The Musical - The Beginning...

He raised his baton. The sound of four booming kettledrums filled the huge auditorium. Six trumpets, five trombones, seven saxophones, and eight woodwinds blended in with a 49-piece string section and five glistening harps. The huge orchestra played in full chorus while creating all the elements of the most beautiful overture. The music stopped and an arpeggio cued a vocalist to enter the stage and sing to the glistening harp-like sounds of the “double-grand” piano.

Suddenly the stage lights brightened, and the orchestra blasted 1940s Jazz. Twenty-four singers dressed in glittering pastel colors formed a jazz chorus and moved about the stage in different directions, dancing to the Bebop sounds of the orchestra, while vocalizing in rich six-part harmony. Five of the vocalists each took turns, moving forward, lead singing to 1950s Doo-wop, then moving back to rejoin the dancing background singers. The music transcended through the decades and contemporary music of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, onto modern hip-hop and R&B.

A six-man dance group took to the stage and performed a sophisticated acrobatic break-dance routine. Each took turns dancing and throwing their voices across the room, rapping and trading mixed phrases. The twenty-four-voice jazz chorus continued to vocalize in rich, thick, six-part harmony. A huge gospel choir stretched across the rear of the stage and blended in with the jazz chorus. The orchestra continued playing while bringing it all to home stretch. As this exciting Finale came to an end, the house lights brightened, and all of the performers bowed to the standing-only audience.

Heavy applauds filled the auditorium. The conductor then turned around, bowed gracefully to the audience and took in all of the attention that he had just begun to get used to. John has always wanted to conduct an orchestra on Broadway. This was his finest performance and he felt very good about it. All of a sudden… 

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