Los Angeles (Date, 2014) – Described as a venue that blurs the lines between restaurant, bar, club and show, Rose.Rabbit.Lie. at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is the city’s most talked about new “social club.” Clay Paky lighting plays a key role in the unique venue, which represents a partnership of The Cosmopolitan, Coastal Luxury Management (food and beverages) and Spiegelworld (entertainment).
Guests at Rose.Rabbit.Lie. can dine on a small-plate menu in the library area, have drinks at the bar and in the study, and catch the “Vegas Nocturne” ticketed show that plays three times throughout the night; the theater transforms into a club following the last show and performers turn up everywhere to entertain guests. Walls move up and down to reconfigure the space, and guests move from room to room as they choreograph their evening and enjoy a customized experience.
Justin Spangler and PSX Audiovisual Technologies in Covington, Louisiana, supplied the Clay Paky fixtures and were also the integrator on the project.
Lighting designer Nick Whitehouse came on board at Rose.Rabbit.Lie. at the behest of Spiegelworld. He was tasked with creating theatrical lighting schemes for all nine rooms to enable every bit of the venue to act as a performance space.
“It was a large-scale project, the idea being that theatrical elements play around the whole venue,” says Whitehouse. “So we really had to design the lighting to make performance possible anywhere – and have the performers lit properly anywhere. I needed to design a rig that could cope with anything without being just everywhere.”
One of the biggest challenges was trim height since the overall trim of the venue was about 15 feet and some of the performers are high-wire and aerial acts, which come close to the lighting rig. “Many of these acts need to have consistent and very specific lighting for safety reasons, so I had to design a rig with proper lighting, safety and limited trim height in mind,” Whitehouse says.
“I also had to be able to have up to three acts going on at the same time in different rooms and, since the show is constantly changing, make the rig adaptable to fast changes that happen pretty much all the time.”
Whitehouse chose Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO 800s as the spot fixtures throughout the venue. “They do the majority of work in the space. They light all the performances and provide the main key lighting,” he explains. “Because the space is essentially in the round and performers use every part of the rooms, the fact that we had a fully-automated rig meant that we could reduce the number of fixtures as they could all do multiple jobs. The QWO 800 spots have amazing optics, high brightness and, most importantly, small size and weight. We use 64 throughout the space with the main concentration in the theater where the main show and nightclub are centered.”
Whitehouse also selected 53 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330s as the main theatrical wash in the theater; he likes the fixture’s size, speed and variable zoom and frost features. “The spots and washes provide some great effects lighting as needed for the more up-tempo numbers with some really nice looking gobo and beam looks from the spots,” he says. “They immediately transition into effects lighting for the nightclub, which opens after the 12 am show finishes.”
Whitehouse had previously auditioned the QWO 800s for another project and has used the Sharpy Washes extensively. “I knew what they were capable of and that they would be perfect for this venue,” he says. “I looked at other fixtures in the same size and power range but felt that none had the same quality of light.”
He reports that the lights “work great – they’re very reliable despite being pushed hard for 14 to 16 hours a day. They’re doing everything I asked of them in the programming I did. I’m very happy with them.”
Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky Area Manager for North and Latin America, commented, “This is a great application for our lights and we’re proud that Mr. Whitehouse has again chosen us to support his creative efforts. The space is amazing!”
A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive North American distributor for Clay Paky.