The above photo is of the orchestra pit at Tanger Center. During the intermission of Wicked, several people were up front by the stage looking at the instruments and musicians. As you can see from the above photo, musicians – at least the ones who play instruments that involved blowing through them-  are encased in a cubicle ( a COVID protocol). The trumpet player in the front/left part of the photo, Rusty Smith, was ever so patient with a middle school child who was talking music with him. The student admitted to not practicing enough and Rusty was giving him musician-to-musician advice. Rusty is one of the local musicians to play during Wicked. The others are Carla Copeland-Burns, Anna Lampidis, Wayne Leechford, Lynn Beck (in photo, playing French horn), Sean Devlin , John Beck, Jesse Kapsha, John Simonetti, and David Lane. There were also 6 people in the traveling orchestra.

Every aspect of Wicked was perfect; the acting, the set, the dancing, singing, and music. It is especially nice to know some musicians were local. We wish we had been able to interview performers and musicians to see what it is like to perform at the Tanger Center for the inaugural Broadway show. Indeed, it is going to be a good season!