By Matt Putnam '09
Updated by River Grace '21, Nov. 2019.
Recruiting all orchestra members
Rehearsing the orchestra
Solving any musical logistical issues (entrances that are difficult to find, cues, etc.) in conjunction with the Vocal Director
Ensuring that technical and stylistic decisions between cast and orchestra are consistent
Ensuring sufficient and appropriate space for the orchestra in the set design
Setting up the orchestra space (including stand lights and extension cords) before the first rehearsal in space which includes the orchestra
Requesting vocal and video monitors if needed
Conducting, or finding a conductor
Running the orchestra’s portion of strike, including collecting the books and ensuring that marks are erased from them
Look through all of the orchestra parts and determine all technical requirements of the orchestra. Determine what equipment (keyboards, synths, drums, percussion, etc.) is needed and what will need to be borrowed. If you don’t know where to acquire equipment, the producer or the board will know who to ask. There may not be enough room for large percussion setups with timpani and mallets (especially for shows in Kresge Little Theater), and the instruments may be difficult to borrow, so consider synthesizing pitched percussion. There are multiple solutions for this.
Decide if certain orchestra parts can be split (for example, reed parts and drum/percussion parts) and what you would ideally like to do. Note that splitting parts will cause people to be playing only a fraction of the show, but it may make recruiting easier.
Decide when you want to spam for orchestra members (around the time that auditions are happening is usually good) and email the board’s publicity director with all of this information. Email spam is usually not sufficient to fill the orchestra! You will likely need to harass people directly. Recent orchestra directors will be able to recommend people to poke. Sometimes (frequently) there might not be anyone for a given part who can make all of the performances, so you’ll have to have two or more people trade off.
Make a schedule. At this point, you don’t need to determine exactly what you want to rehearse each day, but at least decide when orchestra rehearsals will be so that space can be reserved and the orchestra members can clear their schedules. 2-5pm on Sundays is the usual time. You may want additional rehearsals for IAP shows. Also think about a date for sitzprobe (aka sing-through). Make sure to talk to the stage manager and directors about scheduling sitzprobe.
Arrange for an accompanist, ideally the same person for both days (so that the auditions are consistent--you don’t want someone amazing the first day and someone bad the second day). Use someone that the dir staff knows and trusts--accompanying auditions is a specific skill beyond just playing piano competently. It’s very awkward to have to dismiss an accompanist because it turns out that while they’re a great classical pianist, they don’t know how to accompany. It can be you if desired/needed.
(If you’re not also the vocal director) Talk with the vocal director and make sure you’re clear about how you will be judging the auditionees’ vocal abilities. You will need to make clear arguments to the CRB about who is capable of singing which parts, so you two need to be on the same page.
Note - you don't have to go to auditions, but if you want any input, you have to be at all auditions.
Go through the entire score, look for potential trouble spots, and find preliminary solutions for these. Most commonly, there will probably be vamps where the cue out of it is tricky for the actors to find. How you solve these depends on how much visibility there is between you and the cast--the more there is, the easier the solution will be (if we had performance spaces with real orchestra pits, the solution would just be “follow my cue” all the time). One solution is video monitors, but lighting designers often hate this. In Sala, it may be possible to have the orchestra on the side of the stage with the conductor downstage and visible to the cast. It’s also immensely helpful if the orchestra can hear the actors, so campaign for audio monitors too.
Find the soundtrack version which is most accurate to the version you have. Listen to it attentively. Find any discrepancies between it and the actual version you have, and tell these to the cast and orchestra so that anyone who uses the soundtrack to learn their part won’t learn the wrong thing. If the choreographer needs a rehearsal track and the soundtrack is unsuitable, you might need to record a piano rendition.
Send the orchestra the full rehearsal and performance schedule so you can deal with any conflicts early on. Also let them know that they will be responsible for helping tear down the orchestra space at strike. The orchestra is not required to participate in the rest of strike or any of put-in, although of course they are welcome to help.
Be on time! In fact, be way early! You will need to set up the rehearsal room, including moving any instruments from the office. Try to get your orchestra members (especially those who will be using said instruments) to help, but don’t count on it. Set a good example and be ready to go when the rehearsal is scheduled to start.
Have a clear plan, and communicate this to the orchestra. For example, you may wish to try to get through all of the music in the first rehearsal to introduce it, and then rehearse in more depth in later rehearsals.
Communicate all of the logistical decisions you’ve made (vamps, etc.) clearly. Explain how each tricky spot is supposed to work so that your orchestra can be flexible for the inevitable mistakes by the cast. If possible, sing along so the orchestra knows what they should be hearing. Mistakes WILL happen, the more everyone can tell what went wrong, the easier it will be to get back on track.
If the orchestra will be visible to the audience, make sure everyone knows to wear all-black. If the costume designer thinks it would be “awesome” to dress up the orchestra, veto that shit.
If the orchestra will be placed far from the stage and/or with large curtains between them, make sure that there is a plan to get the orchestra a vocal monitor. Things run massively smoother when the orchestra can hear the cast.
If the cast and conductor will not be able to see each other, but one needs to cue the other visually, make sure there is a plan to set up a video monitor. The Guild owns a suitable camera and several TVs, and more can be borrowed if needed.
In conjunction with the stage manager, devise a schedule for sing-through that keeps people waiting as little as possible.
Make sure that cast members aren’t taking cues from you if they’re not going to be able to see you for the actual performances! This is one of very few rehearsals with both the orchestra and the cast, don’t rehearse something under different conditions than the actual show.
Make sure the orchestra is called before house opens, especially if you need to spot check anything. The house typically opens 30 minutes before the show is supposed to start.
Orchestra night (typically Tuesday of prod week) is your night to make sure that cast-orchestra interaction is happening correctly. Don’t let anybody else call stops. It’s very rude to make the orchestra wait while someone fixes tech stuff.
Stay calm! Things *will* go wrong, that’s what makes live theater special. Just roll with it, smile, and do the best you can to fix things. Let the cast be right and fix the orchestra. Remember that the audience would rather hear you yell measure numbers to the orchestra than sit through a train wreck.
Get all instruments and personal belongings out of the orchestra space first. Then get chairs, stands, and stand lights out. Set crew will want to get into that space ASAP.
Have all orchestra members erase any pencil marks from their books (feel free to *not* erase typo fixes) and return the books to you. You will give them to the producer.
Thank your orchestra members profusely, and encourage them to stick around for the rest of strike.
Matt Putnam (matt.s.putnam@gmail.com) owns: