THE SHRINKING PIT ORCHESTRA

How many musicians does it really take?

Broadway 1950 average size: 26 players Broadway 2019 average size: 10 players

South Pacific, Broadway 1960, 19 players Waitress, Broadway 2017, 5 players

 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

• Why are they getting smaller?

• Orchestra size vs production value/cost
• Orchestra size vs audience experience
• Effect of the synthesizer and how it influenced the sound of musicals
• Compare sizes across Broadway/West End and look at trends over
time
• Influence of the unions
• Union/producer relationships
HISTORY OF MINIMUMS: BROADWAY,
1957-1993
 CONTEXT

• Size of Broadway pit orchestras diminished over last 40 years

• Contractual rules (minimums) guarantee certain number of musicians
• Producers stance: they shouldn’t have to pay for more musicians than required
under contract
• Musicians’ unions: maintain jobs and persevere sound of live orchestra
• Special Situations clause (1993) negotiated as part of the Minimums contract as
a contract exception
• Intersection of art vs business
 HISTORY OF MINIMUMS
1957-1975
• Common for every entertainment venue to have a contract with musician’s union.
“Minimum rules were not uncommon in union contracts for other industries.”1
• Earliest Local 802 AFM (American musicians’ union) collective bargaining agreement (02/09/63):
“Where the theatre has between 1000 and 1100 seats, the orchestra shall consist of a minimum of 16 men.
Where the theatre has over 1100 seats, the minimum shall be 25 men. Where the theatre has less than 1000
seats, the minimum number of men shall be fixed by the union’s Executive Board.”2
• Unions noticed that minimums in contract ≠ players in orchestra
• Composers vs producers over size
• Cut list of musicians above minimum dependent on current business
• Composer’s expense for upscaling over minimums – Ramin quote
• “Walkers” – hard to justify?
• Tension between unions and producers
 HISTORY OF MINIMUMS
1975-1993

• 1975 union strike – 25 days, all 9 Broadway musicals closed

• “The musicians strike yesterday affected thousands of theatregoers, put hundreds of other
theater employees out of work and raised the prospect of hardships for businesses
throughout the midtown theater district.”3
• New union arrangements made:
• Lower minimums
• Size not determined by theatre capacity
• Synthesizer clauses into agreement
• “Walkers” still an issue – struggling economy
• Examples of “walkers” cases – Chicago/A Chorus Line

3
 SPECIAL SITUATIONS
1993
• “Walkers” becoming harder to justify
• Union reputation – trying to preserve jobs but losing public appeal
• Clause added to agreement called Special Situations allowing producers to petition to a committee for an
exemption to the rules:
- A production of a definable musical genre or of a dramatic approach which necessitates a smaller size orchestra in order to
preserve artistic integrity’, or
- Productions in which the show’s concept ‘consists of the re-creation of a pre-existing band and performs onstage and
constitutes an integral part of the production and staging concept.
• First time unions had offered flexibility
• Musicians found it harder to support themselves financially/losing leverage
• Smokey Joe’s Café – first show granted
• Damn Yankees – first show denied
• Other shows tried to get around the clause – actors under musician contracts (e.g. Saturday Night Fever)
• Producers still not happy about having to petition to the union
 FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

• Continued examination into relationship of unions/producers

• Examine data of orchestra sizes
• Investigate synthesizer design and effect on pit orchestras
• Examine further data
• Investigate whether audiences have become accustomed to these smaller
forces
• Investigating whether in certain productions, having a smaller orchestra is an
advantage and a positive