Profile for TechEverlasting

LETHALLY BLONDEfeaturing your favorites:"Omigod You Die""Positive" (Gonna test myself again..)"Blood In the Handkerchief""Take it Like a China-man""So Much Sicker""Whipped into Isolation"

"The Best Little Shore House In Texas" Melting glaciers expand the oceans and all hell breaks loose.

I don't know anything about this specific production, but there is no way that any producer would mount a show like Rocky on Broadway without having figured out how they would tour it. I'm sure some sort of flexible, transportable boxing-ring design was approved long ago.

Cats opened in 1981, the Yamaha DX-7 was introduced in 1983. I'm not aware of Cats ever having utilized the DX-7 in any first run productions, although someone might have put it in as a Rhodes electric piano substitute at some point. The distinctive synth sound of Cats comes from the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5. This was the first polyphonic analog synth to be able to store and recall different sounds instantly, which was a big deal in those days. From what I've heard orchestrator David Cul...

"The Producers" used various gunshot, explosion and whip sound effects in "Springtime For Hitler". "Hairspray" had a series of cartoonish effects that played when Wilbur closed down the Hardy-Har hut. There was a bit in "High Society" where you could hear a tennis game that ended with a howling cat. "Miss Saigon" used a goofy helicopter sound effect in its opening.

No, life stops when you're not in Tech! I thought last night's episode was one of the more realistic ones. Of course no one has ever played 16 whole bars of music at once on the first day of tech, and there would be a lot more computers and wasted time.

Book: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Unfortunately "Book of Mormon" might have cornered the market on musicals about missionaries. Movie: "Body Heat" Real life story: I know this has been brought up in jest frequently, but once Spiderman closes I think the story of how it was conceived, created and recreated could make for a great show.

Of course synthesizer players are musicians, but that fact has nothing to do with this conflict. Do you consider digital audio playback systems to be musicians? Priscilla is using prerecorded tracks of string and woodwind players and then claiming that they should be exempt from the house minimum agreed to in the current contract because their orchestration doesn't need strings or woodwinds! There is an established procedure for requesting a waiver from the house orchestra minimum, which both...

"I am fairly confident in saying that the union would NEVER approve pre-recorded music in a Broadway musical." Actually that is some of the most illogical and faulty reasoning I have ever seen on this site. Ever hear of "Phantom of the Opera"? Much of what is heard in the opening sequence is pre-recorded music, although the live players do accompany some of it. There are plenty of other examples of prerecorded music being used in Broadway shows. The only thing Local 802 has jurisdiction over ...

If you have any interest in hearing a new score (and a terrific one at that) the only choice is "Catch Me If You Can". Don't you want to fill your hole with something new and exciting?

I wonder if Lloyd Webber watched the show. There are some elements in it that might be of some use when he re-tools "Love Never Dies", such as the character of the Phantom.

Check out "The Carousel Waltz" which opens Carousel. There's a wonderful recording of it from the 1994 Lincoln Center production.

I believe that most of the Tony performances are done to backing tracks that are recorded shortly before the telecast by the Tony orchestra, often with a few guest musicians from the show's pit orchestra. Using cast recordings for this purpose would create a nightmare of reuse fee payments, and the Tony performances are frequently ridiculous medleys that have little to do with the structure of the cast album songs (or common sense).

I heard some of the broadcast. From what I could tell the "Faux Harmonic" is a computer running the "Vienna Symphonic" sample library with some real-time tempo control. The sound was very impressive, but the sustained legato string passages they chose didn't reflect much of the challenges of a score like West Side Story. Unfortunately this broadcast did little to clarify the situation with electronic music and live theater. The term "Virtual Orchestra" is commonly used to refer to any sequenc...

What about the dignity of having a job? Is it really better for all the tourists in town this summer not to have the option to see West Side Story, even if some of the strings are played on a synthesizer? (By the way Mr. Woodiel - keyboard players are musicians too.) Also, to fit the Ragtime orchestra into the Neil Simon a large extension was built to the pit backstage. Only about half the band was in the actual pit. Ragtime had a cut list as well, but it took the "dignified" route and closed...

Mr. Woodeil can certainly resign if he finds the smaller WSS orchestra too undignified for a musician of his stature. I imagine another competent violinist could be found who would appreciate the work. There might even be some actors, crew and other musicians at West Side who prefer to stay employed for the time being. Cut lists are always arranged in advance, the players take the jobs knowing that the positions will likely be eliminated once the show has run a while. Cut lists go hand-in-han...

I don't have any inside knowledge, but I strongly doubt they are cutting any songs. When I see the word "chopping" I assume that means they are shortening some pieces - deleting a few verses or choruses to make the show quicker. Even that I find unlikely - regardless of whether or not anyone thinks this show "works" it's one of the most successful productions in the history of Broadway.

It's a good thing that there's a non-Equity tour of Avenue Q so that even tiny little backwater villages like Chicago can get to see the show.