![]() My middle son is named James, for James Raitt.Īnother tie-in: my wife went to IU school of music. He was the person who said, “You should conduct.” He literally said, laughing at the same time, “You should conduct and I’ll be dead.” I still have and use his baton. I had been playing piano on off-Broadway shows. He was asked to be the musical director of Damn Yankees. It was right at the age when gay men who were in their 20s and 30s were dying of AIDS. James Raitt was a pianist and musical director who worked in New York from the 1970s through the 1990s when I met him. His nephew was a gentleman named James Raitt, Bonnie Raitt’s first cousin actually. The original star, the original Billy Bigelow was John Raitt. I understand that you have a bit of a personal connection with the original Carousel production. ![]() So it’s taken me a while to get to that and respond without smiling. ![]() On Broadway, we call each other maestro somewhat jokingly, as tongue-in-cheek or a mock-pretentious thing. At 37 pieces, it’s a small orchestra from an opera standpoint. So boy, it’s great to have a big full orchestra. Since then, musical tastes have changed, and so Broadway shows have tried to capture a pop sound. That’s in part why Rodgers and Hammerstein became producers on their own show, because they really emphasized the musical values of production. A standard Broadway orchestra was 24 to 28 pieces. Even in its time, Carousel was a bit of an anomaly. Back in the day, when Carousel was first played on Broadway, the orchestra was bigger than even Lyric’s production: 39 pieces. On Broadway, both orchestras and casts have gotten smaller. Therefore, the orchestra is heard acoustically. But this is your first time conducting at Lyric Opera. Read an interview with conductor David Chase.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |