Interview with Jonathan Tunick
In this second section of our two-part interview, Jonathan talks about his introduction to Stephen Sondheim and how he approached working with him. He also discusses the history of orchestration in musical theater, the important role that Max Dreyfus played, and amusing stories involving the production of musicals. A brief history of the importance of radio/studio orchestras during the 1930s-1950s is offered along with a discussion of the working conditions for musicians during the heyday of the commercial musician. Finally, Jonathan gives his approach to working with diminishing Broadway orchestra sizes as well as the instrumentation factors he considers while creating his orchestrations.
About the Artist
Jonathan Tunick is one of the most celebrated orchestrators in the history of musical theater. With a resumé that includes work in television, film, the concert hall, recording studios, as well as Boadway, Jonathan has been recognized by critics and his peers with the highest honors accorded a musician. He is the only orchestrator in history to have received the EGOT awards—Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. While he is most often associated with many of the great works of Stephen Sondheim including Promises, Promises, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, A Funny Thing Happened, Sweeney Todd, Pacific Overtures, Into the Woods, Passion, Merrily We Roll Along, Putting It Together, and The Frogs, he has also worked with seemingly every major composer on Broadway over the past 50+ years while working on shows such as A Chorus Line, Nine, Titanic, Nick and Nora, Marie Christine, Baby, A Catered Affair, among many others. A fine composer, music director, and former woodwind doubler as well, Jonathan Tunick stands alone today as the single best representative of the great artistry that once defined the American Musical Theater when giants such as Robert Russell Bennett, Don Walker, Hans Spialek, Phil Lang, Irv Kostal, Sid Ramin, Red Ginzler, Ralph Burns, etc. roamed the Great White Way. For more extensive biographical information on Jonathan’s career, please log onto: