William “Bill” Brohn received the 1998 Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for Ragtime. Other credits include Mary Poppins, Miss Saigon, The Secret Garden, Show Boat, Crazy for You, Carousel, Sweet Smell of Success, Oklahoma! (B'way); Mary Poppins, Oliver!, The Witches of Eastwick, My Fair Lady and South Pacific (London). He has provided arrangements for Marilyn Horne, James Galway, Placido Domingo and Joshua Bell's recent recording on Sony Classical of Bernstein's West Side Story Suite for Violin and Orchestra.

What is involved in the orchestration of a musical?
Above all, collaboration—first and foremost with the composer. I can’t imagine a closer relationship than that between the two.  After much pre-production consultation and then actual studio work with the composer and his creation, it is then vital to connect with the whole team who are putting the musical on the stage. That means, with the director, music director, the choreographer and actors. There is no way I can orchestrate a song without first hearing the actor sing it . . . then I can go away confident that I’ll come up with something appropriate to that performer and to that moment in the show. (And if I don’t, believe me, I’ll hear about it!) After these processes of collaboration, I go to my own study and begin the actual orchestration. A normal span of time to turn out a whole show is about six weeks.

Please clarify arranging vs. orchestrating.
The terms are often interchanged but simply put, orchestrating is a form of arranging. I mean, arranging is the overall process of adapting and changing a piece of music into a different form. That means adding harmony (or changing it), changing the rhythm, adding a countermelody. Orchestrating is more specific and limited:  it is simply putting a given musical piece into a different sonic form. For example, taking a guitar piece and converting it into a piece for, say, string quartet.

Were there any particular challenges in orchestrating Wicked, which had its world premiere in San Francisco?
Wicked is quite literally its own world. So we wanted to find a sound to help the audience enter that new place. One priceless device was the E-Bow (Electronic Bow) for guitar. This hovers over the string and, picking up the vibration as dictated by the player’s fingering, sustains the sound in a very eerie and other-worldly fashion. Of course, the text speaks of one character “being of two worlds” and that would imply a more familiar one as well as the ‘other’ so we fell quite compelled to include the well-known theater-pit instruments as well—strings, keyboards, woodwinds, brass and percussion.

Is one instrument more difficult to orchestrate parts for than another?
Each instrument has its own peculiar construction, history and thus technique of playing. I don’t play them all but I have made it my business to learn their characteristics and to closely collaborate with the experts who play them to perfection. They are my best friends.

Robert Bennett, who is credited for creating the “Broadway sound” for the big American musical, was your mentor. How would you characterize the “Broadway sound” and what was the greatest piece of advice that Mr. Bennett gave you?
The “Broadway sound” is ever-shifting. Robert Russell Bennett made a point of recognizing that and in some instances reacting in his orchestration. It was said of him that “he brought the symphony to the theater and the theater to the symphony." It is doubtlessly his great gift to the history of theater orchestration.  He brought great class to the theater orchestra pit and this was due to his brilliance as a musician and unswerving loyalty to and comprehensive knowledge of great music. Maybe he didn’t say it in as many words but I learned from him to always strive and always keep perspective.

Is there a musical genre and/or group or independent artist that you enjoy as a “guilty pleasure”?
Hungarian Gypsy music, Irish and country fiddling.

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