THE PIT
Section 5 of 6
The band you cannot see is the one being cut
Below the stage is the part of the show nobody applauds and everybody argues about. What the band plays is written by somebody other than the composer, and how many players are in the room is decided by a contract negotiated house by house.
In this section — 3 pieces
- The composer writes the tune, somebody else writes the soundlongOrchestration is a separate credit and a separate craft: Jonathan Tunick’s work on Sondheim is as identifiable as the songs it dresses.
- The band shrinks every decade and the contract says somediumMinimum musician counts are negotiated per house and per city, and the long argument over synthesisers and tracks is an employment dispute as much as an artistic one.
- There is a number that has to land near the endshortThe eleven o’clock number exists because audiences used to arrive at eight-thirty and the show needed a last surge before the curtain.