MUSICAL THEATRE SOFTWARE REDUCES ORCHESTRAS AS KEYCOMP SPREADS GLOBALLY

The Lion King's orchestra pit in Sydney now seats 11 musicians, down from 17 during the production's Australian debut in 2003. Commercial musical theatre productions worldwide are using sophisticated software to reduce band and orchestra sizes as a cost-cutting measure. KeyComp, developed by former Apple software engineer Christoph Buskies, enables a single keyboardist to perform a show's melodic lines whilst the software adds custom-recorded orchestral parts that respond dynamically to the keyboardist's touch and tempo in real time.

James Steendam, federal president of the musicians section of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), stated that musicians risk disappearing from live theatre events altogether. Steendam is a Sydney-based violinist and violist with over two decades of pit work, including more than a thousand performances of Hamilton. The use of prerecorded instruments and samples in theatres is not new, but KeyComp distinguishes itself by employing custom-recorded orchestral parts rather than generic pre-made samples, and by allowing these parts to interact with live performance in real time.

Union campaigning has secured bans on KeyComp in New York, Washington DC and Hamburg, where KeyComp's company is based. The MEAA has identified the software as a threat that could inflict deeper cuts to musician employment than previous cost-reduction efforts in musical theatre. Musicians report losing jobs or facing reduced gig opportunities as a result of orchestral downsizing across the industry.