Re: [Harp-L] How Musical Theater differs from Blues gigs and jams

[Rob Paparozzi <chromboy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Long….)

Boy Robert that brings back fond memories of a terrific show really nice harmonica features throughout the whole play!

Sounds to me like your doing all the right stuff and I'm sure they love what you are bringing to the Production….

It was so nice all these years watching on Harp-L about players doing their local and regional productions of this show.

Some great players for sure have been involved over the years….I remember that both Adam Gussow & William Galison did the National tours of the show back in the mid 80's…..as well as many GREAT players on this list did it locally….

My 'Big River' story is an interesting one and goes way back to the beginnings when the show was being put together in NYC,
I was very much interested breaking into the studio & broadway scene having been brought up just across the Hudson River on the Jersey Side.

I was traveling into NYC every week to take Chromatic Harmonica lessons with Robert Bonfiglio at The Turtle Bay Music School.
This particular day at the lesson he was telling me he auditioned for a broadway show and was pretty sure he got the part because of his strong reading skills…my response was absolutely, YOU are the top guy and they'd be crazy NOT to choose you!

Well, when I got home, their was a message on my Voicemail from a old friend who said he'd auditioned for a new show on Banjo & Guitar. He said he didn't feel he got the gig but spent the better of the audition telling them about ME and he gave them my number so I might get a call to audition….of course I wondered if it was the same show Bonfiglio was telling me about at the lesson….hmmm?

Well a few days later I get a phone call asking if I could audition for a new show coming to Broadway written by Roger Miller. Back in those days I kept all my harps in a fishing Tackle Box, so I ventured in to NYC in the freezing cold one evening in the freezing cold…..when I got to the Orchestrator's place Dan Troob the conductor was there and the contractor and a few others…my harps were SO cold I told them I needed to warm them up some. They were looking at my Resume' and saw I doubled on Guitar and Piano, so they said sit and play us a tune while your harmonicas warm up!

I sat down and played & sang them them a Leon Russell song called 'Sweet Emily'….they started pulling out some of the score for me to play and I figured to myself (oh boy, this isn't gonna be fun) as my reading wasn't all that strong at the time…then the conductor said, 'you know what, never mind these charts…just play your harmonica for us whatever you'd like" and they were fascinated with my tackle box and the wide assortment and asked me to demo each of them….so I did and they thanked me and I left, they also told me they had heard about 40 different players in the past 2 weeks and learned a lot about Harmonica for sure!

The year was about 1983 I had just moved into my first house and my daughter was born and I was working and just started a day gig to pay the mortgage and support my family. Yup, a week later I got a phone call from the contractor who said they wanted me to be the Harmonica Player for 'Big River'. I was shocked with so many great players in town at the time, I said great, when do I start? They said since I'd be partially on stage that I'd have to rehearse 9-5 everyday for a month before it opened!

I told them I was honored they'd chose me but I'd respectively have to pass on the gig as I just started a good paying day gig.
The orchestrator called me back and asked "are you sure? this could be a nice opportunity" I again thanked him and passed on the gig.

Fast forward a few months I was watching the Tony awards on TV and saw BIG RIVER walked away with 7 Tonys including BEST Musical…..yikes what had I passed on?!

Well, a week after the award show my phone rings again and it's a fellow named Don Brooks who was offered the show when I turned it down. Don said, "I never heard you play but the show is a HIT and I need to take off and need a good sub, they really liked you a lot  and I thought you like to play it"……

I ended up doing MANY performances during the 3 year run on Broadway and had blast playing Don's amazing parts that he created for the show…..

so the next time someone sez 'keep your day job'….give it some thought,-)))

Sorry for the long winded post but I wanted to share it with my harpin friends here…..but when you do finally quit your day gig, as Roger Miller sez you'll be "Free at Last"!!

best,
Rob Paparozzi






On Apr 6, 2014, at 3:03 AM, Robert Hale <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Working Harmonica this month in a  Mesa, Arizona (Phoenix) production of
> "Big River, the story of Huckleberry Finn" (11 songs by Roger Miller - Dang
> me)
> 
>   1. Lotsa rehearsal! Three 3-hour weekly rehearsals preceding show open,
>   plus tech-week run throughs with full cast and dialog
>   2. Lots of sitting quietly and waiting for your cues. Lots.