Musicians share blame when theater groups use recorded tunes

Live music has been slowly disappearing from the community theater scene, and after years of chastising the playhouses, I'm starting to think the musicians are responsible.

As most of us know, community theaters rarely pay participants. Here and there you may have find a director, union actor or a professional designer, but pretty much the pay stub is either a paltry stipend or zilch. So it's surprising to learn that the exception to all this cultural generosity is the musician.

Walter Niejadlik -- artistic director of Las Vegas Little Theatre -- notes that his group no longer includes musicals in its main season because the players are too expensive. "We (have to) pay," he said. "Otherwise, they would come at me with a kazoo. Musicians will not work for free."

Signature Productions artistic director Leslie Fotheringham -- whom I recently criticized for not using live musicians in her mounting of "The King and I" -- said she would love to use live music, but economics won't allow it. She said the orchestra needed for the Rodgers and Hammerstein show would have added about $10,000 to the budget.

College of Southern Nevada theater producer Joe Hammond says, "We usually pay union. If you wanted to use a piano and a drum kit, it would be about $2,000 for a two- to three-week run with three rehearsals. Musicians will not work for the community theaters without pay. When the discussion turns to canned music, they scream that we are killing them. ... I will do the next musical here at the college, and I will use taped music."

Something's wrong with this picture. What it implies is that only musicians are worth compensation. I've seen actors who should have been on Broadway yesterday work hard here for nothing, as well as gifted directors and designers. The Nevada Conservatory Theatre uses a combination of professionals and amateurs, but the undergrad students and community actors don't get paid, and the orchestra is the only group whose every single member gets the moola.

How did this tradition get started? Why do local accompanists, as a group, get to upstage everyone else?

Gary Vann Cott, an amateur musician and music businessman (vcisnic.com), feels it doesn't need to be this way.

"If no one is getting paid," he said, "then I would potentially be willing to do it for free. ... I know I am not the only one. A trumpet player at CSN asked me if I knew of any shows coming up, because he said he loves musicals and wants to do it for the experience. ... I think to make this work, musical directors need to build a network of (people) who are willing to do this kind of thing."

In the meantime, expect to see fewer musicals being presented in the community the way they were meant to be experienced.

"We are looking for solutions," Fotheringham said. We are not giving up live music for good. We miss it, too."

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.