While I was in Appleton, Wisconsin, I took a detour that I’m honestly still geeked about—I stopped by the national tour of Hamilton to hang with drummer Jeff Roberts. Jeff’s been with the tour since mid 2025, and we dug into his path through the New York City scene, where he’s played a bunch of mainstay musicals and even helped with the development side of shows that eventually made it to Broadway. If you’ve ever wondered what the pipeline looks like from “workshopping” a show to getting it on a big stage, Jeff lays it out in a really grounded, working-musician way. We also get into the real differences between playing in NYC versus doing the touring version of a major production—what changes, what stays the same, and what your day-to-day looks like when the show moves city to city. And because I’m me, we spend time on the actual drum setup: Jeff walks me through his rig and how it supports the book. We even touch on Ableton on Broadway—how it fits into modern theater drumming and why it’s part of the conversation now. If you’re into drums, gear, and the behind-the-scenes reality of high-level gigs, this one’s a fun “Off The Beaten Path” episode.