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    DESIGNER CORY PATTAK BRINGS VARI-LITE VL2600, VL3600 TO BROADWAY

    PRODUCTS FEATURED:
    PHOTO CREDITS: © Cory Pattak
    LIGHTING DESIGNER: Cory Pattak
    LIGHTING APPLICATION: Theatre

    Lighting Designer Cory Pattak lit up Broadway with production luminaires from Vari-Lite. Vari-Lite fixtures were featured on the 2024 productions of The Great Gatsby and A Wonderful World, with around sixty Vari-Lite VL2600 SE Profiles on The Great Gatsby and fifty VL2600 SE Profiles plus twelve VL3600 Profile IP fixtures on A Wonderful World.

     

    “It was a big year for me,” says Pattak. “I made my Broadway design debut in the fall of 2023 with Spamalot, followed by Gatsby and A Wonderful World in 2024. All three shows came out of PRG and I worked with them to find fixtures that would work for my needs and within the budget.”

     

    “My approach to lighting is not one of subtlety,” explains Pattak. “I’m not great at disappearing into the background. All three shows feature big bold looks with lots of color, lots of movement and require the lighting to do a fair amount of heavy lifting. I like to do a lot of shutter and iris gags with fast opens and closes, and I find the VLs to have some of the fastest-moving parts on the market.” Pattak also praised Vari-Lite’s full frame shutters and broad zoom range, claiming they opened a lot of creative possibilities.

     

    Output was also a major requirement for Pattak. “As is becoming more and more the case, all three shows also utilized LED walls, which have a big impact on my work. I needed fixtures that could compete with the brightness of the LED tiles, but I didn’t have the pipe space for the biggest lights out there. So I added Vari-Lite, because I really like their brightness compared to other comparable fixtures, and I don’t feel like I lose that brightness when I put in a color.”

     

    As with any Broadway production, color rendering was vital for the production design as well. Pattak adds, “I really like the CTO color of the VLs. Some manufacturers’ CTO is a little greener, but the VLs are a little pinker, which I prefer for lighting skin tones.”

     

    “The VLs did everything I needed them to do,” concludes Pattak. “On all three shows, they are the workhorse fixture and they do everything from people lighting to scenic washes to flashier eye candy. With great colors, a lot of gobo slots, and a quiet operation, they were a great addition to the production.”

    Sweeney Todd - © James Sale
    Sweeney Todd - © James Sale
    Sweeney Todd - © James Sale
    Sweeney Todd - © James Sale
    Sweeney Todd - © James Sale
    Sweeney Todd - © James Sale