Spelling Bee Pit Question

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 10/27/16 at 9:57pm

In the Broadway pit orchestra for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, did the Piano/Conductor have a page turner? I'm playing the piano part, and the score is not laid out very well. There are virtually no pauses for me to turn pages anywhere on the page.

[trpguyy]

Posted: 10/27/16 at 11:05pm

No, page turners are virtually nonexistent in the professional world. Playing a musical, not to mention conducting it, requires intimate familiarity with the music so as to know what's coming next and/or being able to turn the page early. Practice, practice, practice. 

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 10/28/16 at 3:51pm

Yeah, a page turner would be. Very expensive prospect for any show, let alone a small one.

You also must remember that if you are playing from a bound copy of the score, it not necessarily reflective of the original conductor's practice. Yes, you must intimately know the music to time page turns, but e score could be copied and laid out unbound to allow for fewer page turns., etc..

[musicals1989]

Posted: 10/28/16 at 8:13pm

As a pianist with a lot of musical theater experience---you play what you need to play and you leave out what has to be left out to turn the page. It's as simple as that. In shows that are "piano-driven" there's likely to be no downtime to turn the page, you're playing the entire show. Just leave out the last beat of the left hand and turn the page. Simple as that. 

[Leaf Coneybear]

Posted: 10/28/16 at 10:55pm

Not sure what kind of situation you're in, but I was in a non-professional production of it once with mostly teenagers, and we payed like $5 to a student who was willing to be the page turner for our pianist. Mostly people did it because they like the program and didn't need the money, so I'm not sure if that works.