Broadway Orchestra Pits

[Mbmusic]

Posted: 3/26/08 at 7:01pm

Hi. Does anyone have any pics of Broadway orchestra pits? I'm interested in this so if anyone has anything please post or let me know! Thanks so much.

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 3/26/08 at 8:32pm

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Lola Delaney
A Midwestern Town

[winston89]

Posted: 3/26/08 at 9:02pm

I don't have any. But, if you have seen one you pretty much have seen them all. Nowadays the producers go with the minimum number of players that can fit in the pit in order to save money. The minimum number of people is different from theatre to theatre. This is because the minimum number (and maximum number) is determined by the number of seats each theatre holds.

From what I understand, newer shows arrange the orchestra with this in mind. Whereas older and longer running shows (Phantom for example) keep things the way that they are. This is one of the reasons why the revival of Les Miserables didn't have the original orchestrations. When the original was running they never touched the pit. Now, when the revival came along Cameron realized that he could hire someone to re orchestrate the entire score and have to pay less people to work on a nightly basis.

[Mbmusic]

Posted: 3/26/08 at 9:09pm

That's pretty cheap of the producers... wow. Orchestrations are such a prominent part of a musical. And another thing they do now that I don't like is they soundproof the pit so that they can produce the sound more through the mixing board. For example, at The Little Mermaid, the pit is covered with thick plexi glass.

[winston89]

Posted: 3/26/08 at 9:22pm

There is a good reason behind sound proofing the entire pit. They want the sound to come out of one central location ( the speaker system.) But, if your sitting close enough to the pit you would end up hearing it from two places the pit itself and the speakers.

It is like if your in the front row of a show you end up hearing what is onstage from two locations. The actors up onstage and the speakers as well.

And as for this going on at The Little Mermaid. I am thinking it might just be for the saftey of the kids that could be in the front row. Like they could accidentally look down into the pit and fall over the bar that separates the front row from the pit. When Beauty played the Lunt I remember there being a net there instead of the plexi glass box.

But, I have heard of the use of the pelxi glass to help block sound and have it go to one central location.

[Mbmusic]

Posted: 3/26/08 at 9:33pm

I am almost positive that this plexi glass was for sound isolation. There was a net on top of it as you described. And, I have never heard an orchestra pit sound so isolated (coming from the speakers) as the Little Mermaid pit.

[winston89]

Posted: 3/26/08 at 9:35pm

That is because the Lunt is a bohemouth of a theatre with what what I would consider to be the worst acoustics on Broadway.

[Mbmusic]

Posted: 3/26/08 at 10:02pm

That's interesting. What theater do you think has the best acoustics, I never really payed attention to it.