So ten days before we started our run in Chicago, six of the musicians for Beauty and the Beast received an e-mail informing us that we would not be playing the show in Chicago. I was not happy about this decision, but I really had no choice. This is the way that the Musician's Union works. They put some musicians out of work in favor of other musicians. That is the game. I understand the game, and to do what I do I have to play the game. It does not matter that we are musicians who have been given the stamp of approval by Michael Kosarin the original Broadway musical director of Beauty and the Beast. It does not matter that I consider Chicago be my hometown (well in terms of the area where most of my family is located). It also does not matter that having grown up seeing shows in Chicago, this decision was really a crushing blow to my dream of one day playing for the touring shows in downtown Chicago. All that matters is what the union tells our company they are allowed to do.
As part of my therapy to get over all the anger that I was feeling, I decided to go see the first performance in Chicago. I wanted to hear firsthand how these musicians who stole our jobs played. Well the Overture hadn't even ended when the woman playing my part hit a really obvious wrong note during a piccolo solo. I laughed audibly. I really had thought that hearing a wrong note would help, but I just kept getting more angry with each mistake that I heard. By the end of the show, I was furious. With one exception, none of the Chicago players were any better than those who were laid off. Had they been appreciably, I might have been more willing to accept my fate. There was one player in fact who was so bad that I was actually embarassed. He was the perfect example of how unions protect people based on their seniority and not on their job performance. This guy had no business playing for one of the big touring shows in a downtown theatre!
Since I had no other recall, I decided to make an artistic statement!
Under other circumstances, this picture would have made me so happy in a really nerdy way.
Since I had some free time for these two weeks, I decided to take in some of the other artistic offerings in Chicago. In fact it was perfect that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was doing a Russian masters concert. There could be nothing better suited to my mood than an evening of bombastic dark Russian music!
I also decided to crash the party that was thrown for the Beauty and the Beast company. Again not such a great idea as I ended up in a foul mood and left on an early train.
2 of the 6
At least Nate and I go to do "the picture" (with a little assisstance from Michael Fatica!)
I could go on and on pissing and moaning about my experience for these two weeks, but I just settle for the condensed version.
