Pre-Broadway & World Premiere
projection design
Director: John Doyle
Paramount Theatre
Aurora, IL
The world premiere and pre-broadway run of Glen Berger and Mark Mancina's August Rush follows an 11-year-old orphan, Evan Taylor, on a musical journey to find his birth parents. Navigating his way through the streets of New York, he finds himself captivated by Wizard, a hostile vagrant who teaches and coerces runaway children to be street musicians. Within Wizard's collective, Evan receives his street name, August Rush. Through a strange turn of events, Evan's parents are selected to perform at a concert in Central Park. Little do they know, this performance is the masterpiece of prodigy composer August Rush.
An eruption of imagery to express a young boy's mind was the projection design's foundation. The apex of the visual narrative was August's Rhapsody, where music and imagery collided into an explosion of aural and visual euphoria.
The projection design team created original artwork representing August's adolescent life and musical adventure. The imagery crafted for this moment was grounded in the musical organization, the circle of fifths. This motif embodied August's vision of the Rhapsody through animated musical notes written on the staff lines and ending in a colorful montage of propaganda posters showcasing the performance of his Rhapsody. Incorporated into the production was 3d tracking scenery, which created atmospheric motion, portraying different locations along August's journey. Image and video content were projected onto these panels, allowing the play's world to transform while the panels were moving.
The Rhapsody
An eruption of imagery to express the mind of a young boy was the foundation of the projection design. The apex of the visual narrative was August’s Rhapsody where music and imagery collided into an explosion of aural and visual euphoria.