 The Doublers BBoard
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Author: oboeidaho
Date: 2007-05-11 05:36
Has anyone done this review by Sondheim? (Puttin it Together) I understand the doubles are weird (works for me though!), I think there is oboe/eh, and a bassoon book, and maybe one other wind? Anyway, I have never done a Sondheim show but I have heard they are beastly - would appreciate any input on the scariness of the parts! Thanks.
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2007-05-11 13:43
Some of the Sondheim stuff that I've done over the years has been in extreme keys, but that's probably more a function of the vocal talent and the arranger than it is of the composer.
Tunes that stand out as "not clarinet friendly" are "Everything Coming Up Roses" from Gypsy and "Free" from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. In both cases, the key signature is around the seven flat level, and in both cases (a series of page spanning arppegi in "Everything" and three very exposed solos in "Free") the clarinet parts are prominent.
There are some rough spots in other Sondheim musicals (Company, Assassins), but Gypsy and Forum are the worst, clarinet-wise.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: rcnelson
Date: 2007-05-11 15:16
I would definely agree with Terry; Gypsy and Forum's clarinet parts are among the hardest I have ever played.
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2007-05-11 19:26
...and this is where I add that I had to sub for the lead clarinet one evening when he had a car wreck on the way to the theater. All of the other reed folks knew about "Free" from rehearsal, and they all passed on it. Since I had the full Boehm clarinet there, I was "elected" to cover the parts until the Number 1 clarinet guy was able to get there.
I had about three minutes with it before the overture downbeat, and I fingered through it perhaps ten times in the off moments before crunch time arrived. I managed to empty my mind of everything, and pulled it off with only one minor flub out of the three sections, not bad for basically playing it at sight.
I'd not want to tackle it without a alternate Eb lever on a horn, though. Just one more reason to be thankful for going the full Boehm route when I had the chance...
(I've done Forum (always in the original, Zero Mostel-ish version) so many times over the years that I can walk in on show night and ace the clarinet/bass clarinet/baritone book. Other than some intricate arpeggi in "Everybody Ought To Have A Maid" (which beg for an articulated G# key), it's like water off a duck's back.
Don't know that I'd be able to say the same about the "new" version, the one that Nathan Lane rode into Broadway on with such success. There's a pretty tricky sounding bassoon part in there now, with rapid horn changes to baritone in the new "In The House Of Marcus Lycus" that would be hard to make cleanly.
Other than a few scoring changes, a greatly expanded "House Of Marcus Lycus" and the deletion of a verse in "Calm" (which I think was never done in two verse form on Broadway until it was done that way in the movie), the two sound identical. Of course, the music in Forum is almost incidental to the plot (strictly speaking, it's a "musical play" rather than a "musical comedy"), and it really is nothing more than a huge stage for a physical comic to put on a show.
And, the best thing about the Mostel version was I got to meet him when he did it on tour back in the old days. He had a bad habit of ad-libing during his solo time on stage, and would do things like chat with an orchestra member, let the audience know what the current score was over at the ball park and similar such stuff.
I only had a three word response when he hit me (the pencil necked geek with the funny looking saxophone who happened to sit next to the stage wall of the orchestra pit) with a questionabout the Cardinals-Cub game, and my comeback was anything but snappy. Still, it gave him a "straight line" for a punch line that got a laugh out of the crowd, so it was worth it. My one historic moment in many years of playing these things.
Then there was the time that I watched Phil Silvers (in a different production; he toured with it after Mostel moved on to other roles (and a relatively early death), pitching pennies back stage. Ah, the theater...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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