Photo courtesy of artist.

By Ben Camp
Contributing Writer

It is not by happenstance that the first thing you notice while entering Alex Lacamoire’s office is his keyboard— a dedicated focus on music is one of his top priorities. It is that very focus which has led to Alex’s tremendous successes on Broadway: arrangements for the Tony Award-winning “Wicked,” orchestrations for “High Fidelity,” a Tony Award for his orchestrations on “In The Heights” and a Grammy Award for producing its cast album.

Oh yeah, and he’s a Berklee grad.

Lacamoire attended Berklee from ‘93 to ‘95, tested into the top levels of Ear Training, Harmony, and Arranging on arrival, and took a driven, fast-track approach to his studies. He majored in Professional Music with an emphasis in Arranging & Orchestration, with some Film Scoring thrown in. I sat down with Alex at the Richard Rogers theatre, where he is currently the Music Supervisor for “Heights,” to talk about his experiences from Berklee to Broadway.

Professionally, you’ve had some tremendous successes. Before we get into those, I’m curious to know how you made the transition from Berklee to…not Berklee?

I stayed in Boston for about a year and a half after I graduated. I was fortunate that I had great people to work with. I played on the Spirit of Boston for two years as a pianist and a singer – even though I’m not really a singer! I played there with other Berklee musicians such as Anthony Vitti, Bill D’Agostino and Ken Zambello, and we all had a great time. I played gigs there at night, and during the day I accompanied vocal lessons at Boston Conservatory, which increased my musical theater repertoire and allowed me to meet people in the theater world. I would also play theater auditions around town where I had to sight-read and sight-transpose all the time. All of those skills brewed this perfect concoction such that right before I moved to New York, I got hired to play auditions for Broadway’s “The Lion King” while they were looking for actors in Boston. The music director flew in from New York to hear the singers, and when he heard me play he said ‘When you move to New York, call me.’ It was definitely very one-thing-led-to-another.

And what made you want to move to New York? Was it ‘The Lion King?’

Well, I had already made the decision to move before I had gotten the offer from Lion King. I thought I was going to just show up in New York, call all my Berklee friends and say “Hey I’m in town, let me know if you got any jazz gigs for me.” That would have been a total disaster, because I’m not a jazz pianist—I studied jazz at Berklee, but it wasn’t really my calling. Back then, if I had a choice between listening to Miles or listening to Zeppelin, I would have chosen Zeppelin.

You seem to have found a great niche, and are doing some wonderful work here!

I’m very thankful. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t realize how lucky I am to be doing what I love to do. I never had to take an office gig. I’ve never had a job that wasn’t music-related. I feel very, very fortunate.

What was your favorite part of Berklee?

I loved all the hands-on experience that you could get if you went after it. I loved being able to go into the studios at three in the morning if you wanted to. It was great to have the Learning Center, to be able to just grab a computer and learn how to use Finale or a sequencer. And I loved being able to have a jam, just calling up some cats at ten o’clock at night to play Rush tunes or something. I loved that I could take a class about Stravinsky, and then two hours later play in the Free-Jazz ensemble. I loved the diversity. Being able to study that wide a range of music is important, and I think it keeps you well-rounded, and it keeps your ears and your mind open.

Absolutely, and I think that diversity shows in your music. Looking even just at ‘In The Heights,’ the arrangements have such a wide range stylistically, and yet all work together in one show.

Yes. What’s great about Lin [Manuel Miranda, composer and lyricist for Heights] is that he knows about all those styles of music. He happens to be like people of our generation who appreciate all those genres. His iPod is hysterical—he has all the Jay-Z records, but you’ll also find Kings Of Leon, Phil Collins’ Greatest Hits and the soundtrack to Camelot. He really digs all that stuff. He genuinely loves music. The fact that he has all this inside of him and that it comes out so naturally is what makes him so unique and so good. As an arranger, I feel that if music comes from the heart, if it’s genuine and if it’s melody-based, you can do anything with it.

And you have quite a talent for arranging. What would you say was the most fun project you’ve worked on as an arranger?

“In The Heights” is definitely my baby. I put so much work into it, and I was really tireless about it. Bill Sherman and I just toiled and worked on those charts until everything was right and every decision made us happy. We had a lot of arguments and disagreements along the way, but in that process we both arrived at something that we both dug. I have put so much of my life and my love into Heights, and it’s gonna be rare to find an experience where I do something like that again.

You think?

Yeah, only because the show is so unique and so pioneering. Plus, it taps into my Cuban heritage. I don’t want to say it’s ahead of it’s time but –

It’s setting its time?

Yeah, I think so. The year it came out, the only other original musical was “Passing Strange.” Everything else was either based on a book or a movie, or it was a revival. So it was great to be involved with something so trendsetting—I don’t know if there will be a “trend” of salsa or hip-hop shows, but it definitely opened the door for hip-hop and salsa music to exist on Broadway.

As musical theater becomes more open to a pop and hip-hop sensibilities, are you finding the players can keep up?

I have very high standards, and I’ve found that it’s hard to find people who completely understand the gig. Now that I’ve been here for a while I have a certain “crew” that I like to call for gigs, but not every musician is right for every type of show. I may call one bass player for “The Wiz” but I won’t call him to play “Wicked” because they’re different shows. And for me, you can learn a lot about a musician by how well they sub on a show. If you’re a drummer for the shows that I work on, you have to be consistent, you need great time, and you need to know how to play lots of grooves. And if you’re a drum sub, you got to sound like THAT drummer. For example, if you’re playing completely different fills than the regular player, and if you play a crash where there isn’t supposed to be one, or if you don’t play a floor tom where there’s supposed to be a floor tom— that little stuff gets noticed. The cast relies on those figures, even if you don’t know it. People don’t realize how particular and precise it needs to be — and furthermore [as a sub] you don’t get rehearsals. You got to show up, at 8:05 the baton goes down and you just have to kill it.

Do you have any advice for Berklee students striving to be professional performers?

My general advice to anyone is to follow your heart. But you should also know your limitations and either improve them or accept them. If you don’t quite do a style as well as you want to, then shed it. If you know something isn’t in your bag, then don’t act like it is.

What’s the most valuable thing a student could do during their time at school?

It sounds so funny, but you just need to pay attention. Just take it seriously and know that there’s something to be gained and something to be learned from every experience. As frustrating as a subject may be, stick to it and try to make it work, and work until it makes sense to you. The faculty at Berklee has always been great, and the opportunities have always been amazing. Rise to the occasion. Do the homework assignments they provide and just really “be there” and be present. You’ll learn a lot.

How much do you think Berklee had to do with getting you where you are today?

A lot. Berklee was my first time away from home, where I had to figure out how to be by myself and work for what I wanted. I would ask myself: “If I want to be in an ensemble, what do I have to do to make it happen? I have to get up at six in the morning to get in line the day registration opens,” or “I have to get better ratings to be in that ensemble, so I need to shed.” It taught me to really go for what I wanted to go for. I loved the camaraderie that I had there, and I loved being able to find other people who have that same passion for music and click with them and play with them and just be with them. I got hands-on experience with a computer, with Finale, to learn how parts should look on a page. I also learned some things in the “reverse” way: by being with people who WEREN’T passionate about music and who weren’t at “that” level, I learned what it is that I didn’t want to be with, what I didn’t want to attract, and how to rise above that and seek where it is that I needed to be.

If you want to be there, you’ll make it happen.