Billy Elliot the Forum

Per the official US/CA Tour site and the Broadway in Calgary site, Calgary has been added to the Tour itinerary for March 26-31, 2013:

http://www.billyelliottour.com/us-tour-tickets

http://calgary.broadway.com/

The show will be presented in the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium which has a seating capacity of 2500 according to their website:

http://www.jubileeauditorium.com/Southern/Home.aspx

Here's a story in the Calgary Herald about the upcoming 2012-2013 Broadway in Calgary season:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainm ... story.html

This posted by one of the local musicians playing with the BETM tour in Calgary:

"First show with the Billy Elliot tour tonight. ONE 4 hour rehearsal, opening night, 2000 tix sold! I'm drained...beer as I tweet..."

https://twitter.com/jcoatesbass

porschesrule wrote:This posted by one of the local musicians playing with the BETM tour in Calgary:

"First show with the Billy Elliot tour tonight. ONE 4 hour rehearsal, opening night, 2000 tix sold! I'm drained...beer as I tweet..."

https://twitter.com/jcoatesbass

Wow - only one four hour rehearsal!

In Jacksonville I was able to look into the orchestra pit, and noticed that for the Billy performing that night, there were pieces of paper taped on front of every music stand with key changes for five or six songs for that particular performer......quite intricate changes within each song......one mistake would be obvious.......these local musicians have to be on the ball at all times.

Having quite a number of friends who play in orchestras on cruiseships, they often need to play with several guest entertainers a week. Therefore a huge part of qualifying for the job is to be able to read sheet music and play it without having a rehearsal.
Now in reality, they usually do one quick rehearsal show a few hours before performing for audiences, but that is still not a lot of time. They need to be very flexible and be able to play all sorts of music just from the sheets.
I imagine all the local musicians who play with BE or other touring shows have the same requirements.

Ah, but do they have to be able to play in a different key without having a transcribed hard copy to read from?

Most professional session musicians are expected to be able to transpose music to a different key. In the case of BETM, however, they don't need to do that because even though there are some key differences for the Billys to sing "Electricity," etc., there is a set of music for each Billy's version, and the musicians are notified which music to use for each show.