Stitch contacted the Musical Director (MD) of The Mikado, Jonathan Broad, and asked how things were going…

“The most rewarding moment so far has been when we first did a run of the entire show with both orchestra and cast together for the first time – it gave everyone a lift, and the cast were noticeably louder and clearer than before, and the orchestra also clearly enjoyed the experience.” It sounds as though the show, which opens on 10 March at Exeter’s Northcott is just about ready. Broad has never been an MD before so things are all a bit new, but as an experienced trombonist who has played for the G&S society for the last two years, he is certainly not new to Gilbert and Sullivan’s music as he has been a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan since his early teens. He is also grateful that it The Mikado is not a complex score, making this “an extremely gentle approach into the world of Musical Directorship.”

He commented that the cast rehearses two or three nights each week which makes the commitment quite heavy. Broad seems to have enjoyed the challenge of working with a cast who have an “extremely wide range of musical ability, ranging from those who are capable of sight-singing any given vocal line to those who cannot read music at all”! Thus, he has to make sure that everyone knows what they are doing and ensure that the performance is musical. He has had to focus his attention on orchestral rehearsals this term and has been pleased with the resulting boost that rehearsing orchestra with the cast brings.

I wondered what the relationship between cast and orchestra was given that there can be a ‘them and us’ feel in musical theatre productions if there is insufficient time for the two groups to meet both in rehearsal and socially. Broad remarked that the relationship is “usually extremely good, especially since the society stopped paying the orchestra a couple of years ago; now you get orchestral players playing because they like the whole G&S pit experience rather than for any financial remuneration they might get out of it”. Show-week socials help too and although preparation spaces in the theatre separate cast from orchestra, both sides value the hard work of the other.

The Mikado opens on 10 March, with evening performances every night until 15 March, and matinees on Wed and Sat. £5 standby tickets available on the day of the performance. Book online, at the Northcott Box Office, or call 01392 493493.
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Chris Richards