 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Katfish
Date: 2002-05-12 13:53
Carmen's thread on West Side Story got me thinking, (Congradulations Carmen, I've never played WSD but would love some day) what is your favorite musical to play in? My 2 favorites are HMS Pinafore and Mame, with Hello Dolly in third. Least favorites, Two by Two and Company.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-05-12 14:13
Good choices, K F, after our 2 perfs. of Music Man last week end, what else can I say?? Our high school cast and some H S orch supplemented by our symp pros and semi's like me "done good" to standing ovations. Sure would have liked to actually see it all, we do know all the lines and some of the lyrics! I've played quite a few and have found pleasure in most, but I'd have to rate the R & H's as my most preferred. Don
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-05-12 15:32
Second thots - K F, how about categories, tragic, [WSS, Pal Joey{?}], comic, [G & S, etc] , nostalgic [Brigadoon, M M], human relations [racial as in So Pacific etc] many others? Don
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Author: William
Date: 2002-05-12 15:32
For a multi-instrument "total workout," West Side Story is high on my list of favorites. For pure musical enjoyment, I liked the score and orchestration of Oliver.
Others I have enjoyed: Finneans's Rainbow, King and I, and Guys and Dolls. Also memorable was playing for How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and having to double on kazzoo--I got the Red one!!!!
Musicals have always been fun--but be careful you don't get the line from your conductor (like I did), "If you want to watch the show, BUY A TICKET." Good Clarineting, Saxing, Fluting, Piccoloing, Kazzooiing, and--if your really good, Oboeing, English Horning and Bassooning. (Sometimes, imitating an octopus helps) Next life, I think I will play the Trombone.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-05-12 17:11
Aside from playing the clarinet book in "Fiddler" (more times than I can count), and having some of the same "standard" choices as William, my 2 absolute favorites are "Rags" (great clarinet parts - including a jazz solo up to a high B!!) and "Nunsense" (a show that not only makes you smile, but gives the clarinet/tenor sax some juicy passages) ...GBK
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Author: Julie
Date: 2002-05-12 19:23
I don't know anything about playing in musicals, as I am only 13 and have never actually played in a musical. But I have to say, my favourite musical is Rent.
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Author: RA
Date: 2002-05-13 02:07
I myself, have not played in a musical, however, it is something that I almost being 20, feel I am ready for. At the current moment, I saw that someone mentioned Brigadoon, i am doing tech theatre. Very awesome show.
RA
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Author: John
Date: 2002-05-13 02:07
"Fiddler" and "Gypsy" are my favorites - no, I wasn't watching the show (at least not too much!).
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-05-13 02:10
Hm - my favourite pit shows? 1) Yeoman of the Guard 2) Les Mis. Ones I hate: hmm, let me see 1st prize goes to Bridge of Doom, er Brigadoon and 2nd to Stupid Prince, er Student Prince.
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Author: bob gardner
Date: 2002-05-13 02:20
I don't play in the pit; but I love to play music from Paint you wagon, Evita, Les Mez, and Phathom.
enjoy
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Author: diane
Date: 2002-05-13 04:21
My two favorites to play are Fiddler on the Roof and a toss-up between King and I /Mikado.
I have the opposite story regarding Fiddler and a conductor - After our last rehearsal, the conductor pulled me aside and told me that I should watch the stage closer during the bottle dance - the dancers needed some more time during the clarinet solo. Given that I was several feet below stage level and had my back to it, I'm not surprised I wasn't following what was happening on stage. I should not have been surprised that I had to explain this to the conductor (but I was...).
This is the same conductor who felt compelled to conduct the gliss in Rhapsody in Blue ("You only need one beat for that, right?")
diane
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Author: Dan Borlawsky
Date: 2002-05-13 11:59
My vote would go to "Singin' in the Rain." Excellent book, great orchestrations! I've played the bari sax - bass clar - clarinet & flute book. Interesting doubles!
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Author: Angela
Date: 2002-05-13 14:42
My favorite to play in (though I've only done 3) was my first one with Anything Goes. Fun music and it was interesting that we had a line in the show, even if none of us knew it was the punchline for a really horrible joke. On a side note, I played for a really interesting show that hardly no one has ever heard of called Blood Brothers-everyone should check it out, but be warned, you'll be crying by the end.
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Author: Danette
Date: 2002-05-13 17:48
I've only played in two, (in high school) Forty Second Street and Music Man. Music Man was a nightmare, the cast practised to a recording, which did not match the score we had. Two songs had to be performed with the tape (shudder!!!)
I loved playing Forty Second Street. (Ok, I was guilty of watching the show, especially the last night when they had the B cast. One guy missed his cue and came running on with shirt untucked and shoeless. The cast, pit, and audience rolled laughing). I would love to try Fiddler, Gypsy, Phantom, Sound of Music, Evita, and probably some others I'm not thinking of.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-05-13 17:57
(Sometimes, imitating an octopus helps)
William -
For bassoon, BEING an octopus helps. In fact, 8 arms is barely enough to cover the keys for the left thumb, let alone the rest.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Frank Mochol
Date: 2002-05-13 18:29
For sheer fun, I enjoyed "Joseph, and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". My book was clar. bass clar. and soprano sax, if memory serves.....read like an opera...playing almost continuously and covering every musical genre. It's also short! Can be home by 10:30 pm!
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Author: Tim2
Date: 2002-05-14 01:11
"Fiddler on the Roof", without a doubt, is my favorite. A great story with great music for the singers and pit musicians. The clarinet lines are great themselves, but the music throughout draws me in totally. The harmonies! For me, it is trully an experience playing in "Fiddler"
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Author: Chrissie
Date: 2002-05-14 01:50
Guys 'n Dolls is soooooo much fun to play. (Of course, it's the only musical I *have* ever played in, but, still.) I'd love to play in Westside Story someday... but GD will always hold a special spot in my heart. =)
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Author: gemmaelizabeth
Date: 2002-05-14 11:55
I enjoyed Bugsy Malone very much, and the children were hilrious in the show, I spent most of it when i was wasn't playing fully turned round watching the show....how professional!
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Author: bob gardner
Date: 2002-05-14 20:30
And the winner is Fiddler. I have to agree I love the music, the movie, the play. It's has to be one of the greatest musical of all times.
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Author: Lynne
Date: 2002-05-14 22:39
Hi Guys! Just got back from doing 'Hello Dolly', which is great fun 'cos my best mate is the MD and my best pupil is playing along side me this week. It's not my favourite show though - I'm with Chrissie here - Guys & Dolls is the top of my list, followed my 42nd Street, Mack & Mabel, West Side Story. One of the funniest shows I've done is 'Sugar', which is the stage production of 'Some Like it Hot'. Anyone else know that show? Happy Musicals everyone!
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Author: Kirk
Date: 2002-05-15 01:11
Hi Y'all,
For me it's hands-down, Damn Yankees' "Ya gotta have heart" then "whatever Lola wants"...Second runner up is Gershwin's Porgy and Bess - Summertime or American in Paris !
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Author: Kat
Date: 2002-05-15 02:30
I agree about Student Prince being awful....ugh...least favorite...
Favorites to play include: Guys & Dolls, Ruddigore, and Kismet. Kismet's great because it's all derived from Borodin's music...really cool stuff. And when I played that one...a "bangle" from the bangle seller fell into the pit and we got to share it for the night!
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-05-15 04:22
baubels bangles and beads?! I was the slave merchant(!) in a production of Kismet not so long ago, also the first beggar. It's a wonderful show and damned hard for the orchestra - especially the fiddles.
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Author: Arnold
Date: 2002-05-15 14:36
Our High school played Damn yankees last year and Bye Bye Birdie this year. I enjoyed in the pit for the both musical very much, althoug since I played Bye Bye Birdie more recent I will have to say that it is my favorite. Especially Shirner Ballet, so hard.. so fun..
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Author: Gretchen
Date: 2002-05-15 19:09
Kiss Me Kate is fun, Damn Yankees is cool. Music Man was annoying but ok. My favorite, like a lot of you, would have to be Fiddler on the Roof. The Bottle Dance solo is so fun!!!
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Author: RogerM
Date: 2002-05-15 20:48
I have played in the following and liked them all
Guys and Dolls (in 1964) WW II (clar. II, tenor sax + flute 2) I do not play the flute but did also play sax.
In the late 80's
Brigadoon
Camelot
Question---Are there several differnt versions of the orchestrations
i.e., the Guys and Dolls version was written for five woodwind doublers. Is there another scoring where people do not double (as in Brigadoon and Camelot)?
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Author: Joe O'Kelly
Date: 2002-05-15 22:21
My school just did "sweet charity." I played reed 3 (Tenor sax, Clarinet and oboe)
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Author: RA
Date: 2002-05-15 22:50
The last show I had an oppurtunity to audition for was Bye Bye Birdie w/ my clarinet but I chickened out b/c I think I wanted the stage more. Brigadoon still rocks if u're well, if it's a new one for you. Many more will have to write later.
Ra
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Author: Adam Murphy
Date: 2002-05-16 06:07
Gershwin=fun
Crazy for you is a musical musical with really great music fun parts on ALL instruments. And hey its gershwin.
For those fans of the oliver book, all i can say is "You've got to pick a pocket or two" has the most repetitive bass clarinet part or clarinet part i've seen. But with me being a younin', I guess that doesn't mean all that much.
Adam
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-05-16 14:19
I counted 40+ "favorite" musicals, and only a few non-favorites, looks like Fiddler, followed by Brigadoon had the most mentions. Are we all seeking "nostalgia", the good old days [in musical theater] ??? Don
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Author: Dave Dow Symphony nb
Date: 2002-05-18 16:49
Sweeny Todd, Chorus Line, and Les Miserables
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Author: bob49t
Date: 2019-08-16 09:34
I'm aware this is an old thread but West Side Story is up there for a brain and body workout.
My ATF has to be Titanic the Musical for orchestration and the way the composer make the pit band into an engine room through expert use of harmony and dynamics.
John Moses played the OBC and was kind enough to send me a great deal of background information which I passed round the pitband and it made the show even more meaningful.
Titanic the Musical is in NO WAY a stage version of the film. Indeed the musical was "born", if I recall correctly, before the film.
If anyone gets the opportunity to play it with a good band... don't turn it down. it's a sheer thrill.
Done it twice now and can't wait for number 3.
Agree with Dave Sweeney Todd great music.
A Chorus Line was wondefful too with each reeds playing ?4/5 horns.
About to play Chitty for first time so watch this space.
BobT
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Author: sax panther
Date: 2019-08-16 11:51
Crazy for You, Anything Goes and West Side Story were probably my favourite ones. Annie and Wizard of Oz....not so much.
Someone mentioned the band having a line in Anything Goes - that reminded me of when I played in a small pit band for an adaptation of 12th night by Shakespeare that had some incidental music. It got to the dress rehearsal and they realised there was a very small part, with just one line, that they'd forgot to cast. I had to leave the pit, enter stage right, say the line, then get back in the pit for the next song!
I've also done a pantomime where the guy playing the dame got deep vein thrombosis after the first show - the least important band member (bari sax player) had to take over the part for the rest of the run, with cues for his lines written on props. He did brilliantly!
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Author: kilo
Date: 2019-08-16 12:51
"A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the Forum" — really fun stuff!
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Author: Mojo
Date: 2019-08-16 17:06
WSS, with the right pit, is amazing. I think the music upstages the show.
MojoMP.com
Mojo Mouthpiece Work LLC
MojoMouthpieceWork@yahoo.com
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Author: Jordan Selburn
Date: 2019-08-18 22:33
I've played close to 100* different musicals now. Obviously, I have enjoyed most of them or would've stopped a long time ago.
For straight clarinet books (no doubling), Fiddler is of course a must but Man of La Mancha and My Fair Lady are just as much fun. Maury Yeston's Phantom is also a blast, and in general his shows (such as Nine) are so wonderfully orchestrated that even playing whole notes is fun. I'm working to get one of the local groups to do a concert version of Titanic in the near future.
I'm about to start a run of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, and that one may join Fiddler, etc. - but that is at least partially because it's one of my favorite shows to see.
In addition to the above, there are several shows that I would drop everything to go play tonight: Ain't Misbehavin', On the Town, Ragtime. Other recent shows that were a blast to play include Thoroughly Modern Millie (play the Reed 2 book - it has the jazz/dixieland clarinet solos), Seussical and Shrek (yoikes - 6 horns: flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano/tenor/bari saxes).
City of Angels, Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, etc. etc. etc. . . . yeah, they're on the list too, but the list is getting long!
On the other hand, I find the Rodgers and Hammerstein shows to be very boring to play, same with old-time operettas (e.g. Student Prince) and Gilbert and Sullivan.
*Current count is 93 (plus 3 more where I've played the entire book in rehearsal, but not performance), with Gentleman's Guide and Urinetown being added to the list later this year.
Jordan
Post Edited (2019-08-18 22:36)
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Author: gwie
Date: 2019-08-19 07:53
I love the clarinet and bass clarinet parts for "She Loves Me." Been one of my favorites for a long time!
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Author: Nelson
Date: 2019-08-19 11:43
Pit work was great fun in my younger years, like other clt players 'Fiddler' was pretty much at the top of my favourites...if I managed to get through the Dream Sequence okay.
One of my regular orchestras has just dragged out the O/T to 'Pirates of Penzance' after a gap (for me} of around thirty years. I'm finding it a bore but realise it wasn't solely the work of Sullivan being assembled I believe by Cellier....but how stage musical times have changed.
Some golden personal moments turn up (given a good reed) in 'A Little Night Music' and 'Man of La Mancha' but always enjoyed playing 'Oklahoma' even for the tenth run, and Kismet ...filled with great melodies and tricky at the same. Must mention the ground-breaking 'Showboat'
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Author: super20bu6
Date: 2019-08-23 16:02
I have to say my favorite pit (also favorite octopus imitation) is Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Reed 3...flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, Bassoon and Bari Sax. But as others have said....West Side Story is up there too. Just did the "dreaded" Reed 3 book this summer...which calls for everything from Piccolo to Oboe to Bari Sax. Show I can do without ever playing again....."Kiss Me Kate".
As for Ken Shaw's comment about the bassoon left hand keys.....well, you get used to 'em.
I agree with BobT above...Titanic the Musical is a must do. Reed 5 here when I did it...Eb Contra Alto and Bassoon. Weird combination.....but a well written score...I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
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Author: concertmaster3
Date: 2019-08-23 17:41
I recently have had a lot of fun playing In The Heights, 1 reed player, 7 instruments (flute, piccolo, clarinet, SATB saxes), Company (all the parts are great in that book, I fell in love with the reed 1 book though), and Sweeney Todd (got to play reed 3 and reed 4).
West Side is always on my bucket list of shows to play, and I'd be happy with any of the books, although the bassoon book scares me a little! I really want to play Cabaret and Fiddler too.
Titanic is horrid for the string players...I played violin on that one and the entire book is tremolo or repeated 16th notes. My arm was SOOOOOO tired for nothing lol. Into the Woods was horrid for the violin book too, even though I had fun playing a combined clarinet/bassoon book when I did it the first time.
Ron Ford
Woodwind Specialist
Performer/Teacher/Arranger
http://www.RonFordMusic.com
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Author: Jordan Selburn
Date: 2019-08-23 18:37
Bret Pimentel's crowdsourced site is a comprehensive database of the woodwind requirements for musicals: https://shows.bretpimentel.com/
Jordan
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Author: davyd
Date: 2019-08-23 21:51
I no longer play for musicals (it's hard to commit that much time to one project) but there were good times aplenty back in the day.
Like:
Sunday in the park with George
Singing in the rain
Crazy for you
Carousel
Neutral:
Guys and dolls
The boyfriend
Evita
My fair lady
Once was enough:
Barnum
Hello Dolly
1776
The king and I
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2019-08-27 08:06
Music Man. I haven't played a lot of musicals but did this one twice--in high school and professionally. Played both books and the Eb solo in Shipoopi. Great stuff.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
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Author: hinotehud ★2017
Date: 2019-08-30 22:54
I have played a lot of musicals but my all-time favorite was the newer orchestration of White Christmas. 5 reed books and all of them require clarinet. Every part gets a clarinet solo. Sometimes you are all playing playing the same rhythm, other times everyone has independent parts. It was so much fun!
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The Clarinet Pages
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I just sang Tell Me It's Not True in a cabaret performance here in San Francisco. VERY moving show...I just ordered the London Cast recording. 