Scope and arrangement
The Michael Gibson scores, dating from 1977 to 2005, primarily consist of orchestrations for Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals. They also hold arrangements and orchestrations for concert appearances or recordings by noted Broadway performers, as well as for film and production companies. Folder contents can include full scores, piano-vocal scores, conductor scores, parts, scripts, and orchestration notes.
Most of the orchestrations are for full orchestras, or for various configurations of pit orchestras. The concert/recording arrangements for performers are for jazz big band or big band with strings, or in some cases for full orchestra. In all cases, Gibson is the orchestrator. Notes in the container list with each project specify if Gibson was the arranger or composer as well, and list composers, lyricists, and other arrangers, if known.
Many of the musicals documented in the collection are by composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb, including Kiss Of The Spider Woman, Over And Over (also known as The Skin of Our Teeth), The Rink, Steel Pier, The Visit, Woman Of The Year, the 1998 revival of Cabaret, and Curtains (a musical completed after Ebb's death). Scores for other John Kander projects are also present, such as the film Billy Bathgate, the television films Breathing Lessons and The Boys Next Door, and Kander's setting of A Letter From Sullivan Ballou.
Other Broadway orchestrations in the collection are the 1999 revival of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown; Elmer Gantry; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; The Boy From Oz; Houdini; Anything Goes; My One And Only; Meet Me In St. Louis; and All Shook Up. Gibson's Off-Broadway or independent musical work is represented by 3hree, The Fix, The Gig, A Little Princess, Love Comics, Splendora, Urban Myths, The Wild Party, and Zombie Prom.
The theatrical productions most heavily represented in the collection are Kiss of the Spider Woman (which has two separate orchestrations), and Elmer Gantry.
Gibson's orchestrations and arrangements for concert performances or recordings by Broadway artists include scores for Barbara Cook, Patti Lupone, Chita Rivera, Joel Grey, Kristin Chenoweth, Tovah Feldshuh, Susan Anton, Lesley Gore, Tommy Tune, and Debbie Reynolds. Orchestrations for the vocalists Kathleen Battle and Vanessa Williams are also present.
Gibson also did work for organizations such as the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Radio City Music Hall, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, and commercial advertising clients such as Ebay and State Farm. Scores for these projects are in the collection as well, as is Gibson's own score for the Merchant-Ivory film Roseland.
Three projects in the collection contain electronic versions of scores written in Finale (software used for the creation, editing, printing, and sound realization of music scores and parts). These scores are most likely in the collection in printed form as well.
The collection holds seven audio CD-Rs containing Finale realizations of music Gibson orchestrated for Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, dating from 2002 and 2003. Inquiries regarding audio materials in the collection may be directed to the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound (rha@nypl.org). Audio materials will be subject to preservation evaluation and migration prior to access.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged alphabetically by project name. The names are often show titles, but can also be performers, organizations, or events.