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 Drumming 101 at broadwaydrumming101.substack.com/subscribe
