William David Brohn, who painted with sound as a Tony-winning orchestrator and arranger of Broadway musicals, has died at age 84.
Brohn, who worked as 鈥淏ill Brohn鈥� and 鈥淲illiam D. Brohn鈥� early in his career, chose the musical instruments that helped tell the stories of a remarkably diverse series of musicals from 1975 to 2012.
He was entrusted with making the classic sounds of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Lerner & Loewe, and the Gershwins contemporary in, respectively, the 2002 revival of Oklahoma!, the 1994 revival of Show Boat, the 1980 revival of Brigadoon, and the 1992 musical Crazy for You.
But he also was chosen to envision all-new orchestral universes for new musicals including Boublil & Sch枚nberg鈥檚 pop opera Miss Saigon (being heard on Broadway again this season), Ahrens & Flaherty鈥檚 early 20th century New York in Ragtime (Tony Award for Best Orchestrations), Lucy Simon鈥檚 magical whimsy in The Secret Garden, John Kander鈥檚 detective-story tribute Curtains, the Sherman Brothers鈥� Edwardian England via Disney in Mary Poppins, and perhaps Brohn鈥檚 greatest creation, the world of Oz in Stephen Schwartz鈥檚 Wicked.
In that show he makes his impact felt immediately in the opening chords, combining trumpets and violins to create a soaring effect, suddenly offset by the dark, threatening grumble of the lower brass. Throughout the show Brohn was called upon to create the sounds of magic, of transformations, of tragedy, triumph, even of flying, all of which needed to be expressed with the instruments of the 23-piece orchestra, with help from synthesizers (programmed by Andy Barrett).
In an interview for Decca Broadway, Brohn cited 鈥淚鈥檓 Not That Girl鈥� as one of his favorite passages in the piece. He said it鈥檚 鈥渁 good example of a pop number; its heart, root, and basis is the rhythm section鈥攑articularly guitars. The song is a very melancholy look at why Elphaba is not going to have the boy she loves (or so she thinks). That number is absolutely one of my favorites. It has all the yearning鈥攚hich is illustrated through all those muted stings and harp and a sampled dulcimer (played by one of the keyboards) and the acoustic guitars and fretless bass that can do those slides that sound like sighing (so expressive!).鈥�
When producers needed someone to make dozens of diverse shows sound like their classic selves, yet all be part of the same whole, they hired Brohn to arrange Jerome Robbins Broadway (1989), because he could do it all.
The Ragtime songwriting team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens told 半岛体育, 鈥淏ill Brohn was the dean of musical theater orchestrators, and we were very fortunate to have worked with him on our Lincoln Center Theatre productions of A Man of No Importance, Dessa Rose, and on Broadway鈥檚 Ragtime, for which he won the Tony Award. We also collaborated with him on several concert pieces for the Boston Pops, NY Pops and Hollywood Bowl orchestras. Bill was a scholar of music, but also a consummate musical dramatist, and in his glorious orchestrations you can hear the voices of the characters, their emotions and their histories, all being spoken by the instruments as surely as by the actors themselves. We will miss his friendship, his guidance, his rib-cracking bear hugs, his sense of fun and his love of life.鈥�
Hamilton orchestrator Alex Lacamoire, who reported Brohn鈥檚 death, tweeted this tribute to the artist: 鈥淩IP to the masterful Bill Brohn, who completely changed the way I view orchestrations. I鈥檓 indebted to you and your gifts. Thank you, sir.鈥�
Original Miss Saigon star Lea Salonga, whose voice Brohn built his orchestrations around, tweeted: 鈥淩IP, Bill Brohn. For your orchestrations, the twinkle in your eye, the snuggest hugs. You are most definitely missed.鈥�
Brohn was born in Flint, Michigan, and educated at Michigan State University and the New England Conservatory of Music. His first Broadway project was the revue Rodgers & Hart in 1975. His last was The Gershwins鈥� Porgy and Bess in 2012.
In the book The Alchemy of Theatre about collaboration in theatre, Brohn wrote "the orchestrator is merely a facilitator; he鈥檚 there to help the composer to say what he wants. That鈥檚 not far removed from the role of a translator of languages. It鈥檚 just converting the notes as given by the composer into a different medium (e.g. from piano into orchestra). Any new musical filament such as harmony or rhythm or counterpoint (independent ancillary lines that help glorify the Goddess Melody) are the work of an arranger.鈥�
He understood his place in the theatrical pecking order and was comfortable with it. 鈥淗ow could the orchestrator possibly imagine he could do the composer鈥檚 job? ... Easily. Exhibit A: All arrangers (this includes orchestrators, who are usually arrangers to boot) are closet composers. Their training and disposition makes them composers but the job they are trying to deliver must emphatically put them in that closet with the door firmly shut. Exhibit B: I give you Old Man Ego. Everyone has it鈥攚ithout it there would be no creative thought鈥攖he job is to subsume it to the collaborative process. So if I fancy myself a composer of musicals, I鈥檇 better get cracking and get my own show on somewhere else and see what it鈥檚 like wearing those shoes. Not here鈥擨 am the composer鈥檚 handmaiden. I put her work in orchestral garb and then step quietly away. Not that I exactly hate the odd rave or a proffered Tony Award.鈥�
