Tanner Schut moved to New York with a decent cushion in his savings account, figuring he’d land a wedding band gig or two within a few weeks to keep the bills covered while he found his footing. That’s not what happened. Those gigs take months to break into, not weeks, and nobody tells you that part until you’re already living it. His savings drained a lot faster than he expected, and there was a real stretch where going back to the cruise ships looked like the only way to stay afloat.
Tanner’s on the Book of Mormon tour now. This clip is about the part before that, the part where the city doesn’t care how good you are and rent still shows up every month whether the gigs do or not.
Full conversation with Tanner coming soon to the Broadway Drumming 101 podcast.
Clayton Craddock was most recently the drummer for Cats: The Jellicle Ball on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre. He is also the founder of Broadway Drumming 101 and the author of Broadway Bound and Beyond: A Musician’s Guide to Building a Theater Career.
His Broadway credits include Memphis, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, Ain’t Too Proud, and Cats: The Jellicle Ball, with additional credits spanning tick, tick…BOOM!, The Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical, and subbing on Rent, Motown, Evita, Avenue Q, and the Hadestown tour.
Clayton has appeared on The View, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show, and the Tony Awards. He has performed with artists ranging from Chuck Berry and Ben E. King to Kristin Chenoweth and Norm Lewis.
