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Exclusive: Behind The Scenes Of The Music Of In The Heights!
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Nov 10, 2022
Eight performances a week, the Richard Rodgers Theater comes to dynamic life with the passionate music and lyric's of Lin-Manuel Miranda's energetic musical 'In the Heights.' Now BroadwayWorld takes you behind the scenes and in the pit of this dynamic new musical as Eddie Varley interviews Musical Director Alex Lacamoire and Arranger, Bill Sherman in this exclusive video!
View Video Transcript
0:30
very rare for a music director to be singled out in a review or for the band to be mentioned
0:34
in a review. So I'm just so proud of the guys in the band. I'm so proud of us and the music
0:37
that we're making. We're just having a lot of fun, and I'm just so glad that people are picking up on that. A few people picked up on it last year at Off-Broadway, but now everybody
0:45
is sort of picking up on what I think we've known for a really long time. It's terrifying
0:49
exciting, anxiety-producing, and relieving. It's so many emotions all at the same time
0:54
To have our music mentioned from old grandmas and young kids to all dig our music is pretty
0:58
rare and exceptional and exciting. I mean, what's really cool is that Lin Miranda just
1:04
what he gives us is a structure to work with Like you know he gives us like this is the song I written here the music here the lyric Here are the chords This is what I want This is the feel I like And then really it just up to Bill and I to kind of just create something
1:15
He wrote a score. And I use that word in the true sense of the word score
1:19
It's like, it's not just a bunch of songs strung together. Like, Lynn writes an entire song based on a chord progression that comes from another song
1:26
I think, like, there's five or six songs that you can all trace back to, like, one basic chord progression
1:29
that makes its way in and out of it. or like, you know, transitions that are based on a callback from another earlier song
1:35
Because of that, like, it makes it much easier for us because therefore we could use the themes and the motifs that are in one song
1:40
and pop them into another. Lens has kind of painted the way for us to be able to do that. The reason we have a score and the reason we can go in and out of salsa and meringue in
1:48
that is because everyone's just sort of versed and everyone's very open to that music or those ideas
1:53
So if we were sitting around and said, da-da-da-da-da, I think it should be a salsa part here
1:58
we'd be like, oh, okay, screw it. It should be a salsa part. And we would try it. And then be like, oh, no, that doesn't work
2:02
Maybe it's like a reggaeton thing. We're like, okay. I mean, because we were all familiar with what that sounded like
2:06
and what that meant and how to get to that sort of the essence of that music
2:10
this show is the first step into saying that in this genre you can do anything
2:24
The cast was growing and the house was growing and the vibe was growing and the immediacy of all the stuff we were doing was growing
2:31
So we had to sort of bring music up to that level. We added a huge horn section. It's rare. We'd have six horns
2:36
We just looked in our phone books and just called up guys that we knew because it's really hard to find people who can play this style of music
2:42
I found it almost impossible to find pianists who can actually play a montuno in the right hand
2:47
play a tumbao bass line in the left hand, and make them happen at the same time. So just to be able to get that happening was hard enough
2:52
Do they understand the feel? Do they understand the style? And do they have a good vibe
2:56
So we feel like we have a good family down in the pit, because every single person is literally hand-picked
3:00
because they are the best person in New York to play this show. Shopping, oh my God, it's gotten too darn hot, like my man Cole Porter said
3:08
People come through for a few cold waters in a while. We have three percussionists in our show
3:12
This is our drummer, Andres. He sits behind here. So aside from the standard rock kit
3:17
he's got timbales over there. He's got a uiro, he's got his maracas, he's got tons of shakers
3:22
Our bass player sits here Our guitar player sits here And this is our other percussionist Doug Henricks And our third percussionist Wilson lives here And he is mostly like the hand percussion stuff
3:33
He plays like congos, bongas, he's got a cajon, he's got a surdo, which is a Brazilian instrument
3:38
Here's our horn section. The trumpets sit here, they have all their mutes and all their trumpety things
3:43
And our reed players are all here. Apparently they play chess. This is our reed too
3:47
This guy, he plays baritone sax and lower saxes. This is where I conduct the show from up here, which is awesome
3:53
I've got a great view of the stage. Best seat in the house. Forget about it. But yeah, this is right to my thing
4:17
I just keep watching you see the late nights. You taste beans and rice beans
4:22
The syrup, the shaved ice pie, I ain't gonna say it twice, it's a terrible stage light
4:26
We're taking our flight into a couple of days in the light for what it's like in Washington Heights
4:33
Come see in the Heights. Come see in the Heights, yeah
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