Broadway Pit Musicians Talk Subbing, “The Scariest Thing in the World”

At BroadwayCon, a panel of pit musicians talk about the challenges of breaking in

Earlier this month at BroadwayCon, some of Broadway’s great pit musicians gathered to share their experiences. High amidst the topics of conversation was the issue of breaking in. “Broadway is actually one of the very few music jobs that you cannot audition for,” said violinist Sarah Elizabeth Haines, who has played on such shows as Natasha, Pierre, and Great Comet of 1812 and the recent off-Broadway revival of I Can Get It For You Wholesale. “It’s a union rule.”

Hiring for Broadway shows is instead done almost exclusively through contractors, who hear about musicians through word of mouth and offer them jobs. But getting to the point where a contractor will hear about you involves what all on the panel agreed was, in the words of Haines, “the scariest thing in the world”: Subbing.

During the panel, Haines laid out the subbing process: Each chair holder on a show is permitted 5 subs to fill in for them when they’re away. They get to choose their own subs: “It can be a combination of people they’ve worked with in the past,” explained Haines, “people who have had them in to sub before, people they maybe want to give a chance to that they don’t know very well.”

When a musician is invited to be a sub, they’re given a couple things: the music; a video of the conductor conducting the show, “with usually a terrible mix of the show,” Haines added, “which is mostly vocals and click track, if there’s a click in the show;” and at least one visit to the pit to watch your chair holder play the show.

And with that, Haines explained, “It is your job to learn the book front to back with no rehearsal. When you play the show for the first time, you are playing the actual show.”

The complexities that come with this arrangement are many. The first four times Haines subbed at Phantom of the Opera, she had a different conductor each time. Said drummer Shannon Ford, who most recently has played on Kimberly Akimbo and the Boston tryout of Queen of Versailles, “You can spend hours learning the show in your basement or your practice room or whatever and then when you get in that pit in that first show, it’s like, Why is that light there, that light wasn’t there when I watched it! [Or] It’s freezing in here! Why is it freezing in here?”

“Those kind of mind games can really derail you if you let them,” Ford advised.

Michiko “Michi” Egger, a guitarist who has played on Jagged Little Pill and the tour of Hadestown, noted substitute guitarists’ “anxiety-inducing” wrinkles: “Unlike some other instruments, you don’t get to play your own instrument as a guitarist,” Egger revealed. “You also don’t get to use the pedalboard or all the programmed effects until you go on.” When Egger was preparing to sub on Jagged she actually drew out a fake version of the show’s pedalboard so that she could practice with that. “It’s kind of crazy never touching the guitar before, never touching the mandolin, the banjo—Even the feel of the neck is so different. So yeah, very scary.”

It’s the same with drums, noted percussionist Ashley Baier, who has played on Six, Suffs, and Little Shop of Horrors. She shared the method she’s developed to deal with that: “Part of my process for working on a show is to actually go to the theater an hour-and-a-half before the curtain for a week or two before I’m supposed to play to just get used to playing other people’s drums.”

When trombonist Emily “Freddie” Fredrickson got hired to play on the Hadestown tour, they assumed they’d be able to bring two different trombones, because the range of sound they were expected to hit went from so low to so high. “They said, No no no, we want you to play the really small one the whole time. And that’s really hard, I don’t really reach that part of the trombone naturally a lot of the show.”

Fredrickson faced an even bigger surprise after they agreed to the job. “I signed the contract and they sent me the book, and it’s a third glockenspiel,” they said. “I did have a moment of panic.”

A number of the panelists who play strings talked about similar challenges subbing on Cabaret and discovering they had to play violin and banjo “It doesn’t make any sense,” kidded Haines. “Nobody does that”—except for whoever had the seat in London, which is why it’s become the book. “I spent 4 months prepping, literally learning the banjo from scratch to play this show.”

Viola player Carolina Díaz Chan, who was on the national tour for Jagged Little Pill and has subbed on that chair on Cabaret, agreed: “I did the same thing. I was like, Why am I learning the banjo right now?,” she said, laughing. “It’s crazy.”

Subs do all this work—which is completely unpaid, noted Haines, “just with the hope that you get to keep doing it for a while.” Your first time out, she said, “is basically your audition to keep playing the show.”

No amount of preparation can fully prepare you, shared Baier. “As soon as you play the first show, you probably will do a great job, but there’ll be something that is illuminated for the first time that you haven’t experienced in any of your practicing prior to playing the show.” Ford agreed: “Things happen. Little gremlins will show up within the show and you have to know the thing so well that you overcome all those obstacles.”

Said Haines: “It’s probably the most stressful thing I’ve ever done.”

But while he agreed—“I hate subbing,” Ford said—he also pointed out that it has certain value: “It’s something that has definitely made me a better musician. It’s sharpened my focus.” Not only that, but it was the platform that allowed him to show others what he could do. When you’re subbing, he explained, “You’re building a fanbase, building a sense of community among the people who hire you and work with you.” And that’s the key to having a career.

Many on the panel spoke about how important it is to remember the community aspect of Broadway. Said Chan, “Be nice to everyone you meet in the industry, because you never know where a job is going to come from.” Haines agreed, naming “Being on time, being prepared and being kind,” as the essential traits for getting work and keeping it. “I think in a way that is the unspoken audition for the theater,” said Baier.

Of course, for many trying to break in the first question is how to get to a place where musicians playing in Broadway pit orchestras even know them. Chan and Haines both suggested that properly done, reaching out on social networks can help. “One thing I’ve noticed,” shared Haines: “People don’t always love it when you hit them up for work.” But if instead someone reaches out with genuine interest in a musician and their experiences, sometimes good things happen. “With Great Comet,” said Haines, “the woman I subbed for, I just [messaged her] and said We have 100 mutual friends, you look so cool, can we get a coffee? And that led months later to her being like, Why don’t you sub for me?”

“Some of the people I’m working with now I met 10 years ago,” Haines noted. “And I didn’t start subbing for them or working with them until recently.”

“Cold calling doesn’t always work,” Chan acknowledged. “But you just have to find one person who is open.” Something else that can definitely help, she suggested, is musicians doing videos of themselves playing on Instagram, giving people the chance to see their talent. “You’d be surprised, some contractors do look on Instagram and that’s how people get picked for tours.”

Just putting oneself in a position where serendipity can happen has also served panelists. Egger’s start on Broadway came about by accident: “I went to this jam in Brooklyn that I didn’t know was mostly Broadway musicians and session musicians,” she explained, “and I just happened to sit in.”

“Just from that experience I started subbing for all kinds of people, just because I met so many people at that event.”

Frederickson also got into pit orchestra work unexpectedly. They were actually planning to start a big band in New York when a friend they had met along the way who had also worked on Broadway a long time let them know the Hadestown tour was looking for a trombonist. They ended up doing that show for two years instead. “And now I never want to leave the theater community,” they said.

Ford, too, suggested that musicians put themselves in places where they can meet people and be seen, whether through performing at readings and workshops or just hanging out. “I just got to know people in the community socially,” he explained. “I find this to be a very supportive community generally. People want to help you out.”

Haines suggested another creative approach: Reach out to a musician currently working in a pit and ask to watch. “Say, I’d love to learn more about being a Broadway musician, can I sit in and watch you work?,” Haines explained. “That’s a really great way to make connections without the additional burden of Hey, I want to work for you. I’ve had a number of friends eventually get their start doing that.”

Baier pointed out there’s also a lot of prep work that a musician can do before any sub job is in the offing. “It’s really important to know the repertory of theater, she explained. “And it’s so easy nowadays with streaming, you have every cast recording.” Knowing this, she suggested a useful project: “Every week pick a recording [and] dive into it. Maybe you don’t have the music for it, try to do some transcriptions.” And she noted, doing this can help you in other ways, as well. “See what kind of music you’re attracted to. It’s really helpful.”

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If you’re interested in the work of members of the panel, in addition to their Instagram accounts a number of them perform in New York and elsewhere. Egger is in fact doing a free solo show at PAC NYC next Thursday, March 6^th, at 6:00pm.

Likewise, Baier is part of a brass band called Brass Queens, which is doing a Mardi Gras show next Tuesday March 8^th in Brooklyn (get details here). They also released their new album Hot Tub Sessions Vol. 1 in October.

In addition to performing, Frederickson does arranging for big band, orchestra, large ensemble, and chamber. They’ve posted a number of their arrangements on their website, including the above cut from Dee Dee’s Feathers.

Haines has an album of original music called Castaway, as well as a Spotify playlist of songs for which she’s written the string arrangements.

Ford likewise has a playlist of songs on which he has played on his website,

Chan is also a member of the Gaia Quartet. Here the quartet does a cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s déjà vu, arranged by Chan.

Finally, Broadway Musicians also have their own Instagram, where they celebrate different musicians playing on Broadway.

And if you’re interested in the story of one Broadway pit musician, check out my recent profile of Chicago trumpeter Glenn Drewes.