[jedi35]

Greetings GASers,

I'm finally back in town from teaching in MI for 6 weeks. I'd planned to head up to Toronto to spend some time with friends up there, but things didn't work out. It's nice to be back home with my system. I missed the audio and the high def stuff as well. Still, it was great interacting with more people than technology for a change...LOL. The VW is fixed and running better than ever. The car has a lot more pop, pep, thrust, and seems to run a whole lot smoother than before. I can't imagine that the car ran any better than this when it was new. Sadly, a new problem has developed since I've been back. The gas gauge reports varied gas levels, which is a sign that the fuel sender in the gas tank is failing. For now, I'll just have to fill up and reset the trip odometer to know how far I can go. It's always something, huh?

I'll be playing Phantom of the Opera down at the Fox starting up in late Sept. Come on down and see me. We'll have 8 shows a week for 4 weeks. Right now, I'm not sure of the starting date. Metrotix would have info on tickets. We're usually offered the chance to buy house seats, which are withheld from the public. They are great seats, up close with an excellent view, and are not affected by sellouts. They are normally about $75 or $80 each, so keep that in mind if you're interested. I'll report back on that once we get going. I'm hoping to make Scott's bash on Sept. 26, depending on what's happening with the show. If it's a 2 show day, that might be tough.

Regards,
Adrian

[no1maestro]

I'm new to this site and as such, I'm not that familiar with folks. What do you play when you do Phantom? I've seen it three times locally but there is always one more chance to see a great show so I will be following your kind offer of securing tickets. I assume that we share the experience of being in music education. Glad you are so glad to be home; I fully understand that emotion!

[jedi35]

Hello there,

I play violin in the pit orchestra. You'll also see me there in Dec. as the first chair violinist in the Ballet Orchestra for Nutcracker. Glad you're interested in tickets. We usually don't get the request forms until we start performing the show. But as I said, these house seats are pretty much always available to us. If you don't care to wait that long, then Metrotix is the deal. Welcome to GAS.

Adrian

[no1maestro]

Having spent a good many hours (hundreds) playing violin, viola, keyboards and percussion in a pit orchestra, I can only admire you for achieving a first stand position. If you have the time to answer a couple of questions, I would appreciate it. First, what is the instrumentation for Phantom these days? I understand a lot of the parts were being covered by synths a few years ago.
Second, what is the approximate size and make-up of the typical Nutcracker orchestra these days? Thanks!

[jedi35]

Well, I don't play all those instruments. I've only had to excel on the violin in order to be concertmaster of the orchestra. For Phantom, however, there will be a traveling concertmaster hired out of New York, so I will be seated on the first stand next to him/her. For most any other show, I am the head dog...hahaha. This will be my 3rd run of Phantom, but I can't say that I'm up on the exact instrumentation. There will be 5 or 6 violins, a viola, a cello, a bass, a few winds and brass, percussion, and keyboards. A few musicians will be part of the traveling tour...altogether, about 20 players or so. I can tell you for sure once we start rehearsing in late Sept.

Nutcracker will be a much larger orchestra, and has to be. We'll have a full string section of about 20 violins, 4-6 violas, 4-6 cellos, a couple of bass players, and a pretty nice wind and brass section, plus full percussion. All in all, about 50-60 piece orchestra, if not larger.