Broadway is "The Pits"

This past week, I was fortunate to play for Grammy Award winning composer Arturo O'Farrill's "Carmen" An Afro-Cuban Musical" which also happened to be a world premier at the Olnet Theater Center. The book was an absolute blast, made even more enjoyable due to the first rate DC musicians performing it. I did have a random realization though that gave me pause. 20 years ago, almost to the day, I was a freshman in High School on spring break visiting my Aunt Janet in Colorado. She is a first-call harpist in the area and was playing "A Chorus Line" at the time. Knowing that I was an aspiring trumpet player, she let me sit in the pit with her on a show to "Show me what a real professional trumpet player sounded like." Needless to say, I was amazed and for the first time I knew that I wanted to play for a living. Ive had a love of playing broadway shows ever since. Just to sit and think of everything that has transpired over the last 20 years is truly humbling.

However, What REALLY made that show special, was that I got to play the show with my wife! In school, you always hear horror stories about being called to play gigs at the last second, so make sure you are in tip top shape because you never know when the call will come. Well, true to form, that is what happened to her. She recieved the call at 1030am to come in and audit the 2pm show, had a dinner break, and then absolutely CRUSHED the evening show! I grew up hearing stories about my Grandpa and Grandpa playing gigs together around town, be it the Symphony or Broadway shows. I wish they were still with us, I know they would be estatic to hear that the "Harriman Tradition" continues. Hopefully this will be the start of many gigs we share together!