Life in the Pit

Jose Simbulan has had a long successful career as a pianist, keyboardist, and music director, including a stint on Broadway.  He has also accompanied no fewer than 35,000 actor auditions, many of them the high pressure 60-90 second variety such as those for professional divisions at the annual Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) where he is preparing for his 27th year of work on March 9-13 in M...

Very very few pit musicians can make the pit their only source of income.  A significant number rely at least a little if not a lot on teaching their instrument, and many of them do it privately rather than in a school system.  Private teachers often neglect or get overwhelmed at the business side of things and, as we discuss, often undervalue themselves.  Today's conversation is an essential one...

Making connections, moving to a new community, studying music in a doctoral program, continuing to play for theatre productions: All of these things are difficult enough separately, but when you combine them and then add in a pandemic, you have Tanner Harrod's life.  He smiles his way through all of it as we chat about his life in grad school; playing theatre in Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska; keep...

Happy New Year, everyone!  Life In the Pit isn't going anywhere in 2022, but the format is changing to add different perspectives that branch outside of theatrical productions.  We're not changing what we've done, only growing to include more.  In this short episode, David Lane gives you a preview of what's to come!   Follow the podcast on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter @LifeInThePitPod.  Visit ...

Like so many theatre musicians, Joe LaRocca's path to his first Equity national tour, the currently-traveling 50th anniversary tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, was far from linear.  At times, he had to change directions and even gamble on himself before he could even back it up by even owning the instrument he needed for the gig.  We talk about tour life for an active tour (a first for this podcast...

LIFE IN THE PIT is full of success stories from musicians around the world!  Today's episode, however, is a story of failure.  It's a personal story from host David Lane who recently was let go from a high-profile gig.  He talks about what happened and, more importantly, the 5 lessons he learned for decreasing the odds of it happening again.  If you're an aspiring musician with ambition, setbacks...

Paul Baron has had a career in both theatre and in commercial recordings, including the first national tours of Evita, Cats, The Full Monty, In the Heights, Spamalot, and currently Frozen.  He is also the author of multiple books including The Broadway Trumpeter and the upcoming follow-up of Volume 2 (coming later this Fall).  This series is a comprehensive collection of actual trumpet book excerp...

This is an improvised, random mini-episode with David Lane giving some thoughts on the 20th anniversary 9/11 and some personal thoughts based on recent experiences with COVID.  If you're only here for the music talk, skip to 12:25 to hear David talk about practice preparation specifics for an upcoming show.   Follow the podcast on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter @LifeInThePitPod.  Visit  www.david...

Just as Broadway productions and Broadway tours represent a small percentage of American theatre productions, the same is true for pit musicians.  Pit musicians and theaters are in every metro area, including Bakersfield, CA.  Jeff Ingle is a middle school history teacher by day, and a gigging percussionist with a passion for theatre by night.  He coordinates musicians from his area for local prod...

This is a short, sparsely edited episode that offers a sneak peek into community theatre tech week.  Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance has been a special part of host David Lane's musical theatre experience, and on Friday, it officially reveals its brand new venue on 650 W. Sixth St with the local premiere of "Something Rotten".  David chats with the director and 2 cast members in the midst of the hu...

Tish Diaz has had a full career, more than you might think for someone still young and full of energy, one that includes theatre work in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Los Vegas, and Branson MO.   We talk about playing with artists like Andy Williams, being a keyboardist for the Vegas Jersey Boys show along with other acts, and even programming keyboards before the digital era.  She is currently keyb...

Alex Tirrell is a music director and keyboardist in Rhode Island.  He also is one of the sound designers at https://stage-sounds.com/ , the founder who is John Eldridge from Episodes 38 and 39.  This conversation focuses on some of the things music directors have to do on a limited budget such as creating reduced orchestrations.  You can find out more about Alex at www.alextirrell.com     Follow t...

Laura Sherman is currently a lecturer for the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.  Prior to that, she lived in NYC and played on Broadway shows, most prominently as the harpist for Wicked.  She also is the harpist on the Original Broadway Cast Recording for Hamilton: The Musical, which is notable in that there is not a harp book for the show.  We talk about why that is, along with he...

Host David Lane celebrates 1 year of LIFE IN THE PIT as he reflects on the experience of creating the podcast, and describes some of the changes that will take place moving forward.  Don't worry; the podcast isn't going anywhere, but there are a few changes.  Finally, David shares 10 takeaways that he has learned from the composite of the past year's worth of guests that any musician can use to be...

Paul Perfetti was the principal trumpet for the 1st and 3rd national tours of Les Misérables between 1987 and 2006.  He also played trumpet for the 42nd Street national tour.  Before and since then, he has played for several dozen productions in various theaters as well as operas.  He is a Grammy nominated contributor to early music recordings as an expert in historical trumpets and cornetti.  He...

Jennifer Wharton loves playing low brass (her website tag is indeed, "I play low notes"), and has enjoyed doing so on Broadway in shows such as Beloved: The Carole King Musical, 9 to 5, Curtains, Porgy and Bess, King Kong, and most recently West Side Story.  She's played with a ton of jazz ensembles and artists, and is a founder of the group Bonegasm , an ensemble of 4 trombones plus rhythm sectio...

Matthew Croft has either music directed or played keyboard, or both, for theaters all over Michigan, Ohio, and New York.  He has also played for The Illusionists: Turn of the Century on Broadway.  He has also toured nationally with 5 Broadway productions: Guys and Dolls, The Producers, Motown: The Musical, Something Rotten, and most recently Jesus Christ Superstar - the 50th anniversary production...

For the 2nd time, LIFE IN THE PIT goes outside North America to explore theatre from musician's perspectives in other parts of the world.  Andrew Clayton is a young guitarist and teacher who lives in Dublin and chats to me about his experiences in the pit and of the Irish theatre scene in general.  You can follow Andrew at instagram.com/claytona95 and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/...

5 years ago, the host of this podcast, David Lane, was invited to be the arranger and later the musical director for The Collins Boy . Working with the writers Brad Bass and Cari Joy, working with actors like Lisa Howard, Tony Galde, and Russell Fisher, and playing for audiences in NYC and Atlanta have been one of the best experiences!  Brad is no stranger to Broadway.  He was on-stage for a decad...

LIFE IN THE PIT does its first episode on a book.  The book is "Strategies for Success in Musical Theatre: A Guide for Music Directors in School, College, and Community Theatre" by Herbert D. Marshall, published with Oxford Press and available as an e-book through Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, and other major outlets. Dr. Herbert (AKA Butch) Marshall is a professor of music at Kent State Universi...

Rochelle Collins lives in Las Vegas, NV where she has been a performer for Cirque Du Soleil for 19 years, first for the show MYSTERE, and currently for KA.  Her work as a vocalist puts her onstage (and over stage) in the spotlight, but she also performs as accompaniment to the action (in other words, as a pit musician).  She talks about what it's like to rehearse and perform a show for Cirque, and...

Steven Zumbrun has been everywhere because of theatre, and has so many stories to tell!  He's played for shows based in the Springer Opera House in Columbus (GA), the Nebraska Theatre Caravan, the Totem Pole Playhouse in Pennsylvania.  In addition to playing keyboards and music directing, he also is a performer onstage with acting, singing, and tap dancing!  His stories include creepy high school...

Trevor Landreth is a percussionist and educator in the Greater Wichita area.  In addition to playing in the pit, he teaches high schoolers and college students in not only percussion, but also drum line, something we haven't given a lot of attention here before.  In his spare time, he also co-hosts a podcast about movies called The Couch Critics . Follow the podcast on Instagram, Facebook, or Twit...

Mary Ann McSweeney has played enough shows on Broadway to be really close to having played in every physical theatre on Broadway.  She's the original bassist for Avenue Q, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, Far From Heaven, and Silence.  But she has subbed for periods on dozens of other shows including The Book of Mormon, Sister Act, Next to Normal, Miss Saigon, Billy Elliot, Newsies, and many more!...

Brady Aldrich lives in Wenatchee, Washington, and has music directed and played shows on keyboard, trumpet, drum set, and percussion.  He has also done technical theatre particularly from the aspect of the sound, and we talk about what goes into sound reinforcement for the pit.  Our main focus is going down the list of what music directors and keyboardists need as far as technology to get started...