The pit orchestra in the yearly musical is one of the key elements to putting on a spectacular performance, according to members of the pit orchestra.
Lots of work is required to be in the pit orchestra, and this year’s pit orchestra members worked harder than ever on the music of “Sweeney Todd” in order to make their performances as flawless as possible.
Pit orchestra member David Rhodes put lots of time into practicing his part in the musical.
“It’s a really interesting experience, because being involved in any show is exciting, but there’s much work to be done,” Rhodes said. “Rehearsing for hours every day gets really exhausting, and occasionally I felt as though I was going to die from boredom waiting for cues, but it was a remarkable, unique few months.”
Viola player Daniel Peipert also found the experience rewarding but says that rehearsing is not his favorite part.
“To me, pit orchestra is something that I look forward to all year,” Peipert said. “Although actually participating is a pain, I’m always glad I did it in the end.”
Violist Mengjing Chen thinks that this was not a show to miss.
“Everyone should have gone and seen the musical,” Chen said. “The pit and the cast put way too much work into it to have no one show up.”
Rhodes found that playing the music of composer Stephen Sondheim was much more difficult than last year’s music of “Peter Pan.”
“Frankly, it was more dark, sinister, and overall more crazy,” Rhodes said. “The key and time changes were just all over the place, and being able to keep up with it at many points is just a miracle on the part of the entire pit orchestra. Sondheim musicals are never easy, and the pit put a lot of work into the performance. I believe they put more work in this year to do the best they could than last year because of the difficulty we were being asked to play.”
Flutist Taylor Kloha agrees, saying that although the music required more practice than last year’s “Peter Pan,” she looks forward to this event all year.
“Personally, I think that it is a lot of fun,” Kloha said. “But the music of ‘Sweeney Todd’ was so much harder to play. For this year’s musical, we needed every rehearsal. You come out being such a better player, though.”
Even though there is a lot of work put into each song for the musical, the performers still think that the amount of work is necessary for a spectacular performance.
“We put in about 45 hours of rehearsal, give or take, and that’s not counting the practice we did on our own at home,” said bass clarinet player Cynthia Koehler. “There were lots of nights when we didn’t get home from school until about 10:30 or later.”
Organ player Corrine Yap thought that work is part of the job description of the pit orchestra performer.
“A lot of people feel that pit orchestra is a waste of time, since it requires time-consuming rehearsals,” Yap said. “However, that’s just theater. For a great show, everyone involved needs to put their time and effort into it, the pit orchestra included.”
This year, the pit orchestra’s location was changed to behind the set on the stage. Kloha found this impractical.
“We couldn’t see the actors, and they couldn’t see us,” Kloha said. “There were cameras to show when the actors were starting to sing, but it was much easier playing last year when the pit was in front of the stage.”
Most of the members named the Friday and Saturday showings of “Sweeney Todd” as the pit orchestra’s best performances.
Sunday’s matinee was, at first, canceled due to power outages at CHS, but soon it was rescheduled for 7 p.m.
“Sunday was by far the worst performance, for no reason other than the power problems,” Peipert said. “About 40 minutes into the show, the power problem reoccurred. Almost all electronic instruments were out, as were microphones and some lights. This resulted in difficult cues.”
Rhodes agrees that Sunday’s performance was the worst performance due to the power outage that interrupted the show.
“Power outages, along with a few missed cues, plagued the entire show,” Rhodes said. “The whole second act was done without microphones. Although a disaster, I believe that the overall effort that night was greater than any other because of the difficulties we experienced.”
However, Koehler thought that the Sunday performance was the best because the cast, pit, and crew dealt with the situation of no power very professionally.
“The best performance was on Sunday night, when the power went out about two songs before intermission,” Koehler said. “We kept going with minimal panic. Everyone did what they were supposed to do: the pit played more quietly and everyone on stage buckled down and did what they had to do in order to be heard. The show went on, which showed an incredible level of maturity from everyone involved. There really wasn’t a ‘worst’ show. They all had their ups and downs, but the amount of work that everyone put in was always evident and well-reflected by stellar performances.”
Kloha only wishes the pit orchestra had gotten more recognition for their work.
“We’re such an important part,” Kloha said. “Theater is a collaborative effort. It takes just as much hard work from us to make the show a pleasing performance.”