At my last Nutcracker performance this year, I took a few pictures of the orchestra pit underneath the Ohio Theater stage. Most people have never seen an orchestra pit from the inside before. I snapped these photos with my iPod touch before the performance and during intermission, so they’re not that great. If the photos seem dark to you, well, sorry! That’s just how an orchestra pit is!
This is the view upon entering the pit from beneath stage left:
As you can see, the pit has 3 levels descending from the conductor’s podium. The strings/woodwinds are on the top level, the horns/harp/celeste are on the 2nd level and the rest of the brass and percussion are on the bottom level, where I took the photo.
Here is a photo taken from my chair in the pit:
No one is sitting in the chair in front of me, but when a violinist is sitting there, you can see that there is an obstructed view of the conductor. If I move my chair in any direction I am obstructing the view of another musician. As I know the music very well, rather than raise a stink about it I have learned to just deal with it by craning my neck at the important moments.
On my music stand you can see one of the more, shall we say, ”athletic” moments from Act 1 of the David Itkin arrangement:
Below my stand is a short ledge. It is a perfect footrest during the tacet moments, and also makes an excellent coffee mug holder:
In front of what used to be the 3rd horn chair, and above the previously mentioned ledge, you can see a very small sticker of a nutcracker that is missing one leg. It has been there since before I joined the orchestra. While sitting in the 3rd horn chair during the various resting spots, I used to ponder how the sticker got there, and why it is missing one leg. Though the 3rd horn chair is now gone, the sticker remains:
That’s all until next week. Have a happy new year!
The pit of the Ohio Theater was where I started my long career touring with Phantom, in August 1997. (The interior of the theater itself is so incredibly stunning — one of the most ornate in the country.)
Thanks for sharing these pics. By the way, the reduced orchestration of the Nut looks grueling! That long passage of triplets used to be played by the bassoons and/or other woodwinds, right?
Congratulations on making it through the Nut run!
Yep, I think it’s a 2nd bassoon part. That’s probably the worst page, technically, of the entire book. I had to practice that one every day of the run! Though there were other pages that I hated even more (i.e. the 1st 2 pages of Act 2- that was a killer.).