Sound Designer
This particular production of Funny Thing presented some interesting puzzles to solve. The largest was where to place the orchestra. Seeing that the theatre does not have a pit, the initial plans placed the orchestra behind the set. However, the musical director felt that there would not be enough room the orchestra and that we had to find an alternate location. It was decided that the orchestra was going to be placed in a remote location and all of the music would be piped into the theatre. The next concern then became making sure that the musical director, who was also the conductor, could not only hear everything that happened on stage, but could interact with the cast as if he were in a pit at the front of the stage. With a combination of audio and video monitoring as well as excellent communication with the Front of House mix engineer, the musical director was extreamly satisfied with the imperfect situation. In an effort to "trick" the audience into believing that the orchestra was behind the set, large LA loudspeakers were placed where the orchestra would have been located. The effect was convincing and all involved were happy with the results.