steel job...best little whore house in texas...

Chris Erbacher · From: Sausalito, California, USA

hey all, i just landed a gig doing the steel work for a 12 show play of the "best little whore house in texas" and i am wondering if anyone out there has done this gig before, or anything like it and what i should know going into it...i haven't done anything like this before but i am excited to have the opportunity and since this is a different type of gig, i am wondering if there is any information that someone who has done these types of gigs before wishes they knew before and could pass that on to me...thanks in advance

Bill Hankey · From: Pittsfield, MA, USA

Chris,

If you could locate Peggy Green (steel guitarist), have a word with her. Tell her I said that the last time I saw her was April 10th, in 1983, at J.W.'s on Pontoosuc Lake, in Pittsfield, Ma. Please say "hello" for me.

Nathan Golub · From: Durham, NC

Congrats! I played guitar for a local production of Whorehouse a few years ago. The music was pretty straight forward, but there are a lot of key changes going on in each song & the tempos are pretty quick. I ended up making single-paged cheat sheets for each song so I wouldn't have to keep flipping through the score while playing. I'd like to hear how people who played steel in the production (ours didn't have a psg player) managed it.

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

i played it several times years ago. the music circus chart/sheet music was pretty intimidating, but i learned to follow it by counting measures and when it was my turn to play (i don't read music) i'd play what i could remember from listening to a soundtrack from an original stage production of it that i had on vinyl. also had the orchestra guitarist play me some of my lines at a rehearsal the week before.

the music is great with room for nice steel. people loved it...the other musicians were kind and helpful.

Hal Higgins · From: Denham Springs, LA

I've done this show a couple of times here in Louisiana...one in New Orleans and the other here in Baton Rouge......one in Biloxi and one in Westwego, LA. Pretty straightforward music.....lots of room for interpretation from the original score.....the music is quick and does have a few key changes, etc. Have fun with it.
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Billy Easton · From: Nashville, TN USA

I did the "Whorehouse" production at the Phoenix theatre for 3 1/2 months about 5 years ago. It was a blast....all original music. The chart is scary, but fortunately they supplied a CD with the soundtrack from the Broadway show. I learned later that Lynn Frazier and the late Ben Brogdon did the NY Broadway show. It does move pretty fast, but ask your music director for a CD. Break a leg!!

Billy Easton
Las Vegas, NV

Dave Magram · From: San Jose, California, USA

Hey Chris, If you do a search on Amazon.com for "Best little whorehouse in texas soundtrack", you'll find several versions for as little as $4.
-Dave

Duane Reese · Posted 28 Jun 2009 5:52 pm

I've done a run of that show. I was hired by an actor's conservatory in Dallas that was putting it on.

I echo what the other guys say about the sheet music being scary! I was going off a book which the music director had xeroxed for me and I couldn't even read some of it (the hand-written-ness of it is bad too). I'm not a sight-reader (I was a lousy reader back then anyway) so what I wound up doing was kind of an approximation between what the book called for and what the soundtrack sounded like, and I had the music director specify for me what she wanted me to do as written, and I got through it.

I've also done a couple of "Always... Patsy Cline" shows, and a Larry Gatlin-scored original play in Irving as well as this show, and believe me, I know how easy it is to get intimidated by what looks like some serious formality going into it. My advice: get the soundtrack, listen to it, play it, get familiar with the general feel of the songs, and then start looking at the book and see what it does, so that it won't overwhelm you (if you aren't right at home with sheet music already, that is). The structure of the production will basically go by the book, although the soundtrack isn't far off from the book anyway. Do that, and play it the best you can when it comes to first rehearsal, and if the director wants to change anything up or wants you focus on some particular areas of the score, they'll let you know -- usually they care more about some parts more than others. It doesn't hurt to ask for feedback afterwords too.

The main thing to keep in mind is that the musical director mainly just wants to get through it. Also, you'll find that usually no one is a virtuoso in these hired-gun stage bands; if you're anything like I was, you'll be relieved after that first rehearsal.

Another thing is to know is that they will likely change a lot of stuff up from how the book originally goes, so bring a pencil and a big eraser, because you'll need to lightly make some notes (or bring a notepad if they don't want you doing that on the book).

Lastly, if there's anything I can do to help you out, send me a PM. I've been there.

Brint Hannay · From: Maryland, USA

I've done it twice for extended runs (maybe six weeks--I don't remember, it was a while ago now--six to eight shows a week) at a local dinner theater. Paltry money but fun and good experience. I can read music (not sight-read!), but I also got the Broadway recording and familiarized myself generally with the music before the audition. The music directors (Two different ones) gave me a lot of freedom--WHERE I played was according to the score; WHAT I played was left up to me.

If you're situated where you can see the stage, the nature of the onstage, shall we say, scenery (suggested in the title) can help keep the experience entertaining! Wink

Willis Vanderberg · From: Petoskey Mi

Fellow forumite Roger Rettig has done this show numerous times. He might have some tips for you.

Bobby Burns · From: Tennessee, USA

I did this show a few years back. The music fits the steel pretty good for the most part. The score is a little overwhelming, but if you break it down and write yourself a chart you will be OK. Even if you read well, you will come up with better parts than following the score to the note, and the parts you come up with will fit your style and make sense to you. There are a few parts where the steel gives a cue to the actors, but mostly, it's just playing pads and giving an overall generic country sound to the production. The hardest part, was dealing with broadway wannabee personalities. It is a little different from the usual musician attitudes. Everybody is a drama queen, sometimes even the guys. Lots of lingerie. It will be a fun experience, and I wouldn't be surprised if the backstage show is not better than the one out front. You'll most likely come away with a few good stories. Have fun.

Franklin Lehlbach · From: Arizona, USA

Lynn Frazier rocks!!!

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