Behind the Buzz at Port Summer Show’s Urinetown: Meet the Conductor

Port Summer Show’s Urinetown, the musical, fills the halls of Schreiber High School with music these days.  The orchestra is rehearsing 2 nights a week learning the music under the expert baton of Solomon Hoffman, conductor.  Peeking in at a rehearsal, I watched as he conducted the diverse group of all different ages. 

 One of the most exciting aspects of Port Summer Show’s Urinetown, the musical, is that Solomon Hoffman, conductor, will premiere newly expanded orchestrations which he specifically arranged for Port Summer Show’s production.  Port Summer Show was able to get permission from the show's creators, Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and the licensing company, Music Theater International for Solomon Hoffman to write and expand the orchestrations from the original five piece instrumentation to a 28 piece pit. This will be the first production of Urinetown anywhere to have a glorious live orchestral sound that's becoming increasingly rare, even on Broadway.

Solomon Hoffman is a musical icon in the Port Washington Community.  He “grew up” in the Port Summer Show orchestra pit.  At eleven years old he played in his first Port Summer Show, Anything Goes.  At the tender age of fourteen, he was promoted and was the conductor for Smile –the youngest conductor of PSS to date.  Eight years later, Solomon is not only conducting the orchestra, but expanding the orchestrations. You can also regularly find him at the Dolphin Bookshop, where he created a Café Music Series on Friday nights and at the Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore.  Recently, he graduated from Columbia where he studied music and psychology.  Solomon plans to pursue writing and arranging for musicals. He composed a musical that was featured in the NYCFringe Festival last summer, and composed Columbia's annual Varsity Show twice.

He described working on the Port Summer Show as follows: “I love the community feel of the Port Summer Show. It's a tight knit group and everyone is united in their hard work over the 6 week rehearsal period. It's amazing to watch the participants improve throughout the summer and from year to year. The other aspect of the Port Summer Show I've come to appreciate is professionalism. For an amateur theatre group, the Port Summer Show has a standard that goes beyond typical community theatre and gives our production a professional quality. In the pit, the musicians are working to master the same music that was played by professional Broadway musicians. At the summer show we have an entirely volunteer pit and we work hard to master that music every summer. The participants really respond to this mentality that the organization establishes: we're all here to work hard, have fun, and put on a great show.”

In an interesting twist, conductor Solomon Hoffman and musical director, Allison Friedman met when Solomon played in the pit of a Schreiber High School production and Allison was the musical director.  Allison has actually played electric bass in the pit of Port Summer Show productions for six years now, before becoming musical director for the first time this year.  Solomon rehearses the orchestra separately from Allison who focuses on working solely with the actors.  Then in an intricate and organized transition, the orchestra and cast join together and Solomon conducts both for the final weeks.    Teamwork is crucial as explained by Solomon, “We’re always in communication even if we're rehearsing separately. The rehearsals where we all come together are very focused and productive so we can all work toward the same goal.”

When asked to comment on Urinetown, Solomon said, “ I love Urinetown because it not only is a very funny show, but it totally pokes fun at the genre of musical theatre. It's self-aware in a way that makes the show appeal to people with or without a theatre background. The political undertones give this piece more depth too and I think that's why people keep coming back to it. This show was written way before income inequality and the “one percent” were in the news so much and that's definitely a big theme!”

Urinetown performance Dates are August 7-9 at 7:30 PM and August 10 at 2:00 PM in the air-conditioned Schreiber High School Auditorium. Tickets are $10, kids 12 and under are $5. (Senior citizens admitted free on August 7.)  Please check www.portsummershow.org  for information on presale tickets as last year’s performances sold out.

For information, to buy tickets, or to sponsor the summer show call 516-777-0220, email info@portsummershow.org or visit www.portsummershow.org.

“Urinetown the musical……it’s not what you “tink”!”