Orchestra question:

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 4/3/07 at 9:11pm

You know any shows in which the guitarist doubles on banjo for only one or two songs in the whole show?

I got some:

BIG ("Fun" - the original version, not the one like it is now)
BYE BYE BIRDIE ("Overture A" - if you use it)
HIGH FIDELITY ("I Slept With Someone Who Slept With Lyle Lovett")
PURLIE ("Big Fish, Little Fish" and "Entr'acte")
BILLY ELLIOT ("Expressing Yourself")
COMPANY ("What Would We Do Without You?" and "Exit Music")
OKLAHOMA! ("Farmer and the Cowman")
WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (I haven't heard much of it, so I don't really know)
LENNON (Just three short moments -- "Blue Suede Shoes," "The Ballad of John and Yoko" -- just the intro, "Nixon's The One" excerpt)

[yankee_fan907]

Posted: 4/3/07 at 9:16pm

My symphony teacher told us how he has to learn some banjo for ANYTHING GOES which my school is in the process of rehearsing right now. I don't know the extent of how much it is used however.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 4/3/07 at 9:22pm

If I knew any better, then I'd say banjo is used for 3/4 of the show.

[MusicalMan76]

Posted: 4/3/07 at 9:27pm

I worked on HIGH SOCIETY (Cole Porter) at the Shaw Festival last year, and our guitarist also played banjo and ukelele... Hope that helps. :)

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 4/3/07 at 9:49pm

By that I meant, only for one or two songs, not for half or three-quarters of the show.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 4/3/07 at 9:54pm

I believe Chicago and Thoroughly Modern Millie uses some banjo in their overtures. I'm not aware how many other times it is used in Millie, but I'd say Chicago uses it rather sparsely. They seem to use a mandolin more right?

[morosco]

Posted: 4/3/07 at 9:55pm

Here's an old banjo thread
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=879234#1686708

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 4/3/07 at 10:14pm

"I've got a fever, and the only cure for my fever is MORE BANJO!"

I believe in Pirate Queen the guitarist uses banjo only for "Boys Will Be Boys", but I'm not certain about that.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 4/3/07 at 10:16pm

In Chicago it is used in most of its numbers.
In the other numbers, it is either ukelele or mandolin.

[stephen3]

Posted: 4/3/07 at 10:47pm

42nd Street. The Gtr chair has a two bar Banjo solo in "We're in the Money".

[clarkstallings]

Posted: 4/3/07 at 10:53pm

Mary Poppins (Banjo in Spoonful of Sugar, Step in Time, and Anything Can Happen and there might be a little bit of it in the last 30 seconds of Supercali... but I'm not sure)


EDIT The guitarist is playing the e-bow in Anything Can Happen, there's not banjo I just realized. The song just has the banjo punchiness at the end that it seems like it would be there but it's not. Updated On: 4/3/07 at 10:53 PM

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 9:53am

I got some more:

DAMN YANKEES ("Shoeless Joe", and, of course, the spot where it is mentioned in the "Overture", and kicks off with a furious banjo solo). Other than that, it is all guitar.
THE PAJAMA GAME '06 (banjo on "Once-A-Year Day", and tenor uke on "The Three Of Us")
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS '03 (mandolin on "Mushnik and Son")
WICKED (guitar 1 doubles banjo on "Have a little drink" section of "No One Mourns," mandolin on "Something Bad" and "Thank Goodness, and guitar 2 doubles banjo on "Thank Goodness" and "Wonderful")
GODSPELL (ukelele on "All For The Best")
PIPPIN (banjo on "War Is A Science" and "Glory" dance)
THE BOY FROM OZ (banjo on "When I Get My Name in Lights" and "Everything Old Is New Again")
AVENUE Q (banjo on part of "It Sucks To Be Me," "If You Were Gay," and "My Girlfriend Who Lives In Canada")

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 10:02am

The mandolin in Little Shop was only in the revival. The original orchestrations are drums, keyboard, guitar. (I think, I know it's only 3 pieces)

[sondhead]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 10:09am

The original orchestration is Piano, Keyboard (Wurlitzer, CX-3 and Synthesizer stacked), Guitar, Bass and Drums.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 4/6/07 at 12:27pm

I found some others:

SEUSSICAL ("The Military," "Here On Who," "How Lucky You Are," "Circus McGurkus")
DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS ("Rüffhousin' Mit Shüffhausen")
A CHORUS LINE (that one part in the montage "Goodbye twelve, goodbye thirteen, hello love/Why did I pay for all those lessons, etc.")
SMILE (maybe one part in "Young and American," but I'm only predicting it, doesn't say it in the score)
LEGALLY BLONDE (Guitar 1 doubles on mandolin on maybe one or some of the folk-like songs)
WHEN PIGS FLY (banjo on "You've Got To Stay in the Game")
I may have others that pop up...

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 4/6/07 at 12:36pm

C is for Company: In addition to the overture, you can hear a banjo playing in Millie during:

Not for the Life of Me
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Not for the Life of Me (both reprises)
They Don't Know
Forget About the Boy
Muquin
Long as I'm Here With You
Gimme Gimme

I went through my iTunes playlist and tried to listen.

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 4/6/07 at 2:02pm

Josh,
Just wondering why you ask this question? I don't mean to sound rude, but I'm just wondering.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 4/6/07 at 8:34pm

Because obviously there's somebody like me on these boards who is a pit nerd and notices that on the CDs or in concert.

And by the way, millie_dillmount, there's also a very BRIEF moment in "How the Other Half Lives" (the part where Millie goes "Poor? Not me, honey"), where the guitarist improvises a down-home slide guitar riff on the acoustic. Sounds good.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 4/24/07 at 3:23pm

does anyone have any others?

Even if it's the same thing, you can bring it up.

[mallardo]

Posted: 4/24/07 at 3:46pm

Just from memory I'm thinking there's a banjo in a couple of numbers - maybe more - in Mack and Mabel.

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 6:54am

Pretty sure there was a banjo in the original 'Jeeves' - it was then cut and it's absence turned into a joke for 'By Jeeves'...

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 7:08am

Curtains has prominent banjo work in "Show People," "Thataway!," the Entr'acte, "It's a Business" and "In the Same Boat 3". The player alternates between acoustic Guitar, electric guitar, banjo, and classical guitar throughout the show.

[courtnyj]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 7:24am

It surprises me to find how often a banjo is used...but that's probably just because I never paid much attention. Very interesting.....I'll be listening even more carefully from now on!

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 5/6/09 at 5:16pm

I just found some others:

SHREK (there is only banjo in "Travel Song" but that part isn't on the CD)
HAIR (they put banjo on "Yes I's Finished On Y'alls Farmlands" and the Dixieland section of "3-5-0-0" - probably the reason was because it was primarily an instrument with African ancestry).

Would BILLY ELLIOT ("Expressing Yourself") count, or does the guitarist have a banjo sound on the guitar synthesizer known as "Variax"?

[PianoMan2]

Posted: 5/6/09 at 8:15pm

Show Boat has a lot of Banjo in the Revised version, and our person also played Guitar as well