Double Bass The Phantom

[bejoyous]

I just finished a 3 week stint of rehearsing and playing The Phantom of the Opera. Between the shows, I had a couple of orchestral gigs where we did Phantom medleys as well. Ach!

I'm all Phantomed out! This is the longest I've played the same show. It's quite a different head space from orchestral playing where there is something new every week.

I have some colleagues who played the Toronto production for 10 years. I can only guess at the mental and emotional roller coaster of playing one show for so long would put a person through. Then again, one person bought a house with cash....

 

[neilG]

I have friends who have been in the NYC production since the beginning. 23 years!

 

[bejoyous]

Wow, that's amazing on so many levels!

Have they ever told you about what it is like?

Let's see 8 shows per week X 52 weeks per year X 23 years...

Holy crap, that's 9568 shows!

 

[neilG]

I sort of know what it's like, having subbed there way back. I've even had a show of my own for a few months at a time. It's mind-numbing. Even though it's only a few hours a day, you need to keep engaged in other things in your life so you don't dread going as soon as you wake up in the morning. On the upside, the money is great for 24 hours of work per week.
There are some players in the Phantom pit who haven't opened the book in years.

 

[Simandl Fan]

You guys are to be admired. I can't stand playing more than three performances of a show. There's not enough money in the world to get me to play 9568 performances of anything!

 

[neilG]

There's not enough money in the world to get me to play 9568 performances of anything!

Oh, yes there is. The question is: would you do it for 78K a year, which is where I think it is on Broadway right now. If someone has better info, chime in.