Playbill: It’s no secret that Broadway orchestras have been shrinking. Since the mid-20th century, pressures on pit size have sliced away at the sonic landscape, with technologic innovations such as synthesizers and audio preprogramming swooping in to seemingly replace acoustic instruments. When Oklahoma! opened on Broadway in 1943, it had a 28-person orchestra, which was already seen as a significant compromise from the standard chamber orchestra size of 50 musicians that composers were trained to write for.
5 comments:
I have always loved the big orchestra sound of old Broadway. I love the way you get wrapped up in the sound and the music. Whenever I see a show with a big orchestra, though it’s so rare now, I always feel more enveloped and engrossed in the show than with a show that doesn’t have a big orchestra. That’s not to say that I don’t like shows that don’t use this style of music. It definitely has a time period associated with it and many shows just would not work in that style. I’ve seen plenty of shows that didn’t use as many instruments that were still absolutely amazing and had great music. Still, I would love to see even more of a return to big orchestras on Broadway. No matter how much technology we use, nothing can compare with a live orchestra and I would love to see it’s use expand into other styles of shows.
This was exciting to read about. I have noticed that it seems like orchestra sizes are shrinking, but I feel like there is such a beauty to having a large orchestra. To me, the orchestra in general is so incredible in that they are able to bring the audience closer to the show as the sound truly does have this magical type of element to it. Don’t get me wrong, I think that shows with smaller orchestras or pre-recorded elements are still absolutely beautiful, but a large orchestra just sounds different. To me the layers of the different instruments (and numerous musicians per type of instrument) bring this element to a production that I’m not sure can be rivaled by much else… Maybe I’m just a die-hard large orchestra fan, but I loved the crayon metaphor by Bryan Carter. The idea that if an artist has more tools to create something, they are able to do more with that (is this necessarily true all the time? I don’t think so, but in this case, I do), is true.
I’m really glad that orchestras are beginning to make a comeback on broadway. Before covid, there was absolutely no live music showcased in any of the musicals my school was doing, but for some reason (and I’m still really not sure why), during the shows during the COVID seasons, the school brought in live orchestras. It was really cool to see the performers and the musicians begin to get a sense of what the other was doing as tech week was going on, and I’m really glad I got to watch that process happen and hope they continue to do so. I absolutely love when multiple art programs begin to collaborate with each other, especially theater and other mediums, as I always think that there ends up being a really cool product created by the two. I’ve been seeing this so much more recently than I did as I was growing up, and I hope they continue to make this happen.
Yeah it is definitely interesting to see that larger orchestras are starting to come back for shows on Broadway. It seems like it is being used a lot more with revivals like Sweeney Todd that is opening soon. I have to say I am a very big fan of larger orchestras for musicals. The way that there is just so much sound in the space because of all of the musicians and their instruments is so cool and I wish it happened more. although I understand that sometimes that is not possible due to space in a theater or just how much money it costs because you do have to pay the musicians of course. I am just very excited that this is coming back. I hope that more new musicals begin using big orchestras but I understand that that is probably not going to be a reality because who wants to write music for a full Orchestra.
I really love the sound of big orchestras in a musical. I know it’s not super common nowadays (although more per this article) but the fullness of the sound is so unique. Because I’m from a city far from New York, that did get some Broadway tours, I haven’t really ever seen a large-scale musical with a full orchestra (although I have seen a couple smaller local shows which did and had gorgeous, gorgeous sound). I understand why touring with an orchestra is logistically impossible for most broadway tours, but I’m glad to hear that they’re coming back. Shows like Phantom of the Opera are popular partially, in my opinion, because of their full sound and orchestra, because that sound is so much richer. Don’t get me wrong, I love some good MIDI keyboard and MOTU audio, but there is something incredibly visceral and unique about live orchestras in theater.
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