Danish theatre chose Sony for their production of the European premiere of Disney’s 'Aladdin the Musical'
The number one producer of musical theatre in Denmark – Fredericia Theatre – was chosen by Disney to stage Aladdin. Sony Professional dealer Alfa Audio in Aarhus identified their needs and designed the optimum solution with Sony digital wireless microphones.
Background
Fredericia Theatre is situated in Jutland in the west of Denmark. The theatre works closely together with the Danish Academy of Musical Theatre (Det Danske Musicalakademi). This has resulted in a number of spectacular performances which have been noticed by the business both in Europe and the US.
Challenges
Fredericia Theatre has been working together with the Sony Professional dealer Alfa Audio in Aarhus for years. However, when Disney asked them if they would like to be the first stage in Europe to present the musical Aladdin, the theatre saw the need to upgrade their audio solution. At the time they had a number of analogue channels which could no longer be used, and they were looking for a new solution which would be sufficient for a large musical like Aladdin, where a great number of actors sing and talk simultaneously.
Alfa Audio installed 16 Sony DWR-R02D double receivers with 32 channels, 32 DWT-B01/E, 2 AN-01UHF antennas, and 2 RMU-01 Cross Remote Antennas. The Sony technology was delivered through Sony specialist distributor ARVA Trading AB in Sweden
The digital microphones are controlled by Sony’s Cross Remote function. The sound engineers can control all parameters in the transmitter directly from the receiver or from a computer, and in seconds they can set the transmitter to stand-by, switch the channel or change the frequency on both the transmitter and the receiver.
To optimise the sound experience in the theatre, the system was equipped with DPA d:fine headsets. Alfa Audio also put in a new d&b audiotechnik centre cluster which works with the existing d&b audiotechnik PA, TTA Stagetracker and surround speaker system.
The Sony wireless system has been a huge improvement for the theatre. Today the sound is much more transparent, with a far better vocal presentation and an extraordinary intelligibility. Throughout the performances of Aladdin the audience could hear both the spoken dialogue and musical numbers crystal clear, even though the performers were accompanied by an orchestra of 18 musicians.
Aladdin became a huge success both among the audience and in the media, so Fredericia Theatre decided to play Aladdin in the east of Denmark as well. As a result, this summer Disney’s Aladdin – The Musical can be seen at the Royal Danish Opera in the heart of Copenhagen.
Why Sony was selected
“The theatre wanted a state-of-the-art system. We helped them in identifying their needs and presented alternative solutions for them to consider. The choice was easy – Sony DWX was the only solution,” says Lars Baun Fredriksen, head of Alfa Audio. Alfa Audio recommended Sony’s digital wireless microphones, seeing how they would work perfectly with the theatre’s old microphones. The digital transmission technology used in the microphones makes it possible to add a lot more wireless channels. If necessary, for instance with large theatre productions, one can add several hundred channels.
The choice was easy – Sony DWX was the only solution.
Lars Baun Fredriksen
Head of Alfa Audio
