shows with small orchestras

[suttonfoster]

Posted: 1/29/12 at 12:02am

hey guys, just wondering if you guys could just list a bunch of good musicals with a small orchestra pit. are there any sondheim ones like the size of little night music? but if you can list as many as possible that would be great. thanks in advance!

[binau]

Posted: 1/29/12 at 12:07am

Lol, guh . I think it shows the sorry state of Broadway if people think that NIGHT MUSIC typically has a small orchestra (based from the revival's orchestrations, I assume).

Updated On: 1/29/12 at 12:07 AM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 1/29/12 at 12:08am

These days... most of them.

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 1/29/12 at 1:00am

A small orchestra pit or a small pit orchestra?

If we're going by the size of Night Music's orchestration, then that's 25 -- I really wish that was considered small!! (Though it is compared to the original Carousel - 45)

Assassins, Merrily, and Company, have fairly small orchestrations for Broadway standards (between 10 and 20). Next To Normal, Urinetown, Spring Awakening, Book of Mormon, Last 5 Years, and 13 all have smaller bands. But most anything that's considered an "older" show (thru the early 1980s) will have at least 20-30 in the orchestration because that's what the theatres required at the time. Someone correct me if wrong.

Updated On: 1/29/12 at 01:00 AM

[blaxx]

Posted: 1/29/12 at 1:28am

I think it shows the sorry state of Broadway if people think that NIGHT MUSIC typically has a small orchestra

Along with thinking that capital letters are obsolete. They are not.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 1/29/12 at 2:49am

Bonnie and Clyde
Dracula
Both still sound great IMO though.

Updated On: 1/29/12 at 02:49 AM

[musicman_bwayfan]

Posted: 1/29/12 at 2:59am

If you really want small, [Title of Show] and I Sing! are piano only.

And unfortunately in this day and age you can get even smaller - put on a MTI Jr show that comes with an accompaniment CD filled with backing tracks. No orchestra needed.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/29/12 at 4:43am

Irma La Douce. Great show with wonderful orchestra of about eight.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 1/29/12 at 5:31am

The Fantasticks.

[MrFerriero]

Posted: 1/29/12 at 5:33am

Xanadu
Spelling Bee

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/29/12 at 5:52am

Little Shop of Horrors
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
Godspell
Snoopy
The Me Nobody Knows


Remember: Small orchestra usually means small cast, too.

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 1/29/12 at 5:18pm

Bat Boy
The Fix
Zombie Prom