just got back from a CW concert in MPLS. yes, they do lip sync and it's very distracting! you first notice it with the fiddler - not moving her bow or making the right motions to correspond with the music. the drums, piano and guitar are real. you can really notice when they're doing a big number and there are orchastra pieces playing that aren't represented on stage - typically multiple violins . . . all the peices they typically have in their telivised concerts but are missing in these nightly performances . . .they only have a few of the instruments they actually need for some of the background music and in the TV concerts you can see all the instruments they need.