shows with small orchestras
shows with small orchestras
#1shows with small orchestras
Posted: 1/29/12 at 12:02amhey guys, just wondering if you guys could just list a bunch of good musicals with a small orchestra pit. are there any sondheim ones like the size of little night music? but if you can list as many as possible that would be great. thanks in advance!
#2shows with small orchestras
Posted: 1/29/12 at 12:07am
Lol, guh 
. I think it shows the sorry state of Broadway if people think that NIGHT MUSIC typically has a small orchestra (based from the revival's orchestrations, I assume).
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Updated On: 1/29/12 at 12:07 AM
SondheimFan5
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/10
#3shows with small orchestras
Posted: 1/29/12 at 1:00am
A small orchestra pit or a small pit orchestra?
If we're going by the size of Night Music's orchestration, then that's 25 -- I really wish that was considered small!! (Though it is compared to the original Carousel - 45)
Assassins, Merrily, and Company, have fairly small orchestrations for Broadway standards (between 10 and 20). Next To Normal, Urinetown, Spring Awakening, Book of Mormon, Last 5 Years, and 13 all have smaller bands. But most anything that's considered an "older" show (thru the early 1980s) will have at least 20-30 in the orchestration because that's what the theatres required at the time. Someone correct me if wrong.
Updated On: 1/29/12 at 01:00 AM
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#4shows with small orchestras
Posted: 1/29/12 at 1:28am
I think it shows the sorry state of Broadway if people think that NIGHT MUSIC typically has a small orchestra
Along with thinking that capital letters are obsolete. They are not.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
#5shows with small orchestras
Posted: 1/29/12 at 2:49am
Bonnie and Clyde
Dracula
Both still sound great IMO though.
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
Updated On: 1/29/12 at 02:49 AM
musicman_bwayfan
Broadway Star Joined: 6/5/05
#6shows with small orchestras
Posted: 1/29/12 at 2:59am
If you really want small, [Title of Show] and I Sing! are piano only.
And unfortunately in this day and age you can get even smaller - put on a MTI Jr show that comes with an accompaniment CD filled with backing tracks. No orchestra needed.
#7shows with small orchestras
Posted: 1/29/12 at 4:43amIrma La Douce. Great show with wonderful orchestra of about eight.
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699
MrFerriero
Chorus Member Joined: 1/28/12
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#10shows with small orchestras
Posted: 1/29/12 at 5:52am
Little Shop of Horrors
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
Godspell
Snoopy
The Me Nobody Knows
Remember: Small orchestra usually means small cast, too.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
