Conversations with Creative Women
“For Andrea Grody her extensive resume is a testament to her talent. She’s the Music Director, Supervisor, Vocal and Incidental Arranger for the Broadway hit musical TOOTSIE. She ‘did’ the same for THE BAND’S VISIT, which won 10 Tony Awards. Andrea’s whose Off-Broadway and regional theater credits are extensive, also wrote STRANGE FACES, a full-length musical. There’s a lot to learn about musical theater from this inspiring, accomplished, creative woman.”
Read a transcript of the podcast.
Beyond the Lights
“On today’s show, I speak with Andrea Grody, a music director and music supervisor. Andrea has been on two of the bigger Broadway shows over the last few years, The Band’s Visit and Tootsie—two pretty different shows. She walks me through a little of what those processes looked like and the different challenges they each presented. I so enjoyed getting a small glimpse of what it takes to create a new musical and I know you will too.”
Read a transcript of the podcast.
The Interval
Season of the Female Music Director
“Over the past three months, I’ve interviewed and researched female music directors, ranging from well-established to early career, including two making their Broadway debuts this season. Many spoke of the challenges they’ve faced, including gender bias in hiring practices and in the rehearsal room, but they were also fairly optimistic about the direction in which the industry is headed, and many are interested in attempts to right the systemic wrongs of gender bias within theatre.”
Read the article here.
Princeton Alumni Weekly
“While audience members can see her steering the musicians with her hands — and with her head when her hands are on the keyboard — Grody’s creative juices touch much that the audience can’t see, but they hear and feel throughout the production. She teaches the actors their songs, guides how the songs are performed, and makes sure that the way the scenes come together musically makes sense. Her job as music director, she explains, is to “oversee how the music tells the story.”
Read the article here.
Broadway News
Little-known theater jobs: music supervisor
When Andrea Grody was in college she met Michael Friedman, the late Obie Award-winning composer and lyricist known for Broadway’s “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.” Grody began her own career on the music side of theater as Friedman’s music assistant. Soon, she began music directing for small projects and realized her passion for the craft, so she gave up music-assisting and landed the job as music director and music supervisor for “The Band’s Visit,” with music and lyrics by David Yazbek. Today, Grody is the music supervisor and director of “Suffs,” for which she also co-wrote vocal and incidental arrangements. Additionally, she conducts the new musical.
Read the article here.
Broadway World
Words From the Wings: SUFFS Music Director and Music Supervisor Andrea Grody
After the band is tuned and I tell stage management we’re ready to go, we have a few moments before the standby light goes on to start the show. That’s when I turn on my talkback microphone and say random silly things to the band. Sometimes we talk about the interesting audience members they can see sitting behind me in the conductor monitor. Sometimes I tell them what I made for lunch. We can get interrupted any second; I have started many a dumb story and had to stop after one sentence. It’s a nice moment of zaniness before a long period of intense focus.
Read the article here.
Broadway Breakdown
Making SUFFS March w/ Andrea Grody
The Great American B*tch…”
SUFFS Music Director, Arranger and Supervisor Andrea Grody stops by the podcast to talk about all things SUFFS as well as her other major musical contributions to the theatre (including her work on the Tony winning musical THE BAND’S VISIT).
Read the article here.
Seth Speaks
I was on a podcast with Seth Rudetsky. It’s on SiriusXM, so I don’t think you can link directly to the podcast episode, but if you figure out a way to do it, let me know! The episode aired in early July 2024. If we use a photo, use the iconography for his podcast or his website.