Short answer: It’s less like a gig and more like joining a family that happens to make a show together, eight times a week, sometimes for years. The music is only one thread. What actually determines whether you last is how well you connect with everyone else in that building, not just how well you play.
I learned this on my very first Broadway show, and the lesson didn't come from behind the kit. It came from the wig department.
It Starts With Who’s Around You, Not What’s In Front of You
Memphis The Musical was my first Broadway chair, back in 2009. Our musicians’ locker room happened to be right next to the wig department. I started talking to the folks in there almost every day, not about wigs, just about life. I got to know their craft, their personalities, what made them tick. That’s when it hit me how big this whole ecosystem actually is. It’s not just about drums. It’s about the entire village it takes to pull off a show, night after night.
A pit isn’t a jam session or a wedding gig where you show up, play, and leave. You’re sitting with the same group of musicians and crew members for years sometimes. You hang out between acts. You crack jokes, talk about life, share more than just the music. How you carry yourself in that room matters just as much as how you play in it.
The Music Is Only One Thread
Once I understood that, I got curious about everything else holding the show together. During Ain’t Too Proud, I went up to the back of the theater just to learn how the spotlights worked. I talked to the stage manager about how scenes get cued. I hung out with audio engineers, props handlers, electricians. I wanted to understand how the whole machine ran, not just my part of it.
That curiosity made me a better player, not a worse one. I started noticing how a swell in the music would trigger a lighting change, or how a drum fill needed to land right on a scenic shift. The more I understood the full production, the more locked-in my playing became.
Here’s the part people don’t expect: talent gets you in the door, but it’s not what keeps you there. I’ve watched genuinely talented musicians get passed over because they brought bad energy into the room. The band room conversations, the small moments between shows, that’s where trust actually gets built. Nobody’s reviewing your resume in there. They’re just noticing whether you’re someone they want to sit next to for the next three hours.
This is part of Chapter 16 of my book, Broadway Bound and Beyond: A Musician’s Guide to Building a Theater Career — “Navigating the Broadway Pit.” I go deeper there into what it actually takes to be a great teammate in that room, not just a great player. And I’m building the full career framework in Broadway Bound and Beyond: The Course — The Career Foundation Every Working Musician Needs (But Nobody Teaches). Coming soon!