The state of things

musicprnt
Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:55:12 +0000

Not surprising I am afraid. Broadway producers for years have been trying to switch to either fully or partially synthesized/recorded music, for the obvious cost savings that could bring. To a broadway producer the orchestra/pit band is not an integral part of the show, it is a cost, like the cost for light bulbs, electricity, etc, and they have been seeking to ‘automate’ the music for a long time now. One of the reasons they haven’t been able to, besides the unions, is because their hard core audiences wouldn’t stand for it (it was tried in a couple of shows a number of years back, and audiences hated it).

Sadly, I suspect this is going to be the trend with musicals, either fully or partially recorded/synthesized music. On top of everything else, given the lack of musical exposure of most people, especially the tourist types who are the big bread and butter of much of broadway musicals these days, and with a whole generation brought up on digital, compressed music (mostly of lessened quality), it is likely future generations of theater goers will be perfectly happy listening to something that is ‘canned’, probably compared to the Ipod they are used to it will seem to be great…and while live broadway orchestras have their ups and downs, where especially in long running shows the playing may not be all that thrilling at times, for the grand musicals having recorded music won’t be the same.
Live performances vary, something that is recorded is the same old same old (kind of like instead of going to the play, buying the cast recording and listening to it over and over again).

I suspect within 10 years there will be little or no live music with broadway musicals, they would rather spend a fortune hiring actors from Hollywood then spend it on good music, and even more sadly I suspect audiences won’t know the difference.