A Fresh Face for the Starlight Stage

2016-12-02
CATEGORY: Starlight

The Jeannette and Jerome Cohen Community Stage at Starlight Theatre will be sporting a freshly painted face when guests arrive for the 2017 season’s first Broadway shows and concerts.

Starlight retained Baynum Painting to tackle the repainting of the structural steel and catwalks on the upper reaches of the stage house’s 10-story facade, as well as the underside of the spotlight bridge deck. The Newport, Ky.-based company brought unique expertise to the project because it specializes in painting complicated and thrilling high-profile commercial steel structures – specifically, roller coasters!

Unseasonably warm temperatures and dry weather this fall aided Baynum’s expert crew, as did two giant boom lifts that reached to heights of 85 and 125 feet.

The paint job was the first for the stage since it was constructed and commissioned in time for Starlight’s 2000 Broadway season. As a result, Starlight vice president of operations Justin White took the task of selecting a paint color very seriously.

“We thought it would be interesting to really study color before we embarked on the project,” White said. “We carefully weighed doing an identical repaint of the original green or a distinct color change. We ultimately chose a color, Phantom Mist, that matches the dark brown patina of the stage’s copper roof. While the copper will oxidize into cool blue and green tones in the next few decades, the painted exterior steel will carry forward the dark bronze tone.”

He added that the new paint scheme gives the front facade of the 12,000-square-foot, 113-foot-tall structure an updated, more refined appearance. It also helps the steel, which is primarily used for rigging audio, video and lighting systems, “go away” in the cover of night.

In completing the project, Baynum’s expert crew used approximately 100 gallons of paint and 50 roller covers and paint brushes. More than 3,500 square yards of plastic sheeting covered and protected the stage’s mega door, orchestra pit and front sections of seats.

Baynum completed the project in about 1,300 man-hours between Oct. 24 and Nov. 11.

So, when you’re seated and ready to watch a show next summer, take a minute to look up and admire our new paint job!

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