An Interview with our Music Director

Jon Kaflebleisch, Signature's resident music director and all around music guru sat down with the Hairline to chat about Hairspray. Don't know Jon? If you had the chance to see Side by Side by Sondheim, he was the guy playing the piano on stage. I guess he can officially check acting off his bucket list!


Hairspray Hairline: So it’s been five months since we’ve seen you. What have you been up to?


Jon Kaflebleisch: After Side By Side By Sondheim at Signature, over the summer, I conducted a terrific production of The King and I at Ash Lawn Opera with fantastic voices, a 26-piece orchestra and Broadway costumes.  You can visit my new website, www.jonkalbfleisch.com, like my fan page on face book, and keep up with my various musical endeavors.

HH: You’ve conducted everything from Bernstein’s Mass to the Broadway production of Les Miserables. Is it strange to work on something as stylistically divergent as Hairspray? Does  your approach change at all while working on show like this?

JK: It was Bernstein that wrote about "The Infinite Variety of Music", and I happen to love that variety!  My piano teacher always said that you could study music for a lifetime and barely scratch the surface, so for me it's always fun to constantly discover new things.  My approach to Hairspray is the same as to Sweeney Todd or to Mozart.  The trick is extracting the right style from all these different composers;  it's beyond what's on the page, but how you do it that really makes it interesting.  Duke Ellington said, "If it sounds good, it is good.", so I just try to make sure it sounds good.  

HH: Hairspray’s composer, Marc Shaiman, is probably most well known for writing the score to Hairspray but we noticed he actually started out writing cabaret music for Bette Midler. Do you feel like that sort of experience-base has informed his work? 

JK: Marc Shaiman may not be the theatrical household name of Sondheim, or Kander & Ebb, but his music is known anyway.  Not only did he do cabaret acts for Better Midler, he recently did Martin Short's Broadway show, lots of Academy Award opening numbers, and many films, including work on South Park: The Movie.  His music for Hairspray perfectly evokes the 60s style, but with a fresh, likable, Broadway sound that is extremely well-written.  His back-up writing is just brilliant, and it's my guess that all those cabaret shows helped him refine that skill.

HH: Any other random bits of information you’d like to share with our followers?

JK: I'm thrilled to be conducting a special benefit concert performance of The Visit at the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway on November 30. Chita Rivera and most of the cast from the acclaimed Signature Theatre production of that show will perform that incredible score for the first time in NY, and we're all very excited about it.