Running Your Theater: Musicals

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Musicals

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Theater Administration
Forum Name: Running Your Theater
Forum Discription: General questions about how to make it work
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4180
Printed Date: 11/22/24 at 5:19pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Musicals

Posted By: Nigel
Subject: Musicals
Date Posted: 8/15/09 at 5:57pm

Last summer our community theatre put on a musical with a new director who had the "midi" files. (I was not on the board at the time.) Next summer we would like to stage a musical again, but I am finding R&H and Samuel French require live music. I know I have seen many musicals put on without live music. How is this accomplished legally? A professional dinner theatre in my town even does it, but I can't get them to return my calls. Any advice?

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Nigel

Replies:

Posted By: lparks
Date Posted: 1/12/10 at 5:40am

R&H Theatricals as well as MTI offer whats called "orchestra enhancement systems". They are ment to be used in collaberation with an actual orchestra (to cut the size down from 15 members to 3 or 4), but you are certainly not required to do so.

Biggest problem with this is that not all shows have this available. You need to check their websites under "Materials" or "Resources". Some houses like Pioneer Drama offer pre-recorded CD's of the music for all of their musicals. Your biggest issue on this front is with the smaller broadway shows.

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Landon Parks,
Producing Artistic Director,
Bloomington Repertory Theatre Co

Posted By: StgMgrGary
Date Posted: 2/18/10 at 2:01pm

We have done smaller mucicals from MTI with "Canned Music" - all of the MTI Junior stuff we have done, High School Musical, Fiddler on the Roof, The Little Mermaid have all been canned.

If you call MTI they can give you a list of shows that this option if available for and I believe the same is true for Tams-Whitmark. I have never used R&H Theatricals.

Hope this helps.

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J. Gary Walden
Executive Director
Theatrikos Theatre Company
Flagstaff, AZ
www.theatrikos.com

Posted By: musikman1
Date Posted: 2/21/10 at 8:20am

Take a peek at http://www.bway2.com - http://www.bway2.com , Broadwa\y II Productions. Audio tracks provided are professional quality, and if you have any local talent, they can open up the book from NYC and play along. They provide a technical cue sheet for the operator, so he only has to read English (not music) to operationally cue the show.

You can peek at http://bway2.com/track - http://bway2.com/track for thsier list of available titles.

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Rick
http://www.bway2.com/tracks