AT THE BALLET

EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL AT THE BALLET

Tonight is the Nashville Ballet's "Ballet Ball", their annual celebration and fundraising gala. Gary Musick Productions' scenic team is handling the staging and much of the decor for the event. Here's a sneak peak that Bert sent a few minutes ago just prior to doors opening. Watch for more shots on Monday!

SKYPE - ALMOST LIKE BEING THERE!

SKYPE - ALMOST LIKE BEING THERE!

We are in the middle of a five-city series of recognition events for one of our favorite long time clients. These dinner and awards programs honor outstanding performances by the top sales and service managers within the company. This week, one of the top winners who should have been honored live at the event in Nashville could not be there due to a prior commitment to a management training program in another city. The solution? We arranged a live SKPE session with the winner that allowed her to be part of the evening! As she was introduced, her live image appeared on screen to the surprise and delight of her co-workers. We worked with the client and the hotel to arrange a special audio and video feed that allowed her to see and be seen by her associates. It was a great success and worked perfectly. A special thanks goes to GMP production manager Jonathan Yeaworth for helping with the technical details. Here's a shot of her surprise "guest appearance".

NASHVILLE HEART GALA

NASHVILLE's HEART GALA IS A BEAUTIFUL SUCCESS!

The Nashville Heart Gala is one of our city's most noteworthy charity events, and this year continued the American Heart Association's tradition of excellence with the success of the 2010 Heart Gala. The silent auction, dinner, and dancing event raises significant funds to support heart research and patient services for the American Heart Association. Gary Musick Productions has partnered with the Nashville Heart Gala staff for several years on the design, decor, and production of the event. This year, an Asian theme incorporated gorgeous linens and table decor with our huge Japanese lantern stage set pieces and dramatic lighting to create a stunning look for the event. Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center was once again the site of this year's gala. Highlights of the event included an authentic Chinese Lion Dance, several fabulous trips auctioned after dinner, and a moving testimonial from a young heart patient who received a heart transplant as a result of the work of the Association. Congratulations to the GMP producer Brandon Thomas and the Heart Gala staff and volunteers on the success of the this year's gala! Also, hats off to the staff of the Schermerhorn for their great work and cooperation - thank you to Allison Huber, Bruce Pittman, and Brian Doane especially. And thank you for allowing GMP to be part of the event again this year!

Laura Turner Hall just before doors opened to guests.

Table decor design was a collaborative effort between gala chairpersons, the Heart Gala staff, designer Amos Gott, and GMP producer Brandon Thomas.

Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center offers a dramatic setting for any special event!

The Craig Duncan Orchestra provided music for dinner and dancing. They were a huge hit with gala guests!
Lead singer Denise Patton is the wife of GMP General Manager David Patton. What an incredible performer! Awesome...just awesome!

NAED in San Diego

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS WESTERN REGION CONFERENCE - SAN DIEGO

This week we produced the National Association of Electrical Distributors Western Region Conference in San Diego. This was the second meeting of three regional conferences this year. The meeting was at the San Diego Marriott and Marina, one of the largest hotels in San Diego and a property we've worked in many times in the past. The setting is spectacular, and the weather was a welcome relief from the cold, rainy days we've been experiencing in Nashville. It was a great week, and we're looking forward to our next show in Marco Island next month!

Here are some shots from the General Session. This is a conference of about 500 attendees from the electrical products industry, including some of the world's largest manufacturers for electrical equipment.

Scenic Shop Diversity in Foam!

Our Scenic Shop has many diverse disciplines for set and prop fabrication. Our Technical Director, Eric Cardwell, who leads our scenic shop, has the opportunity to work on some incredible set, prop and creative designs for our clients. The diversity of elements our creative teams design and create is extraordinary. One of the most interesting mediums that we use is bead foam to create 3-dimensional elements. Eric is currently leading a project to create an over-sized telephone prop, in which a young actress will be delivering her lines sitting in the hand receiver cradle. The pictures are showing our artist carving the telephone out of bead foam. You will find the pictures of this telephone coming to "life" over the next few days, culminating with the big reveal of the final piece by the end of the week.

What can Eric and our creative teams build for you?

London Auditions 2010

LONDON AUDITIONS A SUCCESS IN SPITE OF THE WEATHER

Our cruise ship production team is in London this week on our annual audition trip. We are currently casting for NCL's JADE, GEM, and SPIRIT. We found some great talent, although the number of attendees was down from last year due to the treacherous weather conditions across Great Britain. Many of the trains leading into London from the north were cancelled over the past two days because of heavy snowfall. We head home tomorrow, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll be able to get out. Many flights have been cancelled or are delayed. Here are some shots from the auditions...

These singers were taught a dance combination at callbacks to make sure they could handle the choreography in our shows.

This is a shot from the dancer auditions on Thursday. It was a workout for the 80 dancers who were taught several challenging combinations.

Dancers warming up before learning the first dance combination.

VIVA LAS VEGAS!

VIVA LAS VEGAS!

We recently produced audiovisual and entertainment elements for a tremendously successful corporate conference at one of the major convention hotels in Las Vegas. This was one of of the more innovative and engaging shows we've done this year, primarily because of the creative use of entertainment throughout the show. After two days of general sessions and educational breakouts, the entire group came together for a final review of the meeting content. The audience had a chance to show their prowess in a fast-paced game show format loosely patterned after a Hollywood Squares format. The company's execs acted as "panelists", while "contestants" were selected at random from the audience. Questions covering the conference material were thrown out to the VIP panelists, and contestants had an opportunity to "agree or disagree" with the answers. The game was a highly effective way for the audience to review key information shared in the previous sessions. And it was BIG FUN for everyone! Give us a call if you'd like to learn how this game - or others - can be tailored to your meeting needs!

The above photo is a shot of the stage just before the session. The game involves 9 panelists at specially built colorful LED or Flat screen monitor desks, with contestants and the host standing at lecterns that house much of the electronics for the game operation.

"Rockaraoke" combines the high energy impact of a live rock band with the diversity and audience participation of karaoke. This event was so successful it had to be extended by an hour to accommodate everyone who wanted to be a star for the night. It was a huge hit!

Many of the guests even came prepared with wigs and costumes to complete their performances!

The final dinner featured and elegant dinner with amazing hand-made chocolate centerpieces. It was stunning!