Photos by Brian Friedman

When New Kids on the Block brought “The Right Stuff” to Las Vegas, the goal wasn’t to simply park a touring production on the stage of the Dolby Live Theater at Park MGM. From the jump, the creative team set out to build something more intentional: a residency that felt like a destination.

“Sometimes people go into Vegas and just take a touring show there and call it a residency,” says lighting and show designer Travis Shirley. “We wanted something that felt branded as a residency from the ad mats to when you walked in. Everything needed to feel cohesive.”

Shirley, who previously collaborated with the band on their 2025 Magic Summer Tour, began developing the visual direction alongside Donnie Wahlberg, who played a key role in shaping the creative. Early conversations focused on balancing nostalgia with a contemporary production scale, a recurring challenge when working with legacy acts whose audiences aren’t simply fans but communities, as is certainly true of New Kids’ fiercely loyal Blockheads.

“We had to hit the nostalgia, but also show that the band is still evolving,” Shirley explains. “That balance was really important to the design.”

Building a Narrative Through Scenic and Light

At the heart of the show is a layered visual narrative that draws from the urban imagery of the band’s early music videos. One of the most prominent moments is a subway car scenic element, reimagined as a time-travel device bridging the band’s early years and the present-day residency.

“The idea was to create the illusion that the band had taken this subway car from back in time to where we are now in Vegas,” Shirley says. “Even the details reflect that, the signage reads 1988 and 2026.”

The production is structured in distinct acts, each with its own visual identity. From the industrial subway opening to a Rat Pack-inspired Vegas sequence featuring a large-scale illuminated sign, and later into a disco-driven segment with oversized mirror balls, the show evolves through clearly defined environments.

“We wanted each act to have an identifiable look and motif,” Shirley notes. “That meant scenic, lighting and video all had to work together to define those moments.”

Supporting the system was a programming team led by Drew Nagy, with Sam Brown and Caleb Eckerman, whose programming helped execute the show’s complex cue structure while maintaining the flexibility needed for a performance-driven residency environment.

A Residency Approach to System Design

Unlike a traditional tour, the Las Vegas residency allowed for a hybrid approach combining house systems with supplemental gear. The existing venue lighting and video infrastructure were partially reconfigured, with PRG providing additional equipment and specialty fixtures to complete the design.

“We took parts of the house system and essentially rebuilt it to fit what we needed,” Shirley says. “PRG came in and filled in the blanks, especially on the specialty side, and helped make everything work together.”

This approach also created efficiencies in the budget.

“Because we didn’t have to tour everything, we were able to be more strategic about where we invested,” he adds. “That gave us more flexibility creatively.”

Signature Looks: Linear Design and Vegas Energy

A defining visual element of the show is the use of Acme Tornado RGBL fixtures, deployed in large quantities to create bold, architectural looks.

“It’s Vegas! You need that glitz and glam,” Shirley says. “Those fixtures really deliver that. They just scream Vegas.”

Rather than using the fixtures for complex effects, Shirley and his programming team leaned into a more restrained approach.

“We’re using them in a really simple and effective way — lining trusses, working with verticality, and building linear shapes,” he explains. “It frames the stage and gives the illusion of far more fixtures than are actually there.”

Complementing this is an extensive use of linear LED “edge light” integrated into the scenic elements—stairs, runways, and video portals—creating a layered visual system that can function independently or as part of the larger design. Developed in collaboration with Nashville-based Go Live Productions, the custom edge light system became a defining visual layer in the show, reinforcing depth, movement, and architectural rhythm.

“Even just turning that system on becomes a look in itself,” Shirley says.

Integration Across Departments

With scenic, lighting, video and projection all tightly interwoven, integration was a critical component of the production.

“Everything is connected,” Shirley says. “You’ve got lighting on video, scenic attached to video, and projection layered over all of it. Every department must be in sync.”

He credits the collaborative structure, including PRG’s multi-department involvement, as a key factor in achieving that cohesion.

“Having everyone aligned early in the process makes a huge difference,” he notes.

A central visual feature, the downstage video portal, required precise coordination across departments. Projection mapping from front-of-house positions meant that speaker placement, cabling and rigging all had to be carefully adjusted to maintain clean sightlines.

“We had to move elements around just to avoid casting shadows,” Shirley says. “Those details matter.”

A Living System

As with most large-scale productions, the design continued to evolve throughout the process, shaped by engineering requirements, venue constraints and creative refinement.

“The design is always a living, breathing thing,” Shirley says. “What you start with on paper isn’t exactly what ends up on stage, and that’s part of working at this level.”

Despite those adjustments, the production has continued to grow, with additional performance runs added following strong audience response.

“It’s not just a band playing a show,” Shirley says. “It’s a full production.”

In a city defined by spectacle, that distinction has proven essential and effective.

Credits

Production / Lighting Designer: Travis Shirley
Production Manager: Omar Abdurrahman

Lead Programmer: Drew Nagy
Lighting Director / Programmer: Sam Brown
Programmer: Caleb Eckerman

Audio Technician: Carl Gagnon
Lighting Crew Chief: Tyler Smith
Lighting Technician: Michael Kennedy
Video Lead: Jason Bach
Media Server Technician: Shavaughn Melvin
PRG Account Executive: Mike Renault
PRG Project Manager: Thomas Walls