the performer without overwhelming them.”


Unlike the musical which uses projection mapped images that bind to the action and movement on stage, the concert relies on an LED wall to playback subtle elements of the original images, designed by Matt Kinley, inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. Ross adds: “we were able to take the original show file in disguise pre-vis and edit it down to condense it to the shorter duration of the concert. Luckily we were operating within the same system and in the same building as the musical, so it was so easy to reconfigure things in the background. disguise certainly made the shift very painless.”


The team was also working with the LED screen brightness extensively, adapting it for very dark or very bright scenes. With disguise at the core of the production, integrating lighting and video, the team was also able to use the software as an LED screen control solution to streamline their workflow.


“We always feel reassured when working with disguise. It’s a reliable piece of software that doesn’t get in your way and lets you create without having to fight with it,” Ross concludes.

Credits

Video Designers: Finn Ross & Jonathon Lyle

Associate Video Designer: George Reeve

Video Programmer: Neil McDowell Smith

Video Technician: Rick Clutton

Original Animator: Peter Stenhouse

Projections for the fully staged production of Les Misérables realised by Finn Ross and 59 Productions

SCROLL POSTS

A Few Kind Words...

Kapil Gadhire, Head of Marketing, Magnifi

From the word go, team Bubble was super detailed, efficient, and exhaustive in their approach. They are true partners and make an effort to understand the ideology and end goal to plan the perfect media pitch and strategy.

Lauren Myers, Director, Integrated Marketing – Ross Video

Working with Bubble during and after IBC 2022 for PR and press support was exceptional. Their professional approach, strategic communication, and extensive media network generated significant exposure for our brand. Bubble's on-site support was outstanding, ensuring our story was accurately told to a global audience. Their post-IBC efforts further amplified our reach and provided valuable analytics. An experienced, professional team and a total joy to work with.

Andrew McKinlay, Marketing Director, Avolites

All amazing, just grateful I know I can rely on Bubble to get the job done brilliantly.

Tanya Rai, Marketing and Communications Manager, Pebble

Team Bubble are an extension of our own team. They are wonderful to work with, reliable, get the job done and gain great exposure for our business in key publications.

Mike Ward, Head of Marketing, Singular.live

Since we first started working with them, our team at Bubble have acted very much like an extension of our team. They work with us to try and help us achieve our goals and we very much feel that they have our interests at heart as well as having our backs when we need it!

Gavin Bunker, AE Live

Bubble were fantastic throughout the whole process and helped us deliver a successful event to celebrate our 30th corporate anniversary with industry peers.

Robert Cloudt, Synchronized

Bubble has been tremendously helpful to bring our marketing communication to the next level, very responsive and thinking with us together on the rightful messaging and timing across different media’s. Definitely a recommendation in case you need a well balanced media agency to help you out.

Carla Molina Whyte, Farmerswife

Working with Bubble Agency for a tradeshow has been truly amazing. The bubble team is incredibly helpful and talented. We are very happy with the results and with all the coverage we got prior and during the tradeshow!

Silvia Candido, Ateme

As usual, we were super busy before and during a tradeshow this year. What a luxury to have Bubble take care of our media relations and our social media accounts! We saw a surge of followers on LinkedIn and got good coverage in a number of publications.

Meg Travis, Iron Mountain Entertainment Services, Director, Global Head of Marketing & Communications, Entertainment Services

The Bubble team made everything easy at MPTS! From advising before the show, to facilitating client and press conversations during the show, to making recommendations on how to make the most of the connections we made there - we rely on Bubble as a key strategic partner for our sales and marketing teams.