The audience erupts into applause as the cast of Naperville North’s musical, “9 to 5,” ascends onto the stage one final time. The actors, singers and dancers bow to the audience. The cast’s last action, however, is pointing towards the front of the stage. The music plays louder.

Underneath the stage, a group of NNHS musicians sit and play their final notes. Using instruments ranging from violins to trumpets, the NNHS pit orchestra complements the onstage production.

Junior Brandon Rodriguez is a member of the pit orchestra and plays the trombone.

“There’s a lot of involvement that students get by having a pit,” Rodriguez said. “You get to interact with a lot of other musicians and learn a lot.”

Conducted by director Dana Green, the pit orchestra has been rehearsing since March in preparation for the musical. The 25-member ensemble practices twice per week prior to tech week. Both band and orchestra students auditioned for this group.

“Tech week is definitely the hardest part about pit,” Rodriguez said. “We’re putting the music with the show, and there’s a lot of starting and stopping.”

According to junior Max Lowery, pit contributes to the onstage performance and allows musicians to become more involved in music program at NNHS.

“It allows the members of all three groups to be involved instead of just the singers and dancers,” Lowery said. “Having a pit lets the musical be more adaptable. If Janssen wants to extend a scene, we can easily extend a bar or two.”

Lowery said that the music the school bought did not include string parts. However, Green suggested Lowery use his talents to arrange music for the stringed instruments. This year, Lowery spent 30 hours arranging the music using a keyboard part.

Many of the musicians also enjoy the variety of pieces they get to play. Rodriguez, who is also a part of curricular band, particularly enjoys the special effects he plays in the pit.

“‘Dance of the Dead is one of my favorite songs,” Rodriguez said. “I get to do plunger growls and have a jazzy style that I don’t get to play in concert band.”