Making of A Capitol Fourth

The Show Must Go On

The weather is always a factor for an outdoor concert, but the show has never been cancelled due to inclement weather.  However, if it's damp, the National Symphony Orchestra musicians may have trouble keeping their instruments – particularly winds and strings – in tune.

Forty-eight hours before broadcast, the frenzied pace kicks in with a musical run-through at the Kennedy Center with top pops conductor Erich Kunzel and the National Symphony Orchestra; blocking rehearsals on-site on the West Lawn of the Capitol; only one full dress-rehearsal the night before the show; and late night production meetings to tweak the script and even make big changes to entire musical numbers.

The finale performance of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" is an audience favorite and now a show tradition. The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is one of the few orchestras to perform this piece of music using real cannons, four 105mm-Howitzers, provided by the U.S. Army Presidential Salute Battery. Don"t be alarmed – they are only blanks! It takes precision timing and coordination between the Army and the NSO to get the cannons to fire on cue with the musical score.