How Sesame Street Led to Broadway for & Juliet Musical Director Dominic Fallacaro

Producer, composer, and musician Dominic Fallacaro is both musical director and co-orchestrator for the hit Broadway musical & Juliet, which recently celebrated its second anniversary at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.

The Brooklyn-based Fallacaro and Bill Sherman received a 2023 Tony nomination for Best Orchestrations for their work on the jukebox musical that reimagines Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet from the perspective of an empowered Juliet. Fallacaro had made his Broadway debut in 2021 as the alternate conductor for Freestyle Love Supreme.

A Grammy winner for producing Home, named the Best Children's Album of 2015, Fallacaro was also an orchestrator for the film versions of In the Heights and tick, tick,… BOOM! And, he has written a new musical with Andrea Daly, entitled NEXT, that will receive a world premiere sneak peek November 25 at 6 PM at Joe's Pub. The preview of the in-development project—about a woman who dares to chase mystery in her life in a world where all romantic matches are curated by algorithm—will feature a host of Broadway favorites, including Lorna Courtney, Christopher Jackson, Veronica Jackson, Arielle Jacobs, Taylor Iman Jones, Morgan Reilly, and Ciara Renee.

In the interview below for the Playbill series How Did I Get Here—spotlighting not only actors, but directors, designers, musicians, and others who work on and off the stage to create the magic that is live theatre—Fallacaro shares the many hats a Broadway musical director must wear and why relationships are a vital part of success in the industry.

Where did you train/study?
Dominic Fallacaro: I studied jazz piano at the New School in New York. It was a great place to both study with music legends from Reggie Workman to Bernard Purdie, and to also immerse myself in the life of a gigging musician.

Was there a teacher who was particularly impactful/helpful? What made this instructor stand out?
The great saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom taught a class on ballads that I still think about today. She had us learn songs in such a robust way—making sure instrumentalists knew the lyrics to the songs, so that you phrased and thought about melody very intentionally. I’m still lucky enough to play music with her, and it’s always a lesson about being super present and in the moment as an improviser.

Can you detail the responsibilities of a Broadway music director before the show opens and once it's running?
To be a Broadway MD is to wear a lot of hats! While & Juliet was in development, I was focused both on orchestrating the show along with Bill Sherman—both in coming up with what the band played, how it marries with the sonic pop world of Max Martin, and also arranging vocals. A lot of time is spent teaching vocal parts, crafting arrangements, and making sure that it’s set up in a way to run eight shows a week seamlessly.

While the show is running, I’m focused on leading the band each show, conducting, playing piano, running the tracks rig, and making sure musically things are running smoothly. It also includes teaching vocals to new cast members, while also maintaining our incredible voices in the building. It also includes finding and training all the wonderful subs that conduct the chair as well, and giving notes to our fantastic subs in the rest of the band. It’s a ton of moving parts, but made fun by all the wonderful people I get to work with.

Dominic Fallacaro and the company of *& Juliet* in the West End

What were the particular challenges as the music director for & Juliet?
The biggest and most rewarding challenge was getting music that usually lives inside of a computer played dynamically by humans while also retaining all the great pop pixie dust that we know and love in these songs. It was so great to work alongside Max because when there was a question about “what snare drum did you use here” or “what synthesizer is this?” He had all the answers, which meant we could reproduce things really accurately. Another interesting challenge was pop music stays steady on the click, but a piece of live theatre needs to breathe and move with the actors, and so coming up with systems that allowed for actors to emote as they need while also retaining the pop sounds and feel, led us to finding ways to do both in the score.

You were also the co-orchestrator for the film version of In the Heights, and also worked on the film version of tick, tick…BOOM! What was the process for adapting those scores for film?
I was invited to do a couple fun things on In the Heights—it was great to work on a film of that scale with so many amazing creatives. I was able to do a couple sessions conducting the ensemble vocals for some of the bigger numbers in the show, along with scoring some underscore moments—it was a trip to see and hear certain things on the big screen!

For tick, tick…BOOM! I was asked to produce a demo for “Come to Your Senses,” and it went so well that I ended up producing the final version for the record. I’m so proud of the way it came out, and working with that creative team was fantastic. It was great to have access to original demos, and then to try and marry together the heart of those along with some more modern pop elements. I was also doing some vocal coaching with Andrew Garfield for a few weeks, in addition to playing keyboards in the film. It was the first live music that I did post-shutdown, and it was a really emotional experience to be in the room, making music with other people again. I’ll never forget it.

Later this month, there will be a concert of songs from your new musical NEXT. Can you tell me a bit about the genesis of this project and what your goals are?
I was asked if I’d be interested in putting my music producer brain on a theatre project that my friend and collaborator Andrea Daly was writing. She told me about the piece, a sort of Black Mirror meets modern dating premise, and I was in. It’s been fun to make really pop-oriented music, while thinking about how it serves the story, and to make electronic sounds the backdrop to this world we’ve been building. The goal would be to give the piece a future life on stage, and on a recording, as well. This concert is a chance to show off the music we’ve been working so hard on for five years, and have such talented people sing it—Christopher Jackson, Lorna Courtney, Ciara Renee, so many more!

Tell me about a time you almost gave up but didn’t.
I think like a lot of musicians, the pandemic really was a tough time. We had just opened & Juliet on the West End only a couple months before, and it had just started to pick up steam. Based on what a terrible circumstance it was, it was hard to imagine at that time a time in the future when strangers would all gather shoulder to shoulder and take in the arts again. I was lucky enough to have some friends making music during quarantine, and doing some remote recording and production started to get my creative energy flowing again. And I’ll never forget making my Broadway debut with Freestyle Love Supreme as one of the first shows back from shutdown. It was a really moving experience to see an audience and feel the energy of a crowd after being cooped up for such a long time!

Dominic Fallacaro, Max Martin, and Bill Sherman

What do you consider your big break?
I’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of breaks, but an absolute highlight for me was winning a Grammy in 2016 for producing the Best Children’s Album for my dear friend Tim Kubart. It opened the door to writing for Sesame Street, and through that meeting my now frequent collaborator, Bill Sherman, who brought me into the world of & Juliet.

What is the most memorable day job you ever had?
My first job was getting paid to announce my town’s Little League baseball games. Always one to mess with the technology and go for production value, I figured out how to plug my Discman into the system and play my Jock Jams CD for walk-up music.

Is there a person or people you most respect in your field and why?
I have so much respect for anyone in the Broadway community and theatre community at large. It is a hustle to be on an eight-show week, to put yourself out there auditioning, to be a part of something much bigger than yourself, and collaborate at a huge scale. It takes so much dedication from the actors, the backstage crew, and, of course, the musicians.

What advice would you give your younger self or anyone starting out?
Relationships are really everything, and not in a transactional, network-y kind of way. Building friendships and a wide list of collaborators mean that you don’t shoulder the life of a creative on your own. You can help with other’s success, and they, in turn, can lift you up as well. “A rising tide lifts all boats” is definitely something I return to as a touchstone in the life of the arts. Root for your friends, and they root for you!

What is your proudest achievement as a music director/composer?
My proudest achievement is the fact that I’m still here doing it. From getting to work on & Juliet, and having the chance to work on a new show of my own, NEXT, and work with so many amazing artists, it’s a huge blessing. I’ve gotten to record at Abbey Road, perform for the President at the White House. Music has taken me everywhere, and I hope that I’m lucky enough to keep doing it!