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Re: Pit Band Horror Stories

Author: mikeW
Date: 2015-04-24 21:49

Not really a horror story, but my wife was playing a production of, I think, "Crazy for You" and for "I got Rhythm" the choreographer had done a very complicated routine with lots of props. An unfortunate upshot of this was that they had to play the song at dirge tempo. Also, the music director and producers had been feuding throughout the rehearsals and run. One night he apparently had enough so he kicked off "Rhythm" at a brisk tempo to the sound of great cacophony from the stage. Another horn player near the front of the pit looked up and said, "They're going down like ninepins up there!" A new music director was there the following night to finish the run.

She also did a run of "Phantom" where they had two problems with the stage smoke. First, it drifted into the pit which made reading music and breathing almost impossible. The solution: fans! The second problem and result of first solution: stage smoke setting off the fire alarms and emptying the theater on multiple nights.

And I think anyone who's been in the pit for "The Student Prince" has dodged numerous flagons during the drinking scenes.

I once did a production of "Chicago" where the band was on stage. I got caught behind a traffic fatality and so was late to the show. I was calling back and forth with the MD apprising him of my progress and was about 15 minutes late. They actually held the curtain for me. Got a round of applause from the cast as I rushed through the dressing room to get set up. Very embarrassing...

Similarly, a couple of principals were caught in bad traffic for a Christmas show and they held the curtain for over an hour while we play some seasonal tunes. For whatever reason, the theater never announced exactly why they were holding the curtain. Nor did they offer the patrons free goodies and drinks to appease them. Unfortunately, this was also media night. Worst review ever...

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Gandalfe

2006-12-06 21:23