Playing Wicked with LMTO – The London Musical Theatre Orchestra

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The London musical theatre orchestra is a relatively new organisation designed to take famous works and extend them to orchestral playing. The integrity of the original works is kept, however where necessary additional parts are arranged to accommodate extra members of the orchestra not normally present in the show’s stage counterparts. 

The most recent production, that I had the honour to perform, was the music of Wicked, as part of a 100 piece orchestra which included 40 voices! 

The music was orchestrated for two guitars of which I was Guitar One. This particular part had the majority of the electric guitar parts and included passages requiring me to use an Ebow and Seek Wah sound amongst typical heavy distortions and shimmery cleans. There were a lot of interesting suspended chord voicings, searing lead lines and some delicate chord and arpeggio work. A real workout! 

There are many ‘corners’ in the music of Wicked, involving lots of time signature changes and variations in feel. In order to navigate these we had a rehearsal in the afternoon and a full run-through with the choir in the evening. The sound was incredible, and it was a real buzz to play this music in such a setting. 

It was a shame we couldn’t perform the music to an audience (due to rights issues), however I am hopeful that the opportunity will arise in the near future. The next show will be the Sound of Music, however I will be otherwise engaged elsewhere, so I will have two wait for the next one! Do check out the LMTO, as it’s a fantastic organisation! 

Sitting-in on Wicked

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I’ve just boarded a tube train leaving Victoria Station in Central London having just had the best seat in the house at Wicked The Musical in London. I was in the pit, between Keys 1 and the Guitar player!

It was fantastic. I got to watch one of the top players in London play the part for one of the most exciting shows out at the moment, and it was fascinating. It was really interesting to see how he interpreted the music, and added his own style to the part.

It’s quite a complicated pad – lots of Ebow and ‘seek-wah’ which really help give the magical vibe of the show, and many changes to acoustic and back to electric.

The acoustic guitar parts require some explanation because there isn’t a real acoustic guitar being used! Instead it’s a Line6 Variax, and it’s necessary because it has banjo, jumbo acoustic, and 12-string acoustic sounds available whenever they’re required. It’s an important choice instrument-wise because without it there wouldn’t be enough room for all of the other acoustic instruments that are required – it’s really cramped down there!

This was the second time I’ve had the privilege of sitting in through the show and it was just as fascinating as the first. I really enjoy the music of Wicked, there are passages of real tension, lush heavily distorted lead and rhythm sections, as well as really sensitive acoustic and clean parts. The addition of the Ebow makes for a slightly more complicated experience – you have to be really on the ball to get in position, but also be accurate when sliding up and down one string.

This is the sort of gig I’m working towards. I have been working hard on my reading and putting myself into challenging environments to give me a better chance of hitting these West End heights. I think it’s going well, and I have another show in a couple of weeks which is testing my own banjo playing, only this time it’s a real one! I’ll be playing in Seussical at the Elgiva Theatre in Chesham on 21/4 and 23/4 – come down!