Joseph

Have you heard of the ORCHextra? It's a computer that will play the orchestration for your musical. The way it works is that each instrument is programed into the computer and you tap the tempo on a mini-piano keyboard and it plays the show. You can vamp, repeat, make cuts, all the things a real orchestra can do. There are two big differences.....first, you only have to pay one person to tap, as opposed to a roomful of musicians. Secondly, the ORCHextra sounds like what it is....a computer, but who besides musicians and music theater types are really gonna notice. It's also a little unforgiving. If a performer misses an entrance or gets off a beat or two, it's a little tricky to catch up.

I hate the freakin' thing!!!

So with that bit of background, I will tell you that I played Joseph at Archbishop Curley High this past weekend and it was all about the damn computer! It crashed, it wouldn't remember cuts, and was generally user un-friendly. In addition to the ORCHextra there was myself, a drummer, and a dude on piano. We did our best to keep the show moving and the kids on stage did a great job battling thru it all.