BWW Interviews: A Conversation with Chris Barillaro: Music Director, Actor, Composer, Orchestrator, Arranger and Accompanist

Chris Barillaro is one of the busiest men in Montreal. An accomplished Music Director, he is also a busy Actor, Composer, Orchestrator, Arranger and Accompanist.

Born and raised in Montreal, Barillaro got his start at the age of five learning piano, acting and magic. Realizing that he loved doing it all, he stuck with piano and acting, though he says he doesn't do magic professionally. He realized he wanted to go into theatre professionaly by the time he was around 10 years old after playing The Cowardly Lion in his school's production of THE WIZARD OF OZ. High school is where Barillaro got his start music directing, when he was 15, after he was thrust into the position since he knew how to play piano. 23 years later, he still takes piano lessons.

Barillaro is currently working on several projects, including Lyric Theatre Singers' upcoming BACK TO BROADWAY, which opens Thursday, June 11, 2015 at Concordia's DB Clarke Theatre. I had the opportunity to sit down with Barillaro to discuss his past, present and future projects.

HANNIBAL: As one of the busiest men in Montreal, how did you first venture into the professional theatre world?

BARILLARO: My first professional gig was at my old high school, Royal West Academy. They called me after I had graduated and asked me if I would come in to music direct a production. As far as orchestrating, my first job was with CETM (Centre for Education and Theatre in Montreal) for The Spotlight. I was hired as the music director, but we realized we needed an orchestrator. I asked a friend of mine to come in and do it, but with the timeline, which was only four weeks, he didn't think he could, so I wound up doing it out of necessity. Listening back, I think the orchestrations were horrible, but I kept getting jobs, mostly out of necessity. In listening to my orchestrations and hearing what other orchestrators do, I picked up on how to do it better. I'm still learning and developing as I've only been doing it about seven years.

HANNIBAL: Tell me a little bit about your involvement with the Lyric Theatre Singers.

BARILLARO: I met Bob Bachelor when I was still in theatre school. We met again, two years later at CAMMAC (Canadian Amateur Musicians, Musiciens Amateurs du Canada) where I was an accompanist and he was the choral director. We sort of hung out and played through THE LAST FIVE YEARS because he had never heard it and I told him he had to. After that, he called me a few times to do some work at St. George's school, because he used to direct there. I became his music director there for two years or so. Every once in a while, Lyric would call me to sub as a rehearsal pianist. When their former assistant music director left, they asked me if I would take over.

HANNIBAL: How many years have you been with Lyric?

BARILLARO: This is my third season.

HANNIBAL: It seems that no matter how busy you are, you still make the time for Lyric. What is it that brings you back each year?

BARILLARO: Well, it's just really fun. Bob is a big part of it, of course. Working with a choir is not something I had done. I have learned a lot and am still learning how to put together choral pieces. The people are great. It's not something they (the singers) do professionally, it's just for fun, so if they're there, they really want to be there.

HANNIBAL: You also have a busy performance career having just done FOREVER PLAID at the Segal Centre, while music directing BELLES SOEURS: THE MUSICAL in the same season. What are the challenges in doing music direction on one show and performing in the next? Was there any overlap?

BARILLARO: No, there actually wasn't an overlap, but here's a fun little tidbit. I spent my entire summer last year orchestrating BELLES SOEURS and then we started rehearsing in the fall. The day after we closed BELLES SOEURS, I had to do the video shoot for the promo for FOREVER PLAID at 10 in the morning. That was a little crazy!

HANNIBAL: What is your preference, music directing, orchestrating or performing?

BARILLARO: If I could rank anything, I would say that anything that's performing, and I include music directing in that too, above orchestrating. With orchestrating, you are home alone doing it, so it's a little less interactive. I enjoy doing it, but if I had to rank, I would put that at the bottom. Music directing, playing piano and singing, in my head are all the same.

HANNIBAL: You have composed an original musical, DANNY BOY. Tell me a little about that.

BARILLARO: DANNY BOY is really Lisa Forget's baby. She and I had been singing through some demo material for another show, about two and a half years ago, and she asked me for some help with the music for DANNY BOY. I had known Lisa as a performer for a long time, and she's a friend of the family too, so I said 'sure.' It's taken us two and a half years to get it together, but we are doing a workshop presentation of it the end of June.

HANNIBAL: Tell me a little bit about the current Lyric show, BACK TO BROADWAY.

BARILLARO: We are doing a Broadway revue with a heck of a lot of material. Due to the nature of our choir and the people in it, we are doing a lot more solos, duets and smaller group number than normal, which is kinda cool. This wasn't planned, but looking at the repertoire, the numbers are a little more old school Broadway, but with newer arrangements. It's great to hear something like My Romance, which is a standard, sound like it was written yesterday. We do have some newer stuff, but a lot are classics.

HANNIBAL: Is there anything else you would like the readers to know? Have I left anything out?

BARILLARO: No...well, I like to cook.

Lyric Theatre Singers' 25th Anniversary show, BACK TO BROADWAY, featuring 48 performers, opens Thursday, June 11 and runs through June 13 at Concordia's DB Clarke Theatre, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blve. West, Montreal. Tickets are available by calling 514-743-3382 or online at www.lyrictheatrecompany.com. Tickets are $34, Students and seniors $30, Children 12 and under $17. Call for "Student Friday" tickets at $28 and Group Orders of 15+ tickets at $28.

Chris Barillaro's upcoming projects:

Captain Aurora: A Superhero Musical at Fringe (Orchestrator/arranger)

http://www.montrealfringe.ca/spectacle/captain-aurora-a-superhero-musical/

Danny Boy (A Musical Inspired by the Popular Irish Ballad) by Lisa Forget and Chris Barillaro (Co-composer/Music Director/Pianist)

http://dannyboymusical.weebly.com/

The Last 5 Years at Toronto Summer Music (MD and pianist)

http://www.torontosummermusic.com/index.php/festival-tickets/festival-program/thelastfiveyears/

Funny Girl at the Segal Centre (Performer)

http://www.segalcentre.org/whats-on/upcoming-events/theatre-3/segal-theatre/funny-girl-2/

Belles Soeurs: The Musical (MD/Orchestrator/Pianist)

http://nac-cna.ca/en/event/11678

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