Legally Blonde The Musical

ttf_MattR1 · Post by **ttf_MattR1** » Sat Jan 09, 2016 6:33 am

2016 is shaping up nicely as I have been booked for several shows that I have had the chance to do before including Legally Blonde and Sister Act. I've had a listen on Spotify and they both sound great. Anyone have any experience of the books? Sister act is within easy commute but Legally Blonde is a bit further a field (120 mile round trip each night). I don't normally turn down the chance to do something new, especially a decent payer but I have a contact who live much closer and am wondering if to pass it her way?

ttf_Max Croot · Post by **ttf_Max Croot** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 11:08 pm

Hi. I am also doing legally Blonde this year. I looked it up on google and the site said Tenor trom trigger trom and bass trom. Does this mean you have to keep changing horns The music seems to use extreme ranges. Max.

ttf_MattR1 · Post by **ttf_MattR1** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:22 am

That's interesting, I've not seen a pad ask for 3 trombones before and I've done hundreds of shows in the last 20 years. Normally if a show specifies tenor and bass you would need to take in a bass as well. I played The Adams Family last year that was tenor and bass and there were some bass parts with C's and B's definitely needing the bass. Without seeing the pad it's hard to say if you would need to take 3 instruments and keep changing or if you can get away with two. I have been listening on Spotify over the past few days and there are some high D's, I think in one of the early numbers and some low stuff later on. Mine is paid at MU touring rate so I suppose they will have to pay doubling, I've never got tripling before!!!

ttf_BGuttman · Post by **ttf_BGuttman** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 10:06 am

I had one book with tripling. "Urinetown" calls primarily for bass trombone but one number calls for Euphonium and one number calls for tenor. I played the whole thing on bass (amateur production so they really didn't care). Note that the entire orchestra for Urinetown calls for one reed player (lots of doubling there), the trombone part, piano, drums, and bass. That's it.

Sorry, I can't help on Legally Blonde. Wish I could do it some time.

ttf_Max Croot · Post by **ttf_Max Croot** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 3:44 am

Hi. just got the music for Legally Blonde. Looks like fun. Luckily its just an amateur production. The part says Tenor trom, trigger trom and Bass trom. Some high range to low range with some extreme leaps. Some tenor clef used and should be used more as high C's and D's are still written in bass clef in some numbers. What horns do you pro guys use in the show. Max.

ttf_MattR1 · Post by **ttf_MattR1** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 6:27 am

I'm not a pro but work a lot on paid shows, quite a few paid at good rates. At the level I play I feel as though I should play the parts as written unless space limits. That said I have never seen a show specify 3 trombones before. I've seen 3 instruments a few times when tuba or euph is called for. Since starting this post I have managed to get the pad from a friend of mine who has played it. There are a few issues in the pad when following the specified instrumentation being there are times when it changes back to tenor, based on specified instrumentation you would assume that being a straight tenor but it goes down below E. There are also some parts written for bass that are quite high. What I am going to do is take a bass, as there are some definite bass specific parts. I will also take a 0.525" Bb/F Bach 36B which the high D's are perfectly fine on but it still gives the flexibility of the valve down the bottom. I'm hoping to have a new Rath R3 by then so even more flexible with the pipe options. It does look like a good show though and I have on the back of two weeks on sister act so that's going to be a good month even with a week of Oliver on the end!!

ttf_Bimmerman · Post by **ttf_Bimmerman** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 10:48 am

I've played this book on an amateur level.

I don't own a bass, so I brought my larger tenor (Edwards .525/.547) and pulled the tuning to bE so that I could at least approximate a B natural. I don't remember seeing any but there were a few low Cs, and some runs down low that the tuning helped on. I also used the most open leadpipe I had to make the thing as bass-like as I could. There might have been a low B also, it's been three years so I'm not 100% on that.

I played the higher stuff on my Bach 16M, not because it called for it specifically but because it was easier on me as a player for endurance to switch horns. After setting the Edwards up to not sound totally out of place it killed my endurance, so the Bach was what I mostly used.

If I had a bass I would've done things differently, but I was just returning to playing so I made it work with the equipment I had. It's a fun book!

I don't think Bass + trigger + little horn makes sense. Bass + little horn or bass + medium bore trigger?

ttf_WaltTrombone · Post by **ttf_WaltTrombone** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 10:32 am

I did Legally Blonde last year, and used my small tenor and bass. Some of the markings to use one horn or another don't make any sense, along the lines of Small Tenor with notes written below the staff. I just used what seemed appropriate to me.

ttf_MattR1 · Post by **ttf_MattR1** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 12:13 pm

I've been having a good look through the book and I will either use my R3 and a bass or maybe even just the R3 with the F attachment on it. There are some low C's but no B's I've spotted. The bass would make some of the low passages easier to play but not too bad on just the F.

ttf_MikeBMiller · Post by **ttf_MikeBMiller** » Fri Sep 29, 2017 12:11 pm

I just finished up 3 weekend of this show. I started off with 2 horns. I now longer own a bass, so I was using my 3B/F for most of the show and a large bore tenor with a Schilke 59 for the bass parts. I finally got tired of hauling 2 horns and just started using the larger horn for everything and switching mouthpieces when needed. I confess to taking a few of the low C's and Db's up an octave, but nobody seemed to notice or care. There are a lot of fun licks in this show, along with a lot of useless crap, such as "Chip on My Shoulder." By useless crap, I mean any tune that doesn't have an interesting bone part.

ttf_MikeBMiller · Post by **ttf_MikeBMiller** » Fri Sep 29, 2017 12:11 pm

I just finished up 3 weekend of this show. I started off with 2 horns. I now longer own a bass, so I was using my 3B/F for most of the show and a large bore tenor with a Schilke 59 for the bass parts. I finally got tired of hauling 2 horns and just started using the larger horn for everything and switching mouthpieces when needed. I confess to taking a few of the low C's and Db's up an octave, but nobody seemed to notice or care. There are a lot of fun licks in this show, along with a lot of useless crap, such as "Chip on My Shoulder." By useless crap, I mean any tune that doesn't have an interesting bone part.