Music and Orchestra

Amazing Grace: The True Story is an epic story and it is accompanied by an epic score. Christopher Smith conceived of the production as having only orchestral instruments and a few traditional Celtic and West African traditional instruments. This choice has given the music a unique, almost motion picture-like quality which is rare in the Broadway and professional theatre world. The orchestra will be made up of approximately 25 to 35 musicians. Some of these will play traditional instruments and some who will augment these with digital samples of instruments and sometimes entire sections of instruments. Managing the complexities involved in this hybrid orchestra is the job of the Music Director, several of whom are under consideration.

For the world premiere, the orchestra will be housed below the stage, in a sound isolated space very similar to a recording studio. They will be out of view of the audience except for video projections that will be visible during the overture. The Music Director will work from the front of the stage and will be visible to the actors, but the orchestra will see him/her through high-definition video monitors. Some people wonder why a live orchestra will be used if it cannot be seen by the audience or housed in a ”pit.” The answer lies in the energy created by live musicians and the myriad of overtones and undertones created by orchestral instruments. These can be conveyed by quality microphones and professional loudspeaker technology, but are often lost in all but the best digital recordings.