Phantom Orchestra

As vouchsafed in the last post, (lest we forget) the current production of Phantom is nothing if not impressive. On stage at least. 

But theatre is about the music as well as theatre. He wrote redundantly.

We already know that A Warlow's voice is seven shades of sensational, but how did the pit orchestra stack up?

Answer: Adequate, if a little discouraging.

What saddened the Velvette and your humble blogger was not the quality of the playing, but the flimsy orchestration the miserly  producers thought they could get away with. An orchestra - yes even a pit orchestra - should have  20 - 30 players as a bare minimum, not 5 players + 2 keyboards doing the rest.

Any dramatic effect is dissipated.

There are a couple of theatrically chilling moments that needed a certain malevolent sound to enhance the effect and seal the deal. What the keyboards produced at the crucial times was about as foreboding as a dwarf with a lisp, wearing a pastel jumpsuit.

If the brass sounds are unconvincing, the drum sounds are diabolical. You'd get a more realistic sound listening to the local kinder percussion ensemble through a faulty mobile phone.

The producers are lining their pockets at the expense of working musicians and the discerning public.

Business as usual.