Ken Billington
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ken Billington (born 29 December 1946) is an American lighting designer. He began his career in New York City working as an assistant to Tharon Musser.
He was born in White Plains, New York, the son of Kenneth Arthur (an automobile dealer) and Ruth (Roane) Billington.
Billington has over 70 Broadway productions to his credit including Copperfield, Moon Over Buffalo, Hello Dolly!, Meet Me in St. Louis, On the Twentieth Century, Side by Side by Sondheim, Lettice and Lovage, Tru, and Sweeney Todd.
Off-Broadway productions include Sylvia, London Suite, Annie Warbucks, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Lisbon Traviata, What the Butler Saw, and Fortune and Men's Eyes.
Since 1979 Billington has been the principal lighting designer for Radio City Music Hall, where he created the lighting for the world-famous Christmas and Easter Spectaculars. Other projects include lighting the 1975/76 season for the American Shakespeare Festival at Stratford, Connecticut as well as projects such as Turandot at the Vienna State Opera, to nightclub acts for headliners Ann-Margret, Shirley MacLaine, and Liberace.
At Disneyland, Billington's lighting is featured in the extravaganza Fantasmic. His architectural designs can be seen in restaurants and clubs from Manhattan to Asia. Ken also designed the lighting plot and original design for all four current Dolly Parton Dixie Stampede locations.
Billington has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design seven times and in 1997 won for his work lighting the revival of Chicago.
