3/12/2005 02:55:00 PM|||Brian Fending|||

Okay, so Jesus Christ Superstar is perhaps my most favorite American musical opera. Its promise of being a "rock opera" never disappoints. That is, of course, unless the sound system sucks. As a drummer, few things are worse than playing some great tunes with excellent musicians and not being able to really play them as written. Too-fast tempos (bending to the will of inexperienced choreographers and young voices), failed-American-idol-audition-like moments during rehearsals, etc, etc, are NOT worse. Needed to pick up worn blasticks or light brushes instead of sticks for a tune like Damned For All Time (yes, it's supposed to be fairly loud) and then BARELY PLAYING the instruments is frustrating.

My colleagues on the particular run of the show that I'm doing right now argue that we should just focus on playing the book - singers and sound system be damned - and present the book to the audience to the best of our abilities. Well, that would be great, except for the fact that there are people within five feet who are struggling to hear above the din of guitar and crash cymbal anyway. I just can't justify saying "F it" when there are people sitting there who paid $16 to *see and hear a show*. And not just the kickin' band - the WHOLE SHOW. It would be nice if the sound support presented it as intended, but that's just not there. And I'll be damned if they'll remember "Yeh, that drummer was really loud," followed by, "I don't think we'll go back there any time soon." The latter may be said after all is said and done, but I can prevent the former.

Last night, I was chatting at intermission with the bass player subbing for the regular bassist, and a guy walked up to say, "You sound great, guys! Hey, how do you keep the volume of those drums under control?" I started launching into, "Well, playing quietly with sticks is really tiring, so some of the time I use a softer implement like oh, okay - thanks for stopping by..."

So yeh, I was pleased. And microphones weren't cutting out nearly as much that night as they usually do. And I still like the show. But I won't be doing any more musical theatre for a while. As proud as I am of the successful series of compromises, I'm tired of compromising. Call me vain, but I'll take being a rock star over the role of a diplomat any day.

|||111066531385539209|||JC Supersomething