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    Music

    Broadway Bound and Beyond

    How musicians on any instrument get hired, build trust, and build lasting careers—especially college students stepping into professional life.

    www.broadwayboundandbeyond.com

    Advertise

    Copyright: © Clayton Craddock

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    Latest Episodes:
    Preparation Is the Job Aug 08, 2026
    Show notes

    My next guest on the Broadway Drumming 101 Classic series is drummer Adam Wolfe, and this is actually a return visit. Adam first joined the podcast years back, when he was known for his work on Wonderland, Bandstand, and Clueless the Musical, on top of subbing everything from Evita to Matilda and Cats.

    I can speak about Adam from firsthand experience too. He was my only sub on Cats: The Jellicle Ball for a long stretch, until I eventually brought in someone else, a great young drummer who I helped get his first ever Broadway show subbing gig. I was about to start bringing in more subs as the show went on, but we are closing today.

    That’s a story for another time.

    The point is, that kind of trust doesn’t happen by accident. I even heard him play the show himself on Monday, and he’s fantastic! I’m genuinely glad to know him and even more glad I get to call him a colleague.

    In this episode, we get into what it really takes to sub a Broadway show, the times he had weeks to prepare and drilled every bar until he was almost tired of the show before opening night, and the times he got the call with barely any notice and had to cram a stack of fast, dense charts while still working.

    Make sure you subscribe so you’re notified the moment this episode drops. And if you know a drummer who needs to hear this, send it their way.

    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.

    www.claytoncraddock.com


    Get full access to Broadway Bound and Beyond at www.broadwayboundandbeyond.com/subscribe

    Spencer Inch - The Broadway Drumming 101 Podcast (Video) Aug 01, 2026
    Show notes

    Spencer Inch is one of those musicians who makes you realize how wide this career can actually be. We talked about his path from Wilton, Connecticut to the national touring circuit, and I kept thinking: this is exactly what Broadway Bound and Beyond is about.

    Here’s what we got into:

    * Spencer started on drums at age six when his parents bought him a CB700 from a neighbor — he still talks about that kit like it was a Stradivarius

    * He studied classical percussion at Penn State, then pivoted to jazz drum set at the University of Miami’s Frost School — going from big fish to small pond overnight, and what he did about it

    * He did multiple contracts on cruise ships right out of grad school, playing everything from waltzes to Glenn Miller to German polka with no internet and no time to prepare — and why he says he learned more there than in six years of school

    * He toured the country opening for the Counting Crows with singer-songwriter Seán Barna — playing to amphitheater crowds of 3,000 to 7,000 people, and the moment the Counting Crows’ drummer handed him the sticks to close out a show

    * He spent a year and a half on the Come From Away national tour playing bodhran — on stage, in the action, 467 shows — after saying yes to an instrument he’d never played before

    * He’s now on the Water for Elephants national tour, a gig that came directly through the music director he built a relationship with on Come From Away

    The throughline in Spencer’s story isn’t talent. It’s relationships, saying yes, and taking every single gig seriously — no matter what it is. The polka gig. The Les Mis at a children’s theater. All of it.

    Watch the full episode above!

    Clayton Craddock is 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.

    www.claytoncraddock.com


    Get full access to Broadway Bound and Beyond at www.broadwayboundandbeyond.com/subscribe

    Watch: The Mariana Ramirez Interview — From a Santana Concert to the Percussion Chair at SIX Jul 29, 2026
    Show notes

    Earlier this week I brought back the audio of one of my favorite conversations from the vault. Today, the full video version is here.

    If you missed the audio episode, here’s the short version: in 2018, Mariana Ramirez became the first female Mexican percussionist to ever perform on a Broadway show, subbing Once On This Island. A year later she held the percussion chair on that show’s national tour. Then came sub work on Head Over Heels (drumset book) and Ain’t Too Proud, plus Off-Broadway runs of Merrily We Roll Along and Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish.

    Today she holds the percussion chair at the hit Broadway show SIX.

    But watch this interview and you’ll see the chair is just one piece of a much bigger career.

    Mariana began her studies at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City, where she won the percussion position at the Carlos Chávez Youth Orchestra, then earned her Bachelor of Music at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers, picking up the Percussive Arts Society Thomas Siwe Scholarship along the way.

    She founded Percussion Quartet Excelsis — the first multinational all-female percussion quartet in the U.S. — which Jonathan Haas, head of the NYU Percussion Department, called one of the most innovative and exciting ensembles of this era of chamber music. Excelsis has performed twice on NPR’s From the Top, at the Zeltsman Marimba Festival, Tippet Rise in Montana, and the Newport Classical Music Festival, and in 2024 the group received Chamber Music America’s highest grant.

    Her recording credits include Platinum Girls and Song of Solomon on Broadway Records, and a concerto for bandoneon and violin with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. She has performed with the National Symphony of Mexico, the first all-women orchestra of Mexico, and premiered new works at Alice Tully Hall. She’s appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and in Mozart in the Jungle. She won the FONCA grant for Mexican artists twice in a row, touring an original percussion-and-dance project across five Mexican cities. She teaches. She’s endorsed by Sabian, Pearl, and Innovative Percussion.

    Traditional Mexican music. Symphony halls. Chamber ensembles. Television. Education. And eight shows a week on Broadway.

    Nobody builds a career like that by waiting for the phone to ring. Watch the conversation and you’ll understand exactly how she did it — starting with a Santana concert in Mexico City when she was 11 years old, watching three percussionists light up a stadium and deciding, right there, what her life was going to be.

    Watch the full interview above.

    The audio version is available now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify if you’d rather listen on the go.

    And coming up next on the podcast: Spencer Inch. Stay tuned — that one’s going to be worth the wait.

    For the complete roadmap to building a career in theater, grab Broadway Bound and Beyond at broadwayboundbook.com.

    Clayton Craddock is 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.

    www.claytoncraddock.com


    Get full access to Broadway Bound and Beyond at www.broadwayboundandbeyond.com/subscribe

    Podcast #108 - Spencer Inch Jul 23, 2026
    Show notes

    Spencer Inch is one of the busiest drummers in the tri-state area and has been doing it the right way for a long time. He’s currently on the Water for Elephants national tour, and how he got there is a masterclass in how this business actually works.

    What we covered:

    * How his drum teacher in Norwalk, Connecticut — a musical theater pit musician himself — shaped everything about the way Spencer approaches charts, styles, and preparation

    * Going from a classical undergrad at Penn State to a jazz grad program at UM Frost and feeling completely out of his league — and why that was the best thing that ever happened to him

    * What cruise ships actually teach you that school never will: making people dance, reading a room, and playing polka music with no internet and no prep time

    * How his first connection into the New York theater world came from a drummer he barely knew who shared a rehearsal space in Williamsburg — that drummer went on to play with Billie Eilish

    * The real reality of life on a rock tour — the routine of it, the grind of load-in and load-out, and why it felt more like going to work than living a dream

    The advice he got on a cruise ship about playing polkas at the Blue Note — and why Wynton Marsalis walking in the door shouldn’t change anything about how you play.

    The throughline in Spencer’s story isn’t talent. It’s relationships, saying yes, and taking every single gig seriously — no matter what it is. The polka gig. The Les Mis at a children’s theater. All of it.


    Get full access to Broadway Bound and Beyond at www.broadwayboundandbeyond.com/subscribe

    'Pure Gold': One Drummer's Review Says Exactly What I Hoped This Book Would Be Jul 18, 2026
    Show notes

    A few weeks ago, a longtime listener and subscriber named Leo tried to order my book on Amazon. It didn’t go smoothly — stock issues, shipping headaches, the usual Amazon runaround. Most people would have just given up and moved on.

    Leo didn’t. He found his way to Signature Brandworks and ordered a copy directly from me instead. That alone means a lot. Leo’s been with the podcast and the site for a long time, and knowing he cared enough to track down the book rather than let a broken checkout page stop him is exactly the kind of support that keeps this whole project going.

    But what really got me was what he said after he read it.

    Leo described the book as “pure gold” — not just for drummers, and not just for musical theater players, but for any working musician taking on all kinds of gigs. That phrase has been stuck in my head ever since, because it’s exactly what I set out to make. This was never meant to be just a drumming book. It’s a career guide — contracts, negotiating with producers, breaking into a market, understanding the business side most of us were never taught. If you’re a professional musician of any kind, that’s information you need.

    Leo put it better than I could, so I’ll let him say it in his own words:

    “This is pure gold for anyone who’s interested, especially in musical theater, but it applies to any kind of musician doing all sorts of gigs. Beyond our instrument — we get really focused on the instrument — but looking up content and resources that are important for a professional musician’s training... financial education, negotiation, understanding contracts, and the laws that apply to musicians. I think all of that is important for us to become better professionals and to improve the market for everyone too.”

    Coming from someone who’s spent 23 years developing his own teaching method, that’s not a compliment I take lightly.

    Who is Leo?

    Leo Bandeira is a Brazilian drummer, author, and educator — and honestly, someone every drummer reading this should be following. He’s the author of Teoria Musical para Bateria (Music Theory for Drums), the accompanying Livros de Exercícios volumes 1–3, and Leitura à Primeira Vista (Sight Reading). He also teaches A Bateria no Teatro Musical — Drums in Musical Theater — so when a guy who spends his career teaching this stuff calls my book pure gold, that means a lot to me.

    His beginner-level video course builds directly on those books: over 400 exercises covering reading, writing, coordination, orchestration, and rhythmic dictation, all developed over two decades of teaching drummers how to actually read and understand music, not just play by feel. If you’re a drummer looking to get more literate on your instrument, his material is worth your time.

    Follow Leo here: instagram.com/leobandeiramusico

    Leo’s Full Review (translated from Portuguese)

    I wanted to share it in full, exactly as he gave it, rather than just pulling the one line:

    Guys, I want to share with you a book I just finished reading, and it’s amazing. Clayton is a Broadway drummer with a ton of experience. He has a podcast where he interviews Broadway musicians, so he really lays out how the industry works over there, you know? Which is basically the top of the musical theater world.

    So, in this book, he explains exactly how everything works over there: contracts with producers, how negotiations happen, how you break into the market. He talks about networking — honestly, he covers so many topics. This is pure gold for anyone who’s interested, especially in musical theater, but it applies to any kind of musician doing all sorts of gigs, you know?

    Yeah, it’s really important information that every professional musician should have access to.

    So folks, I’m leaving his Instagram here so you can find his materials. I think being a good professional musician also means doing your research. Beyond our instrument — we get really focused on the instrument — but looking up content and resources that are important for a professional musician’s training, you know?

    Financial education, negotiation, understanding contracts, and the laws that apply to musicians. I think all of that is important for us to become better professionals and to improve the market for everyone too.

    Alright? So here’s the golden tip.

    Follow him over there, and look for the book. Thanks!

    And if you’ve been on the fence about the book like Leo was — go grab a copy on Amazon. Or get a copy from me here at SignatureBrandworks.com.

    Also, Leo, if you’re reading this: I’m taking a lesson from you the day I finally make it to Brazil, no excuses.

    I’m proud of this one, and it means the world that it’s resonating with musicians outside the Broadway pit too.

    Clayton Craddock is the founder of Broadway Drumming 101.

    His Broadway and off-Broadway theater credits include Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, Memphis, Altar Boyz, and tick, tick... BOOM!, plus subbing on Rent, Motown, Evita, Avenue Q, and the Hadestown tour. He’s appeared on The View, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show, The Today Show, and the Tony Awards, performing alongside artists from Chuck Berry to Kristin Chenoweth.

    His book, Broadway Bound and Beyond: A Musician’s Guide to Building a Theater Career, is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at Signature Brandworks. His course, Broadway Bound and Beyond: The Course — The Career Foundation Every Working Musician Needs (But Nobody Teaches) — is coming soon.

    www.claytoncraddock.com


    Get full access to Broadway Bound and Beyond at www.broadwayboundandbeyond.com/subscribe

    Mariana Ramirez - The Broadway Drumming 101 Classic Podcast Jul 12, 2026
    Show notes

    In 2018, Mariana Ramirez walked into the pit at Once On This Island as a sub and made history. She became the first female Mexican percussionist to ever perform on a Broadway show.

    Nobody handed her that moment. She built it.

    I first published this conversation in March of 2022, and it remains one of my favorites. Most of you weren’t subscribed back then, so I’m bringing it back — the story is too good to leave in the archive.

    Who is Mariana Ramirez?

    Mariana is an NYC-based freelance percussionist who began her music studies at the National Conservatory of Mexico in Mexico City before earning her Bachelor of Music in Percussion at Rutgers University.

    That first Broadway sub gig at Once On This Island opened doors. She went on to sub Head Over Heels and Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, then hit the road holding the drums/percussion chair on the Once On This Island national tour. Off-Broadway, her credits include Merrily We Roll Along and Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, among many others. Today, she is one of just two female Mexican drummer/percussionists performing on Broadway.

    But her career stretches far beyond the pit.

    She has performed across Europe, Asia, and Mexico with Mexican traditional music bands, symphonic ensembles, chamber orchestras, and pop bands. You may have caught her on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, in the series Mozart in the Jungle, or at the NBC Universal Upfronts at Radio City Music Hall.

    She also founded Percussion Quartet Excelsis, which Jonathan Haas, head of the NYU Percussion Department, praised as one of the most innovative and exciting percussion ensembles of this era of chamber music. Excelsis has performed twice on NPR’s From the Top, at the Percussive Arts Society New York Weekend of Percussion, Brooklyn Bound with Sō Percussion, Zeltsman Marimba Festival, and Tippet Rise Music Festival in Montana. The group is endorsed by Sabian Cymbals.

    As a symphonic percussionist, she has performed with the National Symphony of Mexico, Orquesta de Minería, the first all-women orchestra of Mexico, Dartmouth Symphony, South Florida Symphony, New England Ensemble, Fairfield Orchestra, and most recently with The Dessoff Choir, premiering works for choir and orchestra at Alice Tully Hall.

    Traditional Mexican music. Broadway pits. Symphony halls. Chamber ensembles. Television. That range is not an accident — it’s the career.

    In this conversation, we talk about:

    * The Santana concert in Mexico City that made an 11-year-old girl decide, on the spot, what she wanted to do with her life

    * Her path from the National Conservatory of Mexico to Rutgers to New York

    * What it took to break into Broadway subbing — and what it meant to be the first

    * How versatility across genres and settings keeps a freelance career alive

    And when you’re done with this one, keep an eye on your inbox. Up next on the podcast: Spencer Inch. You won’t want to miss that conversation.

    For the complete roadmap to building a career in theater, grab Broadway Bound and Beyond at broadwayboundbook.com.

    Broadway Bound and Beyond isn’t theory. It’s twenty-six years on Broadway broken down into what actually works: how auditions really get decided, how reputation gets built or destroyed, how money works in this business, why versatility keeps you employed, and what it takes to last decades instead of one season. If you want the full career picture, the hardcover is at broadwayboundbook.com.

    If subbing is specifically your way in, the book gets you the mindset and the etiquette, but the Broadway Sub Playbook goes further. It’s the actual system: the four-week prep formula, the show-day routine, how to take notes that stick, how to handle a pit you’ve never sat in before. It’s built for one job — getting you ready for that call when it comes — and it’s the resource a lot of working subs wish they’d had before their first one.

    Grab both at signaturebrandworks.com.

    Clayton Craddock is 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.

    www.claytoncraddock.com


    Get full access to Broadway Bound and Beyond at www.broadwayboundandbeyond.com/subscribe

    The Night a Santana Concert Changed Everything Jul 09, 2026
    Show notes

    This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

    She Was 11 Years Old at a Santana Concert. That Was It.

    From the vault: one of my favorite conversations on the Broadway Drumming 101 Podcast.

    Picture a stadium in Mexico. Bigger than Madison Square Garden. Open air. Packed. Santana is on stage with a humongous band — three percussionists and a drummer. Somewhere in that crowd is an 11-year-old girl, watching the faces around her. Tens of thousands of people losing their minds at the same time. She’s never seen anything like it.

    And in that moment, she knew.

    “That’s what I wanna do.”

    That girl was Mariana Ramirez.

    She went from the National Conservatory of Mexico to Rutgers to New York — and in 2018, she became the first female Mexican percussionist to ever perform on a Broadway show, subbing Once on This Island. Then Head Over Heels. Then Ain’t Too Proud. Then the percussion chair at SIX.

    I first published this conversation back in March of 2022. It was one of the early episodes of the podcast, and it’s still one of my favorites. Most of you reading this weren’t subscribed back then, which means most of you have never heard it. That’s exactly why I’m bringing it back.

    Mariana’s story is a masterclass in what actually builds a career: preparation, relationships, and knowing what you want before anyone hands you anything. Nobody handed her that chair.

    Here’s what’s coming:

    The full episode drops again in a few days on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. But since you’re subscribed here, you don’t have to wait for your podcast app — you’ll be able to listen right here first. The video version follows a few days after that.

    Stay tuned.

    And once you’ve heard Mariana’s story, don’t go anywhere — because up next on the podcast is Spencer Inch. That’s a conversation you’re not going to want to miss.

    If you want the complete roadmap for building a career in theater, grab Broadway Bound and Beyond at broadwayboundbook.com.

    Clayton Craddock is 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.

    www.claytoncraddock.com


    Get full access to Broadway Bound and Beyond at www.broadwayboundandbeyond.com/subscribe

    Mackenna Tolfa - Podcast #107 (Video) Jul 04, 2026
    Show notes

    This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

    Mackenna Tolfa grew up in Green Bay with a blue sparkle drum kit called “The Rock Star.” Decades later, she’s touring North America as the first featured female Rockstar character in Blue Man Group’s history. The name on the kit was foreshadowing nobody knew about until recently — including the Blue Man marketing team.

    In this episode, we dig into the full journey: from a family tradition built around an uncle with an accordion, to classical percussion study, to pit playing Broadway shows, to landing one of the most unique drumming roles in live entertainment.

    Here’s some of what we covered:

    * How growing up watching Neil Peart and Phil Collins shaped her musical identity from the start

    * Why she started on classical piano — and what that gave her as a percussionist

    * The pivot from Broadway pit playing to the Blue Man Group world tour, and what each world taught her about the other

    * The wild audition story — filmed at 115 degrees in a back room in Spain with a rented kit, two hours to record and send it back, and over 100 applicants in the original pool

    * Being flown to New York for the final callback and walking in to find the audition was nothing like what she’d spent two months preparing for

    * What it means to play a character when the character is essentially just you

    * Her time subbing on the Book of Mormon national tour — and what it was like watching audience reactions city to city

    * How a fun COVID project learning Ableton ended up being crucial to landing the Blue Man gig

    * A Cirque du Soleil invite-only audition in London that came directly from a YouTube video she posted just for fun

    * Her upcoming solo project (a band called Lemon) and her work as arranger and orchestrator on the new musical Dust Bowl Radio Hour

    * Why she tells every student: don’t wait for the degree to start networking

    The advice she gave at the end of this episode is the kind of thing that takes most people years to figure out. Start the relationships now. Know your role. Understand that every gig — pit, stage, session, tour — is drumming, but the approach is completely different.

    If this conversation resonated with you, the roadmap for building a career in theater music — the relationships, the mindset, the financial reality — is laid out in my book Broadway Bound and Beyond.

    Get your copy at broadwayboundbook.com

    Clayton Craddock is 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.

    www.claytoncraddock.com


    Get full access to Broadway Bound and Beyond at www.broadwayboundandbeyond.com/subscribe

    Podcast #107 - Mackenna Tolfa Jun 27, 2026
    Show notes

    Mackenna Tolfa is the first featured female drummer in Blue Man Group history. She plays ‘The Rockstar’ on the current North American Tour — the character she originated on the World Tour in 2021 after performing in more than 20 countries. Before returning to Blue Man, she held the drum chair on the national tours of Mean Girls and The Book of Mormon. She’s also the orchestrator and arranger for The Dust Bowl Radio Hour, a new musical with a concept album.

    In this conversation we get into how all of it happened. How she chose the University of Minnesota specifically to study with Fernando Meza, the original percussionist for The Lion King. How she wrote a letter to the drummer from The Band’s Visit as a high school student, had it delivered to the stage door, and how that relationship eventually led to her finding out about the Blue Man audition years later.

    And the audition itself. She was in a remote desert town in Spain — 400 people, no drum set anywhere nearby — when she got the call. She drove two and a half hours, rented the one kit in a back room, and filmed her audition in 115-degree heat with no air conditioning. She booked the role.

    We also get into what it means to originate a role versus step into a chair, how the Book of Mormon book is one of the most technically demanding on tour right now, and why following curiosity sideways — marimba physicality, Ableton, a fun cover video — has shaped her career in ways she never planned.

    Catch this episode wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you’re finding value in these conversations, please leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts — it helps other musicians find the show.

    Resources

    If you’re serious about landing a gig in this business, start with the free How to Land a Broadway Gig Roadmap. It breaks down how the industry actually works — who the key players are, how relationships drive hiring, and how to position yourself to get the call. Free with any subscription to Broadway Drumming 101.broadwayboundbook.com/roadmap

    For the full picture, pick up Broadway Bound and Beyond: A Musician’s Guide to Building a Theater Career. Everything the roadmap introduces, the book goes deeper on — the mindset, the preparation, the relationships, and the financial side of sustaining a career long-term.broadwayboundbook.com

    And coming soon — Broadway Bound and Beyond: The Course. The Career Foundation Every Working Musician Needs (But Nobody Teaches). More details dropping soon. Stay subscribed.

    Clayton Craddock is 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.

    www.claytoncraddock.com


    Get full access to Broadway Bound and Beyond at www.broadwayboundandbeyond.com/subscribe

    Karl Latham - The Broadway Drumming 101 Classic Podcast (Video) Jun 26, 2026
    Show notes

    Dizzy Gillespie didn’t hand his name to just anyone. Karl Latham played in the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars. Then he played in the Dizzy Gillespie Afro-Latin Experience alongside Paquito D’Rivera. Two different bands carrying one legend’s name, and Karl had a chair in both.

    We recorded this conversation back in February 2022. It’s been sitting on the Broadway Drumming 101 YouTube channel for a while. Now the audio is finally out everywhere you listen — Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your shows. A lot has changed for Karl since we sat down, including new Broadway credits that weren’t on his resume yet when we hit record.

    Karl’s career doesn’t sit in one lane. He’s played with Claudio Roditi, Slide Hampton, Clark Terry, Jon Faddis, and Cyrus Chestnut. He’s logged time with Edgar Winter and Johnny Winter. He was music director for The Shirelles. He’s worked with Mark Egan’s UNIT1, the Bernie Worrell Orchestra, and a long list of players most drummers only get to study, not stand next to.

    His Broadway sub list reads the same way. Hamilton. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Ain’t Too Proud. Bring It On. Two Strangers. Five different shows, five different chairs, all earned the same way every sub gig gets earned: somebody trusted him enough to make the call.

    Karl leads his own projects too. He co-leads Big Fun(k) with Don Braden. He co-led Constellations, the group that picked up a nomination for the 2016 BMW Welt Jazz Award. As a leader, he’s released Dancing Spirits, Resonance, and two volumes of Living Standards — the second one bringing in Wolfgang Lackerschmid, Mark Egan, Henry Hey, Mitch Stein, and Roger Squitero.

    And he never stopped teaching. Karl is the current Co-Chair of the Percussive Arts Society Education Committee. He’s adjunct faculty at four schools: Drew University, County College of Morris, Raritan Valley Community College, and Blair Academy. Touring, recording, subbing on Broadway, and teaching at four schools. Most people pick one career. Karl runs four in parallel.

    Karl is an endorsing artist for Yamaha Drums, Paiste Cymbals, ProMark Drumsticks, Evans Drumheads, Big Fat Snare, AEA Microphones, Radial Engineering, Heil Sound, ProLogix Percussion, and RME.

    Press play. And if this episode gives you something, leave us a five-star review wherever you listen. It takes thirty seconds and it means a lot to the show.

    If you’re serious about your own path in this industry, pick up Broadway Bound and Beyond at broadwayboundbook.com. Signed copies at signaturebrandworks.com.

    Clayton Craddock is 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.

    www.claytoncraddock.com


    Get full access to Broadway Bound and Beyond at www.broadwayboundandbeyond.com/subscribe

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