#1
Posted: 8/23/08 at 1:31pm
This is very interesting. First read the original article in the Times from Aug 13. It's all about orchestrations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/theater/17elli.html?ref=arts
What happened? Were the producers too cheap to allow six more instruments into the theater? “It was part of a particular artistic concept the director had,” said Todd Haimes, Roundabout’s artistic director. “The show had been in a small theater in London. Then when it came over here, Steve Sondheim was asked if he was happy with the way it sounded. He said yes, so there was never a discussion about increasing the size. If he had said, ‘No, it can’t come to New York unless there are 11 musicians,’ we probably would have accommodated that.”
And here is Sondheim's reply from today, Aug 22
Like everybody else, as Ms. Elliott reports, I deplore the downsizing of orchestras, but I understand the economics. If I had thought for one minute that Roundabout, a nonprofit company, could afford 11 players for the revival of “Sunday in the Park With George,” I’d have asked for them. After reading in Ms. Elliott’s article that Todd Haimes, the company’s artistic director, would have given them to me, I’ll know better the next time we work together (which, I hasten to add, I hope will be soon).
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/arts/24alsmail-ORCHESTRATIO_LETTERS.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin
So hopefully this now means Sondheim will ask for a beefier orchestra for MERRILY.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/theater/17elli.html?ref=arts
What happened? Were the producers too cheap to allow six more instruments into the theater? “It was part of a particular artistic concept the director had,” said Todd Haimes, Roundabout’s artistic director. “The show had been in a small theater in London. Then when it came over here, Steve Sondheim was asked if he was happy with the way it sounded. He said yes, so there was never a discussion about increasing the size. If he had said, ‘No, it can’t come to New York unless there are 11 musicians,’ we probably would have accommodated that.”
And here is Sondheim's reply from today, Aug 22
Like everybody else, as Ms. Elliott reports, I deplore the downsizing of orchestras, but I understand the economics. If I had thought for one minute that Roundabout, a nonprofit company, could afford 11 players for the revival of “Sunday in the Park With George,” I’d have asked for them. After reading in Ms. Elliott’s article that Todd Haimes, the company’s artistic director, would have given them to me, I’ll know better the next time we work together (which, I hasten to add, I hope will be soon).
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/arts/24alsmail-ORCHESTRATIO_LETTERS.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin
So hopefully this now means Sondheim will ask for a beefier orchestra for MERRILY.
Updated On: 8/23/08 at 01:31 PM
