Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, presented The Addams Family musical, October 31 through November 2, just in time for Halloween, reports Addie Williams in the student newspaper at the high school in Chicago’s western suburbs.
Under the direction of Fine Arts Department chair and band director Jonathan Walsh, the pit orchestra ‘brought the musical to life,’ Addie wrote.
To produce a high school musical, the fine and performing arts have to come together: dance, theater, and music, not to mention all the behind-the-scenes stuff like lighting, make-up, costumes, set construction, and so on.
Pit orchestra members are typically hand-picked from the top band and orchestra classes. They have to be at the top of their game, playing from the same books used in the Broadway production.
Rehearsals for the pit orchestra typically run for a few hours three or four times a week—until just a few weeks before opening night, when they step up to six hours on some nights as musicians make their final preparations, the paper noted.
“Rehearsals were always fun, and everyone is in the same boat—very confused by the music at first—so it’s something everyone can laugh about,” one senior trombonist was quoted as saying.
But, “seeing that learning curve and, more often than not, the students really rise up to that experience, that’s what makes it special,” Mr Walsh said.
