Greg Norgeot, Paul Sharwell and Angus Sinex of the lighting design partnership Unlimited Visibility Lighting Design lit the Oprah Winfrey Live Your Best Life workshop tour in multiple locations across the US during the spring of 2005.

Hosted by O, The Oprah Magazine, the Live Your Best Life tour was billed as “A day with friends, an afternoon with Oprah.” The all-day workshop consisted of a morning of motivational entertainment and esteem-building exercises, followed by a presentation featuring Oprah Winfrey herself in the afternoon. UVLD’s Greg Norgeot designed the lighting for the event; Paul Sharwell, assisted by Angus Sinex, was charged with recreating the design on each stop of the tour.

“This was quite different from most of the shows that we light,” remarked Norgeot of the Live Your best Life tour. “Whereas most events we design are very busy, with challenging time constraints and heavy cueing, this show had a rather simple format and relatively few moving lights.” The afternoon presentation essentially consisted of a number of walk-in looks coordinated to music and video clips designed to build anticipation and introduce Oprah Winfrey’s two-hour talk. Oprah’s speech was followed by a lengthy question and answer session, making for a long and challenging day.

“Lighting Oprah was all about respect, showing how good she looks, and helping her to deliver her message,” notes Sharwell. “There was a lot of input from the client – O, The Oprah Magazine – about colors and we also received lighting information from The Oprah Show about general light levels. Apparently, Oprah likes very high levels of light on her, as well as on the audience – particularly during the questions and answer period.” This high light level onstage, as well as the high light levels on the audience, meant that significantly more equipment was required than would normally be used on a show of this scale.

“Production Electrician Angus Sinex’s television experience was a huge asset on this show,” comments Sharwell. “In each city, Angus worked with me to painstakingly meter the stage wash to achieve truly even light levels and a consistent color temperature.”  Consistency between the venues in Denver, Colorado; Dallas, Texas; and Washington, D.C., was of prime concern. Sharwell undertook an extensive amount of liaising between the different departments on the tour – including carpentry, rigging and electrics – to ensure that every dimension was measured and that the relationship between lighting and set could be recreated exactly at the next venue.

The set itself consisted of a giant, three-dimensional “O” suspended above the stage as its focal point. Two layers of walls surrounded the “O,” which was backed with a cyc upstage. “Although it appeared to have a lot of depth, the set pieces were actually all very close together,” remarked Norgeot. “To add depth, we lit each surface differently; however, it was a significant challenge due to how little room there was between each of the walls.”

The sold-out Live Your Best Life tour was a challenge for all concerned and not just because of its high profile and the intense attention to detail of the producers. “While it was called a tour,” notes Sharwell, “it was more like a television show that had to be repeated exactly in three different cities. But for Oprah’s comfort and for the quality of the video images, it was worth it.”