Licensing Company: Broadway Licensing
Summer
She was a girl from Boston with a voice from heaven who shot through the stars from gospel choir to dance floor diva. But what the world didn’t know was how Donna Summer risked it all to break through barriers, becoming the icon of an era and the inspiration for every music diva who followed. Spend the night in her electrifying universe.
Summer
PROGRAMMED INSTRUMENTS
Keyboard 1
Keyboard 2
Keyboard 3
QLab (Loops & Clicks)
$250.00 – $300.00
She was a girl from Boston with a voice from heaven who shot through the stars from gospel choir to dance floor diva. But what the world didn’t know was how Donna Summer risked it all to break through barriers, becoming the icon of an era and the inspiration for every music diva who followed. Spend the night in her electrifying universe.
PROGRAMMING NOTES
This licensed orchestration is based on the 2019 US National Touring Production.
This show is orchestrated to be player conducted from the Piano/Conductor book. This show has 3 keyboard books all with various amounts of programming that really give this show the disco sound.
The Piano/Conductor book is the primary keys book and is heavily programmed. In addition to the multiple acoustic piano sounds, this book has lots of synth elements such as brass, bass, pads, strings, and keys. Other instruments include EP’s, clav, vibes, percussion, B3, and the best patch of all time, at least in name, “tacky spoons”. In the original production, there was a click track underneath most of the songs that was time coded to sync up with the various triggered electronic music elements in this show. Through a partnership with the original orchestrator Bill Brendle, KeyboardTEK is making these elements available for your production in a simple to use QLab file so be sure to add that to your cart. We provide a step by step guide on how to set up the various programming elements for each of our show.
Keyboard 2 is all about the synth. There are too many patches to list but most of the instruments in this book are synthesized sounds that include strings, pads, synth bass, synth keys, brass, leads, and many other analog sounds. This book also contains a lot of underlying Electric Bass which is essential to the sound of the show as there is no live bass player in the small 5 piece orchestration. This book is a masterclass of synthesis spanning from the early days of disco in the early 70’s all the way into the 80’s and early 90’s.
Keyboard 3 continues the synth pattern by layering in many similar sounds that are found in K2. In addition to those elements, you will find various EP’s, percussion, piano, church organs, and our favorite patch and patch name “Plectrum in very large hall”. This book is fairly easy to play by most musical theater standards but all 3 books will require players who are very comfortable with playing patch heavy shows with hundreds of patch changes.
KEYBOARD PROGRAMMER
Synthesizer Programmer: Randy Cohen
Associate Keyboard Programmer: Taylor Williams and Jeremy King
Assistant Keyboard Programmer: Jeffrey Roberts, Sam Starobin and Tim Crook
ORIGINAL MUSIC TEAM
Book by: Colman Domingo, Robert Cary and Des McAnuff
Songs by: Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder and Paul Jabara
Featuring songs by: Joseph Esposito, Edward Hokenson, Bruce Sudano, Peter Bellotte, Keith Diamond, Anthony Smith, Vanessa Robbie Smith, Greg Mathieson, Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey, Jimmy Webb, Bruce Roberts, Michael Omartian, Gregory Allen Kurstin, Danielle Brisebois, Evan Kidd Bogart, Jonathan Rotem, Galt MacDermot, James Rado and Gerome Ragni
Music orchestrated by: Bill Brendle and Ron Melrose
Music arranged by: Ron Melrose
Story Consultant: Bruce Sudano
Musical Director: Victoria Theodore
Musical Supervisor: Ron Melrose
Associate Musical Supervisor: Taylor Peckham
ORIGINAL 2018 BROADWAY ORCHESTRA
Conducted by: Taylor Peckham
Associate Conductor: Debra Barsha
Keyboards: Taylor Peckham, Debra Barsha and Victoria Theodore
Guitar: Michelle Marie Nestor
Bass: Sherisse Rogers
Percussion: Courtnee Roze
Drums: Rosa Avila
Musical Coordinator: John Miller
Music Preparation: Anixter Rice Music Service
SHOW DESCRIPTION
Her songs BROKE EVERY RECORD. Her story BROKE EVERY BARRIER. She was a girl from Boston with a voice from heaven, who shot through the stars from gospel choir to dance floor diva. But what the world didn’t know was how Donna Summer risked it all to break through barriers, becoming the icon of an era and the inspiration for every music diva who followed. With a score featuring more than 20 of Summer’s classic hits including “Love to Love You Baby,” “Bad Girls” and “Hot Stuff,” this electric experience is a moving tribute to the voice of a generation.