Larry Lelli: Playing Drums in Broadway Theater

Larry is known as a "musical chameleon", easily switching from one musical style to another, and that's part of the reason he is one of the top-call freelance drummers in NYC. His eclectic resume spans the gamut from major pop/rock artists, to jazz to country and even classical percussion. He is currently the drummer for the Tony Award winning hit Broadway musical, "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying", at The Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Prior to that he was the drummer and In-House Contractor for the hit rockabilly Broadway show "Million Dollar Quartet" at the Nederlander Theatre, as well as the drummer & Associate Conductor for "Pal Joey", all after completing a multi-year run as the drummer for the 12 time Tony Award winning hit Broadway musical, "The Producers". He also maintains a busy schedule filled with studio recording projects for artists, film and TV jingles, along with live gigs around New York and occasional major artist tours. It doesn't matter where he is or what style of music he's playing, Larry is simply happiest when he's behind his drums.
For more info on Larry, visit him at www.larrylelli.com

[@jalen2467]

To the man who said punk bands are harder, I have to disagree. I have a personal love for PTH and dream theater, I've been playing progressive metal for years. However, I have to say some musicals take the drums and turn them into a fine tuned instrument. Every accent and ghost note and cymbal strike matters. It's an expression of the character arc and everything has to be taken into consideration. The playing is very different and singers take a whole lot of liberties, which means you're paying CLOSE attention to everybody else because the whole song could change dramatically at any moment. You have to turn your pages mid song and not let anything feel interrupted. Pay close attention to your conductor. Play VERY specific lines sometimes (I'm learning Heathers right now and I LOVE it). Bottom line: if there's competition in any genre there's is a reason for that. It's all challenging in its own way and no genre should be slammed. Percussion perfection comes with a love of music and art and how it all intertwines. I hope you come around someday. The more genres you know the more work you'll get!

[@therealmatthew293]

I met him! He's awesome!

[@Drummasterjay]

Excelling as a percussionist first and then a drummer will get you so far.

[@ellenlewitt]

Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge.

[@AntonioDavidPickett]

So cool! Right now I am drumming for my high school musical and it is super fun.

[@garypugh1153]

very informative video. thanx.

[@julianisdope]

people can aspire to be anything they want to be

[@addisonbuddha]

This is wonderful! My beautiful husband needs to be doing this, too! Go, Larry!

[@SaneTheBro]

Hey i love How to Succeed

[@tjdrummer13]

haha funny coincidence, I've been drumming for local productions for about 3 years now, and I've just worked my way up into a much bigger production company doing 'The Wedding Singer', a show I've already done before. But the thing is, my first two productions were 'Camelot' as Larry says, and 'Anything goes' that he references...something tells me I should keep going with this.

[@ramonjhernandez2436]

Hi, I've been working towards a career hopefully as a drummer in cirque du soleil, cruise ships or Broadway. I live in Orlando so we've got a decent amount of possibilities in all three. I have a question, if you don't mind. I've got the basic books; the Jim chapin book, the new breed, syncopation, odd time reading text Louis bellson & Gil breines and you might know this book, metalmorphosis by Nelson's drummer Bobby Rock. Awesome book he covers, surprisingly alot of technique like Latin, linear drumming, syncopation and alot more. My question is, when I'm working on an exercise (I'm a perfectionist) and I'm trying get it perfectly, and days go by, a week maybe more,is there a point when i should move on? Or should i keep on trying to play the exercise perfectly.

[@lukedunlap9543]

Larry Lelli play drums and he also play percussions.

[@fuzzylightning]

I love how this guy dresses like its 1994

[@madscouts]

Amazing work Larry. Question...what happens if you break a head during the show? Backup snare at the ready?

[@davidleesticks]

I was wondering how do you get a job in broadway as a drummer? Are there any websites you have to join?

[@TheHellpoy]

David Lee Well, the jobs for pit musicians get announced on certain websites which provide mainly music-specific job announcements. If you have enough of a "name" and/or studied drumset/percussion, you might get an audition for it.

[@mikkovaltonen3564]

1. Practice your ass off. Take lessons or go to music college. Get your sight reading chops up 2. Listen to and play loads of different genres to become as versatile as possible, as well as get familiar with musical theater scores 3. If in vicinity of NYC, go see as many shows as you can, stand by the back door and try to get a hold of the drummer. Get to know drummers and exchange contact information 4. If you get a subbing, do as good a job as humanly possible, that will estabilish you as a reliable guy. Hope this helps! :)

[@noobsmoke261]

That's honestly the dumbest thing i've ever heard. Some punk band has music billions times harder than Orchestral/theater music. I've participated in multiple orchestra's, and I can confidently say that Protest the Hero or Dream Theater's music is miles times harder than most theater. The poly-rhythms and weird time signature changes like 7/8-27/16-15/8 and stuff just make it beautiful to play.

[@TheHellpoy]

Sebastian Townsend I think you just played the wrong shows in that sense. I played musical theatre for 4 years now and came across the craziest stuff.