[mmcquain]

A couple of notes about this particular show...

The theatre is in the old High School building (built back in the 30's or 40's) and it is now City Hall. The auditorium is actually used for City Council meetings, etc. and has a permanent desk thing across the entire front of the stage. This is where the mayor and council sits for public meetings, etc. so there isn't really an orchestra pit area for the band. Therefore, we were actually on stage (back corner stage right) BEHIND the rear curtain! There was a partial view of the right side of the stage from where the piano and I were located but the horns, drums and bass couldn't see the stage at all.

This setup made having a good monitor mix WITH VOCALS very important since our cues are based off the actors/singers and we need to know if they do stuff like come in early, skip a line (or verse), etc. (all of which they'll do at some point or another). We had to adapt on the fly. Luckily our musical director (playing piano) is very good at this. So I can't stress enough how important it is to USE YOUR EARS and not just your eyes looking at the score.

While being out front in "the pit" would have made it easier to see/hear the action on the stage, it was actually nice to not have to worry about being seen by the audience... we could wear what we wanted and things like bending over to switch gear, etc. weren't a big deal since nobody could see us! It's all a trade off I guess, next time I hope to play a show from a real "pit" so I have a feel for the difference that location makes.

Here's a few pics of how we were setup backstage...