Courtesy of Art Frank, Musical Director
The typical work-week for the resident company was quite fixed based on Actors' Equity contract terms. The actors' week was limited to 48 hours and had to include one night off and one day off. Since "call" (the time that the actors had to sign in with the stage manager before a show) was always 30 min. before curtain, all shows could run only two and a half hours at most including intermission. This made a total of 3 hours per performance X 8 shows per week = 24 hours of the company's 48 hr. limit. This left only 24 hours of rehearsal time for a new show. (Sinjin was a bear about NEVER paying ANY overtime to actors or musicians.)8 hour day
6 hrs. for the Wed. matinee show and evening show.
8 hour day
3 hrs. for the evening show.
8 hour day
3 hrs. for the evening show.
8 hour day
6 hrs. for the 6:P.M. early (cut) show, and a late show starting at 9:00 P.M.
8 hour day
8 hour day
The one evening off was always Monday and that is when Sinjin featured his jazz nights and other specials.
8 hour day
8 hour day
So, if the reader has been counting, there goes the 23 hours of rehearsals available from the resident company! How much time was there to actually teach the music of the show to the resident company singers and dancers?
This will be shocking—2 hours on Wed. morning, and a review of the music on Thursday morning for 1 hour. After that, the singers and dancers of the company were "turned over" to the choreographer while I worked with the principals on their music. That was all completed by Thursday morning.
The principals were instructed to come to the rehearsal week WITH THEIR MUSIC LEARNED and all I had to do was make adjustments of style and nuances with them. This usually worked alright EXCEPT when a particular principal was engaged to play two shows in a row. (They usually were prepared with the first show's music but seldom the second. We had to scrounge 20 minutes here and there to fit in those coaching/learning sessions.)
What about the orchestra? When did THEY get to rehearse? Only 4 hours for each show on the morning the show opened. The orchestra and chorus NEVER rehearsed together (per Equity hours and no overtime allowed) and depended on my ears to imagine the combined sound and thus make it "work" on opening night. Yes, it was often a "fingers-crossed-heart-in-my-mouth" opening night.
For the Musical Director it was not just a 48 hour week. Their were meetings with the Director and Choreographer, extra rehearsals with principals, making all the adjustments in the orchestral books and studying the NEXT show AFTER the one in rehearsal during the day. Yes, I had THREE scores in my head at one time: the one playing at night, the one in rehearsal during the day, and the next one coming up which went into rehearsal the morning after opening! It was probably a 70 hour work-week for me. I do NOT think I could handle that work schedule now!