The idea was a monolith. One block of video across the back of the stage, minimal and clean, with the light built in front of it in hard contrasted beams that cut volume out of the haze. The Waldbühne is a stone amphitheatre laid out after the Greek theatre at Epidaurus, opened in 1936, and nothing in it moves. The orchestra does not move either, once it sits down for the night. The show was made from the only two things that could change, the surface and the beam.

The monolith is three panels wide, and the only break in it is the gap at the centre, cut so Gianna can walk through the screen to reach the stage. The Bohemian Symphony Orchestra sits in front of the video, spread the full width of the deck, the players reading as silhouettes against whatever the screen is doing behind them. At the lip of the stage a line of floor bars draws the edge and keeps the deck separate from the crowd.

Then each song rebuilds the room. Gold inflatable letters spelling GIANNA open the night. America comes back as two signs reading AMERICA INC. and a gold Statue of Liberty at full width. A red dome closes over the orchestra like a sun going down. A classical bust in blue. A colonnade of ruins running with green. 1983 written in fire. Three chandeliers over a grand piano for Donne in amore. The last image is a white theatre curtain drawn across the whole stage, with the band and the orchestra playing in front of it.

The light carries the volume the video cannot. Beams cross low over the deck through heavy smoke and build a room that has no walls, because an open air amphitheatre gives a designer nothing to bounce off and a night sky that swallows everything aimed at it. Colour stays on a short leash, mostly white and amber, and when red arrives it takes the whole stage at once. The crowd stood from halfway through, and she came back for three encores and three changes of clothes.

The concept came from Blearred. Jordan Babev was head lighting and set designer. Matteo De Salvia programmed and operated the show. Matteo Masini worked the 3D design and Francesco Rizzotto the CAD. Cecilia Magnozzi handled set design and the presentation decks. Ivan Russo held project coordination, with Elisa Fiumanò on logistics and coordination. Video content was produced by Roof Design, with Mikkel Garro. Claudio Santucci of Giò Forma was show director. The concert was produced by Vivo Concerti.

Photo: Jordan Babev