Grand designs

The Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), constructed on reclaimed land on the Mithi river, is providing Mumbai with a host of modern facilities: corporate premises that wouldn’t look out of place in Silicon Valley, five-star hotels, fancy apartments and upscale bars and restaurants. In the midst of this ever-evolving development is the Jio World Centre which in turn houses the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC), a cluster of exhibition, entertainment and performance spaces. The glittering centrepiece of NMACC is the Grand Theatre bolstered by two smaller venues, The Studio and The Cube.

NMACC is the project of Nita Mukesh Ambani, wife of Reliance Industries chairman and managing director, Mukesh Ambani. A classically trained Indian dancer, the formidable Ambani is the founder of philanthropic initiative the Reliance Foundation and the Dhirubhai Ambani International School, owner of the Mumbai Indians IPL cricket team, India’s first female member of the International Olympic Committee and long-time patron of the arts. In March 2023, Ambani unveiled the 2,000-seat Grand Theatre, whose lotus flower ceiling, complete with thousands of Swarovski crystals illuminated by twinkling LED lighting, has been the subject of much media frenzy. It’s fair to say that Mumbai, no stranger to style, excess and extravagance, has never seen the like. The presence of the technologically advanced Grand Theatre in Mumbai will not only allow increasingly professional staging of traditional Indian theatre, dance and music but will also usher in more Western-style productions, including West End and Broadway musicals – the second production to grace the new stage after opening show, The Great Indian Musical: Civilization to Nation, was The Sound of Music, brought in by a US theatre company for a month of sold-out performances.

Cascading down three levels edged with 18 private crystal-festooned boxes, the Grand Theatre envelops audiences in a luxuriant embrace. This international collaboration, modelled on the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood complete with state-of-the-art technology, raises the bar high for performing arts in India. The building’s design process commenced in 2012, with the main construction almost finished when the pandemic hit in 2020, inevitably delaying completion. Time was then spent clearing out the punch list, an extensive document detailing the remaining items before the venues could be considered complete, after which all the systems were subjected to eight months of test concerts and events. This culminated in a trial run, with all spaces running simultaneously to make sure operations were smooth.

The design of the theatres was down to Steve Clem and Nick Wolfcale at TVS Design, an architecture, planning and interiors firm headquartered in Atlanta, in collaboration with Brian Hall of Theatre Projects Consultants, also from the US. Overseeing the programming phase through to the beginning of construction was Theatre Projects’ partner in charge, Benton Delinger, who then moved to Reliance Industries as project manager in charge of design and construction of the theatres while his role at Theatre Projects was taken over by Michael Nishball.

All three theatres have been installed with d&b audiotechnik sound systems, supplied by d&b with assistance from the brand’s Indian distributor, Ansata, which learned of the project back in 2015. “The sound system in the Grand Theatre has three different settings,” explains head of technical production, Charles Bardey. “One is for live productions; there is a variable acoustic system (VAS) from SIAP in the Netherlands which creates differently sounding spaces and a Dolby Atmos system. The settings can be changed at the touch of a button, and the whole system runs on Dante.”

The Reliance team was invited to ISE 2018 to hear d&b systems including Soundscape, after which they met with Ansata director Leslie Lean and Gert Sanner, d&b’s senior consultant education and application support. Sanner began designing the FOH system using d&b ArrayCalc Software in tandem with EASE software to determine the best possible solution for all three theatres.

From 2017 to 2020, Ansata’s Neil Lean was contracted by d&b to assist in the role of education and application support for the subcontinent. “I was involved in the design, installation and commissioning processes for the FOH, VAS and Dolby Atmos systems for the Grand and the Studio theatres from the start,” explains Lean, who has continued to assist with fine-tuning the systems since the theatres opened.

The main FOH system in the Grand Theatre consists of 14 d&b Vi8 line array loudspeakers per side, with five Vi Subwoofers flown behind the main PA on custom rigging plates. Ten Yi8 compact line array loudspeakers are flown in the centre, with a ground stack of seven V8 and V12 loudspeakers and two V subwoofers per side and an SL-SUB per side on the left and right wings. “The ground stacks were added to improve the imaging of the system for the ground floor audience,” continues Lean. “The main FOH system is flown high up in the theatre to cater to the ground floor and two balconies. When the ground stacks are not in use and the wings are clear, a couple of V10P point source speakers per side hidden in the proscenium help with the sonic imaging for the ground floor. The VIP boxes on the left and right are covered by Yi7P point source loudspeakers which are also hidden in the proscenium. Eleven E4 point source loudspeakers with custom cable termination recessed into the apron wall provide front fill, with four more E4s in the wall behind the orchestra pit for when it is replaced with more audience seating. E8s can be placed on the stage lip if the production demands louder fills. Six E6s are recessed under the balcony as delay speakers for the rear ground stalls.” A set of redundant DS100 signal engines are used as a matrix and to facilitate Soundscape productions. FOH and monitors are catered for by two Yamaha PM10 consoles, with Yamaha TF1 and CL5 consoles on hand if required.

A total of 60 d&b Y8 line array speakers make up the Grand Theatre’s Dolby Atmos system, split into five hangs of 12 deep for the L, LC, C, RC and R channels behind the screen, with a V subwoofer for each of the five arrays. Two SL-SUBs drive the LFE (low frequency effect) channel, and a total of 104 Yi10P point source speakers and 20 8S point source speakers recessed into the walls provide side and ceiling surround for the Dolby Atmos system, coupled with four ViG and eight Ti subwoofers as the surround LFE.

“I designed and configured the Dolby Atmos systems along with Christian Lurch from Dolby UK,” continues Lean. “Dolby India helped me during the design phase and gave me technical backup to make the right speaker choices according to the DARDT [Dolby audio room design tool] sheet designed by the Dolby UK team. During installation, Dolby India helped me to position all the loudspeakers in the Grand and the Studio. I carried out initial measurements of the Atmos system to find out the losses and compensation needed for the speakers in enclosures recessed into the walls in the Grand Theatre. Dolby India then came in to assess the angles of each speaker in the hall before Pavel Stverak from Dolby arrived to commission the theatres.”

The Dolby Atmos speaker positions are also used with SIAP’s VAS processor. Twenty-two E8 speakers can be mounted onstage to emulate an orchestral shell with the VAS. The SIAP microphones are suspended above the auditorium from automated electronic cable reelers, which deploy them to the correct height when the system is in operation. When not in use, they are retracted above the auditorium ceiling petals.

Installation was carried out by Singaporean SI company, Swee Lee, which handled AV project management and systems integration and worked closely with Reliance, d&b and SIAP. Ian Stott headed the Swee Lee team, working alongside Lean to determine installation and construction elements including custom rigging solutions and amp room configurations, with Lean making tweaks to Sanner’s design throughout this process.

“When we were to commission the SIAP system, Gert Sanner and Javier Frutos-Bonilla, senior application engineer at d&b, flew down to help,” says Lean. “The three of us, along with Wim Prinssen and Reinout Gerlach from SIAP, commissioned and tested the SIAP system with a Western and Indian orchestra in May 2022.”

Ansata also provided the theatre with a selection of DPA microphones ranging from shotgun and headset models to vocal instrument miking and touring kits, as well as Avid Pro Tools systems, a Dante Domain Manager network hub, Audinate AVIO adapters and subsequent smaller requirements of d&b speaker systems.

A fly system with 69 battens allows swift stage-length scene changes, adding flexibility to the scope of productions. The orchestra pit, which accommodates up to 100 musicians, can be raised to create an extension in front of the stage for talks or smaller events while the main stage is set up for another performance. The media pit in the middle of the auditorium can be rigged for crew or converted to seating, depending on show requirements, while translation booths increase accessibility by providing live translation and audio description. Back of house has parking for 34 lorries to cope with large-scale sets, as well as plenty of space for production offices and artists’ dressing rooms.

The Cube and Studio Theatre have been designed for performances on a smaller scale. The 250-seat Studio Theatre is an intimate venue with a mezzanine level, while the 125-seat black box Cube is lined with wood-toned acoustic boards, giving a neutral backdrop to suit a range of performances. “They are the work horses of the centre,” says Delinger. “Their ability to flex between multiple set ups is what makes them unique. They may look simple, but everything within them is made for flexibility.” Portable platforms and grids facilitate a range of configurations, with the ceiling of the Studio fitted with a tension wire grid allowing technicians to rig and change lights while the floor is being set up or used for rehearsals. All stage engineering was handled by US theatrical rigging specialist, J R Clancy.

The Studio Theatre has a pair of d&b Vi10P point source speakers as the main PA, coupled with a mobile V10P system with two V-GSUBs per side when needed. This venue is also equipped with a custom-coloured Dolby Atmos system, with three Vi10Ps as the L-C-R system behind the screen, each mounted on a ViG subwoofer. Two 21S subwoofers are used for the LFE channel. A total of 30 8S and eight 5S point source speakers are rigged for the surround and ceiling channels, along with two Yi subwoofers for surround LFE channels. A DS100 signal engine serves as a matrix mixer for simultaneous use of all the systems, facilitating Soundscape productions when the need arises.

The Cube is installed with two Yi10Ps and an E15X subwoofer per side. There also is a sizable mobile d&b V-Series system that can be moved to the centre’s banquet halls when needed. Currently, part of this system is being used as the ground stacks in the Grand Theatre. All three theatres have a combination of d&b M4 and M6 stage monitors.

Lighting system design was handled by Theatre Projects’ Steve Rust. A Madrix Luna 16 DMX system running Madrix 5 software controls the LED lighting that studs the lotus ceiling’s custom RGBW-W PCB, blending colours to illuminate the 8,400 Swarovski crystals in an infinite amount of patterns and sequences. Indian distributor IES supplied the theatre with 44 Robe T2 profiles and 28 T2 washes plus 12 Avolites DMX splitters, and there is a vast selection of conventional and moving lights from Martin by Harman, Robert Juliat, Altman, ETC Source Four profiles and ETC Lustr 2 LED profiles, together with an ETC Eos Titanium lighting console with full tracking backup. The production lighting system was provided by LSI Projects from the UK

Mumbai’s new trio of theatres, together with NMACC’s exhibition spaces, will open up new opportunities for performers and artists from India and beyond. “Put together, these theatres are going to host several hundred performances each year that would not otherwise have taken place,” comments NMACC head, Tim Brinkman. “That means employment for the artists on the stage, for their technical teams and for the administrative staff as well. It’s a big, dynamic improvement to employment opportunities.”