Benjamin Barham-Wiese’s setup for Seussical at a Community Theater in New York City.
"Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to play/sub in the pit for many musicals in small community theatre, youth theatre and church musicals. I have recently played or subbed for The Sound of Music, Spring Awakening, Annie, The Addams Family, and now Seussical!
I am a 15 year old high school student in New York City so it has been a lot of work going to school during the day and playing at night, but it’s truly a great time! I love collaborating and I love theatre so it works out well!
Often, I get a theatre gig 1 -2 months in advance and have a few weeks to read the book, practice, and get all the gear I might need. However, this show opened on a Saturday and I did not find out I was doing it until the Thursday night before. The original player had dropped out and I’ve played other musicals at this theatre so they asked me if I could do it. I had no time to rent the gear and simply had to use what I/the theatre owned. They have a five piece Ludwig kit which I used (I brought my own snare), and I brought my own cymbals, accessories, hand percussion, and hardware. Luckily, for this show, since I was in a room behind the stage, space was not a concern, I even had a window!
Like I said, I was combining the drum set and percussion books so I took out the mallet parts, timpani, and congas (I covered congas on djembe). Unfortunately I had to take out vibraslap, chimes, flexatone, bell tree, and ratchet because I did not own these instruments and there was no time to buy, rent, or electronically program these sounds. The Miller Machine (not shown in the photos) was great for this show especially during the minute long triangle roll during 'Amazing Gertrude'.
The greatest part of this show is that it is essentially sung through so you get lots of playing time with lots of different styles ranging from jazz, rock, funk, and samba!"
Drums: Ludwig Five Piece Drum Set
- Rack Toms 9" and 7”
- Snare Drum 14”
- Floor Tom 16”
Hardware:
- Ludwig LAS22SS Atlas Standard Snare Stand (one for snare, one for 2nd Rack Tom)
- Dixon PP-9290 Bass Drum Pedal
- Ludwig Atlas Standard Hi-Hat Stand
- Ludwig L426CS 400 Cymbal Stand
- Gibraltar 6716 Double Brace Bongo Stand
- Ludwig L347TH Custom Double Braced Drum Throne
- Manhasset Model #48 Sheet Music Stand
Cymbals:
- Sabian 14" Medium Hi-Hat Cymbals
- Sabian 18" Pure Brass Crash/Ride Cymbal
- Sabian 20" SBr Ride Cymbal
- Wuhan 12” China Cymbal
Percussion:
- Alan Abel 4” Triangle mounted on a Miller Machine (not shown)
- Remo 14" Mondo Djembe Drum - Earth
- Latin Percussion AW LP City Wood Bongos - Natural
- Latin Percussion Black Mambo Cowbell
Sticks and Mallets:
- Vic Firth 5A Dual Tone Drumsticks
- Vic Firth Rute 606 Hot Rods
- Vic Firth Steve Gadd Wire Brushes
- Vic Firth American Custom Keyboard Mallets
- Mike Balter Pro Vibe B23B Mallets
Seussical - Regional - Benjamin Barham-Wiese
January 2020
