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Computers Replace Musicians In West End Musical

Posted by timothy on from the sorry-fellas dept.

Albanach writes "The Scotsman newspaper is reporting that despite opposition from the Musician's Union, Sir Cameron Mackintosh will proceed with his plan to replace one half of the musicians in his musical Les Miserables with a computer synthesiser. The Times claims that using Sinfonia will allow the show, the third longest running musical in history, to replace 11 musicians saving 5,000 GBP ($9,450 US) per week. Sinfonia consisits of 2 PCs, one master and one backup, controlled by an trained operator using a musical keyboard."

12 of 411 comments (clear)

  1. Someone had to say it by savagedome · · Score: 4, Funny

    The musicians are not going to be any Less Miserable.

    Sorry :)

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    Free XBox, PS2
  2. Here's One Positive by tealover · · Score: 4, Funny

    At least they didn't outsource their jobs to India !

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    -- You see, there would be these conclusions that you could jump to
    1. Re:Here's One Positive by rishistar · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes, but wait until the theatre gets hooked up to broadband!

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      Professor Karmadillo Songs of Science
    2. Re:Here's One Positive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Where do you think the software was written?

  3. Les Mis is pretty terrible anyway... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 0, Funny
    I'd pay *not* to be in the orchestra for Les Miserables...


    BTW, Will the /. janitors please fix HTML entities? Not being able to type accented characters or pound signs is a serious ball-ache for users outside the US.

  4. Replacing players. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    What not replace the entire orchestra with a CD player? Then you avoid having to use the Sinfonia's capability to play along with live musicans.

    The actors and set could also be replaced by projecting an image of a pre-recorded performance onto a large screen.

    If there was a way to distribute this recording, people could watch it on smaller projection screens at home, and avoid the cost of theatre tickets and the hassle of having to travel to the theatre.

    The only hard part would by syncronising the CD player to the projection, but I'm sure someone will come up with a method in the future.

  5. Re:Defeats the purpose by timeOday · · Score: 2, Funny

    Too true! And I'm wondering who will fill in the other half of the orchestra. No doubt the Musicians Union will be picketing the show. Good luck to any scabs trying to sneak past with a double bass!

  6. Re:Did anyone notice..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Are you implying I cannot make a living doing whatever the heck I want?
    Well that just sucks.
    I am going to have to give up on my reading Slashdot career now.

  7. sorry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    I for one welcome our new musical overlords.

  8. Re:Well, I was going to say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...lighting is secondary to the performance compared with the music...

    Overheard in the production office:

    Voice 1: Oh yeah? Then why do most people say they're going to see a show/band/concert, etc.?

    Voice 2: Whatever. Nobody's ever gone home humming the light show.

    Voice 1: That humming was the P.A. I'm surprised that you, a sound engineer, actually heard it.

    Voice 2: Silly squint.

    Voice 1: I'd rather squint than squeal.

    Voice 2: (Laughter) You couldn't light a birthday cake.

    Voice 1: (Laughter) You couldn't mix Tang!

  9. In Other News.. by Scot+Seese · · Score: 4, Funny

    Britney Spears is scheduled to be replaced by two writers, a perfect-pitch filter, and a hacked Aibo.

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  10. Not so bad by cpu_fusion · · Score: 5, Funny

    So they outsourced the musicians eh? Well, at least the drummers are safe.