He showed up to watch.
9:28 AM. Carroll’s Rehearsal Studios. The Tina Turner Broadway show is about to start.
Jared’s a college student at NYU. He’s not there to play. He’s there to observe — to see how a real Broadway drummer handles a real Broadway rehearsal. He’s looking at the chart on the stand. Not touching anything. Just studying.
9:30 hits.
The drummer isn’t there.
Contractor John Miller scans the room. Lands on Jared.
“All right, Jared. Sit down. You’re on.”
He sat down. Blacked out. And sight-read 15 minutes of a mega-mix — a chart he’d never seen, styles flipping every 16 bars, a section in 3/4 buried in the middle — while a friend quietly filmed from across the room.
He had no idea that moment would eventually lead to his first touring gig: Beautiful.
Not because he was perfect that day, but it was because he was prepared before it.
My full conversation with Jared Shaw drops soon on the Broadway Drumming 101 podcast.
