There is a disturbing new trend on Broadway, concerning live music and musicians. What is it with these cheapskate producers, who hire incredible actors, top-notch technical people, then want to go cheap on the musicians? There's a production of Sweeney Todd running now that has the actors playing the instruments, in a kind of high art, the loonies-are-putting-on-a-show-for-the-attendants concept. Patti LuPone is playing the tuba, fer chrissakes! The same producer is said to be putting together a revival of another Sondheim show, "Company." A London production of Jerry Herman's "Mack & Mabel" just opened there with the same concept.

Where does it stop? When the NY Philharmonic is populated by players who haven't touched an instrument since high school? For that matter, if I choose to go see a Patti LuPone performance, shouldn't I expect her tuba playing to be of the same caliber as her acting and singing? Should I expect Alan Baer of the NY Phil, Gene Pokorny of the Chicago Symphony, or Carol Jantsch, recent winner of the Philly auditions, to be able to step in for Bernadette Peters or Robert DiNiro?

If we wouldn't pay $60 or more to see a HS production of a show, why should we pay the same amount to see a show that has the highest of professional standards in every area EXCEPT the music? Patti LuPone hasn't played the tuba since Kennedy was President. She has performed Sweeney Todd with the NY Philharmonic. I bet it sounded a helluva lot better then than it does now, with "musicians" that haven't touched an instrument since the Vietnam era, or never advanced in their guitar playing past the garage band level.

All to save the producers a couple of bucks, garbed in the excuse of "the director's artistic vision." They can't cut anywhere else, and the musician's union is a joke. Some guy who can pull on a rope at the right time, plug in a light, or move something heavy gets to make big money, while the musician who spends his life honing his craft, and endless hours every day maintaining his skills gets cast out into the trash in favor of people who treated playing an instrument as a high school dalliance. The message is clear- Forget about being a professional musician, just take some acting classes instead...