Into the Woods

Jack selling Milky White to the Baker in ISM’s Production of Into the Woods

As our third production within the COVID-19 Pandemic, we are finally allowed to have musicians and actors closer to each other. I served as Rehearsal Accompanist and Co-Music Director and we were finally able to get a full orchestration for the pit.

Being the co-music director, I took charge of scheduling and managing rehearsals. My position as the rehearsal accompanist also aided during pit rehearsals as I was able to communicate to the conductor and rest of the pit about liberties that the cast were taking during their rehearsals. As well, I was able to understand that musical cues that were important for the cast that the instrumentalists needed to bring out, especially because this was a Sondheim score.

This position taught me a lot about the administrative work outside of score studying and the performance itself. Juggling emails and auditions for the musicians was a challenge at first but I developed organizational skills using Notion to collect all of my information in one place. As well, I worked much closer with the producer and board to secure and distribute contracts for each musician.

The Pit Orchestra of Into the Woods, Full Broadway Orchestration

Photography by Emily Naud