Majestic Theatre
Opened April 22, 2026
Closes September 6, 2026
Beaches Musicians
Paul Staroba
Conductor/Keyboard 1
Jodie Moore
Keyboard 2/Associate Conductor
Dave Noland
Reed 1 - Piccolo/Flute/Clarinet/
Alto Sax
Emily Pecoraro
Reed 2 - Flute/Clarinet/Tenor Sax
Mike Raposo
Reed 3 - Clarinet/Bass Clarinet/
Tenor Sax/Bari Sax
Alana Gartrell
French Horn
Raul Agraz
Trumpet 1/Piccolo Trumpet/
C Trumpet/Flugelhorn
Bruce Harris
Trumpet 2/Flugelhorn
Nate Mayland
Trombone/Bass Trombone
Jordan Rose
Drums
Grant Braddock
Percussion
Robin Macatangay
Guitars - Electric/Archtop/
Acoustic/Banjo
Steve Count
Upright Bass/Electric Bass
Lynette Wardle
Harp
Hiroko Taguchi
Concertmaster
Suzy Perelman
Violin
Todd Low
Violin/Viola
Katherine Cherbas
Cello
Music Team
Joseph Thalken
Music Supervisor/Music Arrangments
Paul Staroba
Music Director
Charlie Rosen
Orchestrator
Anixter Rice Music Service, Russ Anixter, Richard Rockage, and Danielle Gimbal
Music Preparation
Chloe Geller
Music Assistant
Michael Aarons
Musical Coordinator
Anja Wood
Associate Musical Coordinator
Musician Bios
Paul Staroba
Conductor / Keyboard 1
Paul Staroba is originally from Santa Rosa, California in the heart of the wine country in the Sonoma Valley. After receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, he took a leap of faith and moved to New York City to pursue a career in professional theatre.
Credits:
Broadway: Beaches, The Queen of Versailles, SMASH, Elf, Back to the Future, Company, A Christmas Carol, My Fair Lady, War Paint, A Gentleman’s Guide To Love and Murder, Next to Normal, A Little Night Music, and Grey Gardens.
Off-Broadway: A Christmas Carol, The Mad Ones, Dear Evan Hansen, Far From Heaven, Carrie, The Blue Flower, Take Me Along, Happiness, and Saved.
Favorite Regional Engagements Include: The Flamingo Kid (Hartford Stage), Big Fish (Chicago Pre-Broadway), and I Am Anne Hutchinson/I Am Harvey Milk (Strathmore).
He has also performed for four seasons with the Radio City Christmas Spectacular Orchestra; been featured in concert with Kristin Chenoweth, Patti LuPone, and Lea Salonga; and performed in the pit of over 25 Broadway shows.
Dave Noland
Reed 1 - Piccolo / Flute / Clarinet / Alto Sax
Emily Pecoraro
Reed 2 - Flute / Clarinet / Tenor Sax
Brooklyn/Queens-based saxophonist and woodwind doubler Emily Pecoraro is known for her divergent ventures across the musical spectrum. In addition to her myriad creative pursuits, Emily is a staple of the Broadway pit orchestra community, having worked or subbed on over a dozen Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, and spent 5 consecutive seasons as a chair holder in the orchestra for The Christmas Spectacular featuring the Radio City Rockettes.
Emily has played for such Broadway and television luminaries as: Jimmy Fallon, Steven Colbert, Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond, Naomi Watts, Bill Murray, Carla Gugino, Seth McFarlane, David Foster, Raye, Amber Ruffin, Lorna Luft, Lea Michele, Kurt Elling, Lauren Graham, Kelly Bishop, Kelli O’Hara, Adrienne Warren, Gaten Matarazzo, Marc Shaiman, Audra McDonald, Katharine McPhee, Kate Nash, Joshua Groban, Norm Lewis, Sara Bareilles, Phillipa Soo, John Tesh, Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster, Lea Salonga, Terrence Mann, Shaina Taub, Jenn Colella, Nikki M. James, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Bobby Cannavale, David Hyde Pierce, Jennifer Holliday, Kate Baldwin, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jennifer Simard, and Alex Brightman, among many others.
With a creative output embracing both groove-based and classical music, Emily has performed or recorded with such acts as: The New York Pops, Guster, Hal Willner’s Amarcord Nino Rota, Lady Lamb, Red Baraat, The 8-Bit Big Band, Bill Frisell, Laurie Anderson, Steven Bernstein, Billy Martin, Billy Stritch, The Ed Palermo Big Band, The Big Apple Circus, Brooklyn Wind Symphony, as well as many others. Emily is the leader and composer for EMPECTET, an electro-acoustic Chamber Jazz group which received a coveted Performance Plus grant through Chamber Music America for their 2025 season. This grant will support the completion of the band’s forthcoming concept album entitled “RUNAWAYS SUITE”, produced by the great Steven Bernstein, which will reimagine Elizabeth Swados’s groundbreaking work “RUNAWAYS” through a kaleidoscopic improvisatory lens.
Emily played the role of Saxophone Barbie™️ at both Royal Albert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl for Barbie the Movie in Concert. Her playing can also be heard on the South Park 25th Anniversary Special from Comedy Central, as well as in a handful of commercials, films, and other such similar projects. And for many years, Emily played lead alto saxophone for both The Temptations and The Four Tops “New York” horn section, backing up the living Motown legends Otis Williams and Duke Fakir, and was also a regular tenor and alto saxophone soloist with The Temptations Revue featuring the late Motown legend Dennis Edwards.
As an administrator, Emily was the Founder and Program Director for WIJO Mentors, the Women in Jazz Organization’s collegiate mentorship program, from its inception in 2018 through the conclusion of the 2021 academic session. She also was the Founder, Artistic Director, and Curator of The Variousound Sessions, an experimental concert series which held monthly residencies at Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and previously Pine Box Rock Shop in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Emily was the Founder and Co-Director of the Quarantined Woodwind Ensemble, a Covid-era virtual project featuring a rotating roster of 160+ woodwind and percussion players from the Broadway and Jazz communities in New York.
Emily holds her M.M. in Multiple Woodwind Performance from The Boston Conservatory, with concentrations in saxophone, clarinet, and flute. She also holds a B.M. in Music Education from Ithaca College, with an additional emphasis on jazz performance and pedagogy alongside traditional studies in music education.
And because variety is the spice of life, Emily also works professionally as a freelance florist in and around the New York City area, where she has designed arrangements for the Comedy Central television program “Broad City” as well as a handful of other celebrity clients.
Emily currently resides in Ridgewood/Bushwick with her husband, jazz trumpeter Bobby Spellman, and their two toilet-trained cats (yes, really).
For more please visit EMPECMUSIC.com
Mike Raposo
Reed 3 - Clarinet / Bass Clarinet / Tenor Sax / Bari Sax
Raul Agraz
Trumpet 1 - Piccolo Trumpet / C Trumpet / Flugelhorn
Trained in the legendary musical conservatory of Caracas, Venezuela this trumpet player is indeed one of the most comprehensively prepared musicians alive today. Raul is a complete master of Jazz, Afro-Cuban and Classical repertoire in a way that almost defies description. Equally at home playing the music of Bach, Machito, or Coltrane, Raul lends a textbook perfection to everything he does. From his burnished tone and clock-like precision as a sight reader to his incisive solo skills, “this guy is the definition of a trumpet player's trumpet player.” -Oscar Hernandez
Born and raised in Venezuela, his musical career began to take shape at the early age of 7, with the internationally famous choir "Niños Cantores De Villa de Cura." With this choir, he traveled to many international choir congresses throughout the world, including performances in France, Spain, USA, Belgium, and Vienna among others.
About this same time, he began to play flute to learn how to read music. Soon after he switched to the French Horn, but at 9 years old, he discovered his passion: the trumpet. In a very short time, he became the principal trumpet player for the orchestra accompanying the same choir.
He attended the superior school of music, "Jose Angel Lamas" in Caracas, Venezuela to begin his formal classical education with Albreth Egon, a German native and principal trumpet of the Venezuela Philharmonic.
At the age of 17, he had the opportunity to work with different classical Orchestras including the international Venezuela Symphony Simon Bolivar (from the Venezuela system) (aragua) founded by Jose Antonio Abreu.
After a long career in Venezuela, having the opportunity to work and record with the most important artists of his country, he relocated to New York in 1996 and began studying with the great Victor Paz, lead trumpet for 18 years for the musical Cats among many other artists.
He was the Lead trumpet player for the super smash hit, winner of four Tony awards, and a Grammy including Best Orchestrations: In The Heights. He also played lead for the national tour of Movin’ Out: the Billie Joel Musical, and on Broadway The Book Of Mormon for over 12 years.
Throughout his career he had the opportunity to perform as a lead trumpet player in a variety of styles including Jazz, Rock, R&B, Latin, and Classical. He was invited to record the new theme for the Super Bowl with the New York Philharmonic sitting next to Mr. Phil Smith and music of John Williams.
Album: Between Brothers
Bruce Harris
Trumpet 2
Bruce Harris is a New York-based jazz trumpeter, educator, and curator known for his deep connection to the bebop tradition and his versatility across the full spectrum of jazz styles. His playing reflects a rare ability to authentically channel the language of the swing era, bebop, and modern jazz while maintaining a distinct and personal voice rooted in clarity, swing, and expressive storytelling. Harris has performed internationally as both a leader and sideman, appearing at major venues and festivals across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa. He was a featured artist for International Jazz Day in Accra, Ghana (2024), and has performed in Doha and China with Jazz at Lincoln Center.
A seasoned Broadway musician, Harris has performed in productions including After Midnight, Shuffle Along, A Wonderful World, Harry Connick Jr.’s Tribute to Cole Porter, BOOP!, and currently, Beaches. His work in theater highlights his stylistic flexibility and high-level musicianship across genres.
As an educator and curator, Harris serves as Director of Jazz at the Louis Armstrong House Museum, where he leads forward-thinking programming that connects archival jazz history with contemporary performance. His work includes artist residencies, educational initiatives, and original productions.
Harris is also the creator and host of the YouTube series To Be or Not to Bop, a platform dedicated to jazz listening, education, and storytelling, engaging both musicians and broader audiences.
As a recording artist, his projects reflect a deep commitment to the bebop lineage, including his recent release Thank You, Barry Harris! with pianist Ehud Asherie, honoring the legacy and teachings of Barry Harris.
Nate Mayland
Trombone / Bass Trombone
Trombonist Nate Mayland is fortunate to play in the classical, commercial and jazz scenes in New York City. He has performed and recorded with The Knights Orchestra, The American Ballet Theater, The Orchestra of St. Lukes, The Mark Morris Dance Company, The Maria Schneider Orchestra, jazz pianist Aaron Diehl, Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, dozens of jingles, and performed in the pits of over sixty Broadway shows on trombone, bass trombone and tuba.
He was a founding member of The Birdland Big Band, The Pedro Guiraudo Expansions Ensemble, The Filmharmonic Brass, and has performed with Tori Amos, Erykah Badu, Busta Rhymes, Billy Idol, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, The Chico O’Farrill Jazz Orchestra and… The Lawrence Welk Orchestra in Branson!
Mr. Mayland’s playing and composing can be heard on his own records with his jazz quintet The Wishbone Project, which features a front line of voice and trombone. He studied with the legendary Edward Kleinhammer of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and completed an undergraduate degree in Orchestral Performance at Indiana University, where he studied under David Baker, M. Dee Stewart and Scott Hartmann.
Grant Braddock
Percussion
Grant Braddock is a freelance drummer, percussionist, and educator based in New York City. Broadway credits include Beaches - A New Musical, A Beautiful Noise - The Neil Diamond Musical, Caroline, or Change, Tootsie, Escape to Margaritaville, and Amazing Grace. Grant has toured as a performer with Green Day's American Idiot, The Great Moscow Circus, and Blast!. He holds a B.M. from The University of Oklahoma and a M.M. from Rutgers University.
Lynette Wardle
Harp
An orchestral musician, chamber musician, recording artist, and soloist, Lynette Wardle has a wide-ranging and distinguished career. Praised for her “refined tone production and spot-on rhythmic sense,” she is currently principal harpist of both the Richmond Symphony and the Albany Symphony.
As an active New York City freelancer, Lynette performs regularly with the New Jersey Symphony, New York Pops, New York City Ballet, Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and fills in at the blockbuster Broadway show Wicked. Her recording credits include Grammy Award–winning Albany Symphony albums as well as numerous Original Broadway Cast Recordings, including The Notebook, Camelot, Flying Over Sunset, and Amélie. She has shared the stage and studio with Cynthia Erivo, Kristin Chenowith, Anthony Ross Costanza, Angel Blue, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kelly O’Hara, Megan Hilty, Trisha Yearwood, Olivia Newton-John, Father John Misty, Jason Mraz, Barry Manilow, Johnny Mathis, Marvin Hamlisch, Edgar Meyer, Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, Joshua Bell, and Pavarotti.
Lynette toured with the Tony Award–winning musical The Light in the Piazza and was featured in the New York City Center Encores! 2023 production. She is an integral part of SAXOPHILM: Sounds & Sights of the Roaring 20’s, a multi-media concert production. And for the holiday seasons, Lynette has been in the orchestras for A Christmas Story: The Musical, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the world-famous Rockettes, and Balanchine’s iconic Nutcracker.
She holds a Master of Music in Orchestral Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and a B.A. from the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah.
Hiroko Taguchi
Concertmaster
Suzy Perelman
Violin
Violinist Suzy Perelman is overjoyed to be playing Beaches on Broadway. As a sub or a regular, Suzy has performed in the orchestras of 46 shows on Broadway.
A former member of the Utah and San Antonio Symphonies, Suzy performs orchestra and chamber music concerts regularly throughout the NY, NJ, and PA area. Recent venues include NYC's Geffen Hall, Carnegie Hall, as well as Radio City Music Hall where she is the concertmaster of The Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes.
Suzy is the first violinist of The Broadway Strings, a small ensemble that specializes in performing Broadway repertoire. As part of the Broadway Strings, Suzy performed with Broadway legend Patti LuPone in 12 concert halls throughout the country this past winter.
During the pandemic, Suzy established Concerts in the Courtyard, a free outdoor concert series open to the public in front of her brownstone in NYC. During the warmer months, Suzy performs in those concerts in her courtyard every 3 weeks or so.
In addition to performing, Suzy loves cycling, word games, long walks, new adventures, time with friends and family, and teaching her Suzuki violin students.
Suzy holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Case Western Reserve University, and Carnegie Mellon University.
Katherine Cherbas
Cello
Cellist Katherine Cherbas caught the Broadway bug as a child, when she attended A Chorus Line at the Shubert Theatre during a family vacation. Seeing and hearing the musicians in the pit at that performance sparked a dream of becoming a Broadway pit musician herself. She is thrilled to live that dream daily as the cellist of Beaches at the Majestic Theater, and as a chair holder or substitute on more than 50 other Broadway and off-Broadway productions over the last 20 years.
As an orchestral player, she has performed with many of the area’s noted ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Encores! Orchestra at New York City Center, and the American and New Jersey Symphonies. Her interests as a chamber musician range from Baroque continuo playing to collaborations with composers on new works. She has recorded on the Albany, Tzadik, Harmolodic, Delos, Naxos, and Sony labels and has been heard on NBC’s Today Show, BBC3 Radio, Live from Lincoln Center, Great Performances, and other national and international broadcasts.
Katherine holds degrees from Columbia University, The Juilliard School, and Stony Brook University. When not performing, she often can be found dodging foul balls at her son’s college baseball games.