scalpy Posted October 18, 2015 Posted October 18, 2015 A lot of my playing is for local am dram companies, and the pads can vary enormously in terms of challenge. West Side Story is always held as bit of a badge of honour but there's a new kid on the block, at least in terms of amateur companies. Sunset Boulevard! I was wondering if anybody else has played this on here, 'cos I did band call today and my head has melted. Massive sections in 5 at rocket speed, what is practically a bass solo for 8 minutes that changes key every line and time signature every bar for several pages, every fret just about covered and hardly any break or dialogue to catch breath. So top trickiest shows so far 3. Chess. 2. West Side 1. Sunset. Anybody else got any other monster roasts for charts out there? Quote
TimR Posted October 18, 2015 Posted October 18, 2015 West Side is great. I had to explain the rhythm in 'I Feel Pretty' to the singers once. Ooof! Quote
Gareth Hughes Posted October 18, 2015 Posted October 18, 2015 'Jesus Christ Superstar' has some choice moments, though on the whole not as dense as 'West Side Story'. 'Copacobana' is a good workout on electric bass. Any chance of a pdf of 'Sunset Boulevard'? Quote
Mister RLP Posted October 18, 2015 Posted October 18, 2015 'West Side' was a killer.But, once you've done it you know that you can do other challenging scores, etc. Doesn't make them any easier though! I thought 'Hairspray' (the year after WSS) would be a breeze in the park. It wasn't. Quote
lowdown Posted October 19, 2015 Posted October 19, 2015 West Side Story was the one for me, but have played it a few times now, so no panic. Sunset is Tricky, agreed. And JCS, has a couple of hairy moments. But without doubt, the show I found trickiest was 'Bat Boy' (Well, during rehearsals) The show only lasted about seven months (In the West End), Quote
colgraff Posted October 19, 2015 Posted October 19, 2015 Godspell caused me lots of trouble. It was a long time ago so I don't really remember but I think that there were lots of odd timing changes. Quote
Zenitram Posted October 19, 2015 Posted October 19, 2015 Unrelated, but my girlfriend (an actor) is going nuts about [i]Hamilton[/i], the 'hip-hop' musical about the US founding father Alexander Hamilton. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp9HUc9HraQ&list=PL3gFc2UA55bvj3kSR9IQpsE9hwWmzTug5 Quote
scalpy Posted October 19, 2015 Author Posted October 19, 2015 Haven't heard about a few of these, so will keep my eyes peeled. A few weeks ago I asked to dep for copa so glad I turned that down! Forewarned about Hairspray now, that's bound to be on the horizon sometime soon. The thing about WSS is that the material is so good and well written. It's intimidating but arranged really well and does drop pretty well considering. Sunset, dare I say it, is not of the same calibre and feels fidgety and superfluous in its complexity, there's no real need for a lot of the time changes etc. And it's certainly not necessary to do it at the tempos our MD wants either! Quote
scalpy Posted October 19, 2015 Author Posted October 19, 2015 [quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1445245100' post='2889795'] JCS kicked my arse. Not done WSS or SB. [/quote] From what I've heard you'd rinse WSS, Bilbo. Got a strange image of JCS kicking your arse though! Quote
Blink Posted October 19, 2015 Posted October 19, 2015 Santa Fe in Rent is a good work out for bass as well as being a great show. Quote
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