Film composer Alex North (Cleopatra, Spartacus) wrote incidental music for the original Broadway production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” Years ago I met one of the musicians who played in that production. The group (all men) sat playing cards in a hot, barely-ventilated room under the stage. A microphone fed the sound into speakers in the theatre. They couldn’t see or hear the actors. The Stage Manager would use a cue light (a light bulb) to signal them for a musical cue. Light flashes on and off, they’d put down their cards and pick up their instruments. Light comes on, they play. Light goes off, they’d stop. And go back to the game.

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