"Beautiful" Chicago tour question

[lovepuppy]

Posted: 1/6/18 at 2:56am

Not sure if this has been discussed before, but it doesn't seem to be on the first few pages of this message board, at least:

Do all the "Caroles" in "Beautiful" have to play their own piano?  There are other characters who definitely do not, and the piano back is facing the audience so you can't see that those supporting actors are actually not playing.  However, every time Carole plays, the piano is purposely cheating toward the audience so that you can see her play. Need to settle a bet with a co-worker; I had 3rd row seats and saw pretty clearly that Sara Bockel was playing her own piano. My pal was sitting 10th row when they saw it recently.  It's making me second-guess what I saw and got me curious.  And is there an article that clearly states whether she's playing or not?  I haven't found one.

Thanks!

 

Updated On: 1/6/18 at 02:56 AM

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 1/6/18 at 3:04am

Jessie Mueller stated in one of her vlogs, that the pianos don’t actually work and are chocked full with speakers. I guess to make it sound like the sound is coming from them. They pretend to play the piano and sometimes very convincingly. When Jessie was on Harry Conick Jrs show, he made a joke saying her piano skills were really showing or something across those lines.

Updated On: 1/6/18 at 03:04 AM

[starcatchers]

Posted: 1/6/18 at 8:33pm

The pianos are completely hollow, but the Carole is playing the right notes. There is a camera on the piano and the conductor has a little monitor where he can see her hands. This keeps them in sync. 

[trpguyy]

Posted: 1/6/18 at 9:24pm

"We’re not miking [pianos onstage, instead we’re] putting speakers in there because she’s not playing. We’re supplying a sourced sound to the pianos. She actually doesn’t play any of the keyboards in the show. With the grand in Carnegie Hall, for instance, I was worried less about sourcing because in the concert you would have it miked and pumping through the system. The upright was mostly used for what I call the play within the musical—the studio scenes, the living room scene, those things. What was cool about that was it required a synchronicity with the conductor—Jason Howland—who is playing on his keyboard on a silent patch that we feed wirelessly to the piano up on stage. To provide some extra help, we have a pan and tilt camera up above the first electric looking down, and the conductor programmed it to zoom in and follow her hands very closely. That, and they developed a little sixth sense over the rehearsal process. I give Jessie a lot of credit because she has a lot of people thinking she’s playing that piano and we did our best to make it sound like it’s coming from there. That’s used in her office, Barry’s office and her living room—we try to make it sound like it’s coming from those places and that she’s actually playing. A lot of people at the end of the show are commenting about what a good piano player she is and we don’t want to give away any secrets. We smile and say yes, she’s great. That’s a good feeling to be able to fool so many people."
- Brian Ronan, sound designer

http://stage-directions.com/5974-capturing-beautiful-sounds.html
 

Updated On: 1/6/18 at 09:24 PM

[lovepuppy]

Posted: 1/7/18 at 2:26am

Thanks Trpguyy et al! Great info!