Meyer Sound LEOPARD Brings New Flexibility to Ordway Music Theater

The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in downtown St. Paul, MN, has installed a new Meyer Sound LEOPARD system in its 1,900-seat Music Theater, provided by Lake Forest, IL-based TC Furlong Inc.

Home to Broadway productions, opera, concerts, dance, comedy, educational programming, and community events, the Ordway serves as a cultural cornerstone for the Twin Cities. The Music Theater upgrade follows the 2024 installation of a Meyer Sound LINA system in the Ordway’s 1,100-seat Concert Hall, reflecting the center’s continued investment in Meyer Sound systems across its two primary performance spaces.

A System for Modern Productions

Designed for Broadway and opera, the Music Theater now supports a broader, more complex mix of productions, from touring musicals and amplified concerts to contemporary works with expanded sound design. The new system centers on 48 LEOPARD line array elements deployed in left, center, and right arrays. Six flown 2100‑LFC low-frequency control elements provide low-frequency support, with six 700-HP subwoofers deployable as three-per-side cardioid deck arrays for productions requiring additional low-frequency effect. ULTRA‑X40 in-fills, ULTRA‑X22 box fills, UPM‑1P front fills, and UPM-1P under-balcony fills extend coverage to key seating areas, with Galileo GALAXY 816 Network Platforms providing processing and control.

Designed in collaboration with Meyer Sound and the Ordway team, the LEOPARD system was selected to deliver the coverage, clarity, and flexibility required for the Music Theater while preserving the room’s theatrical focus. “LEOPARD was absolutely the right decision for this room,” says TC Furlong Inc. founder TC Furlong. “It gives the Music Theater the scale and consistency it needs while keeping the system appropriate for the space.”

Every Seat is the Sweet Spot

Ordway Theater Head of Sound James Gralian says the upgrade dramatically improves how the system translates across the house. “The previous system didn’t necessarily have a problem with coverage,” he says. “The challenge was consistency. I could make a decision, move five or six seats over, and that decision would be wrong in a different way. Having a line array system makes the listening experience so much smoother and more consistent from seat to seat.”

That consistency has already made a difference for productions coming through the Music Theater. “The center array has the coverage productions need, and that solves so many problems,” Gralian says. “Nine times out of ten, when I send over the MAPP 3D file and show them what we have, they say, ‘We’re going with your setup.’”

Voiced for the Room

Following installation, Meyer Sound and TC Furlong worked with Gralian and the Ordway team to optimize the system for the Music Theater’s broad range of programming. “My process is to come in with fresh ears,” says Furlong. “We listened from seat to seat and made minor changes. By the time we walked out, everybody was really happy.”

For Andy Luft, Ordway’s Vice President of Building Operations and Production, the system also sends an important signal to visiting productions. “When people walk in and see that we have a full line array system, they understand that we’re not fooling around,” he says. “They understand they’re going to be okay.”

For Ordway president and CEO Chris Harrington, the investment is ultimately about the connection between artists and audiences. “Sound is part of what makes a performance feel immediate and shared,” he says. “This investment helps ensure the Music Theater can meet the needs of artists while giving audiences the exceptional Ordway experience they expect and deserve.”