I have a community theater group for high school homeschool students. We have a large interest in musical theater (80 students currently in the company), with no access to live music. This greatly hinders our choices of musicals because there are few accompaniment tracks available other than karaoke versions. Am I missing something? Are there accompaniment recordings that inlude production numbers with dance segments? Are there production groups that will record an orchestra score at a reasonable price? Other ideas? In the past we have used some Broadway Jr. scores (they come with tracks), but they are limited for high school students. Thanks for any and all ideas.

Have you explored the possibility of hiring musicians?

Yes there are several people I know of who do full show sequencing - and yes, they've purchased the rights and paid big money to be able to use them for many many shows they've sequenced.  There are two specific ones I know of - the first is  www.bway2.com   He has many shows he's sequenced and can do any show you need done as long as you rent the scores and get them to him to sequence.   The second is  

http://www.keyboardwiz.com/   THIS guy has a LONG list of shows he's sequenced and they're really good.  ALthough NOW I don't see where he lists them anymore.  Seems he might have given up doing it though I'm certain if you contacted him needing full shows he'd do them or may already have them.  BroadwayII does have a list of shows and CAN do any you might have need for though.

 

 To sequence a show takes a while and I'm not sure the cost but it beats hiring a full orchestra - which most people cannot afford anyway anymore.  Even Broadway touring shows are using fewer LIVE musicians because of the cost of hiring union musicians or travel with a full order of musicians to do the shows all over the country.  Canned music is becoming more widely used.  And the couple of companies I know of are doing these legally - purchasing and paying through the proverbial nose for the rights to distribute them on a limited basis for a price.  Hope you can find what you need.

TonyDi

I would try and find a locale musician who plays a synthesizers and see if they would be willing to donate their time to the school if you can't afford a fee. This way you would have technically live music being played, that can alter timings or whatever is needed during any given performance. I really do not like canned music unless absolutely necessary.