M AY 2 0 1 8 2 5 The Arts from top: hamilton national tour,Joan Marcus; kris rogers Up In Lights By Sarah Moore H ow do you land the role of a life- time before you’ve even passed a quarter century? If you’re Sam Ba- gala, you start young. At 13, the precocious musician from Gray had his first paid gig playing keys for Lyric Theater’s produc- tion of Beauty and the Beast. By 17, he was thrown before a cast of Broadway stars as the teenage Musical Director at Maine State Music Theater. Less than a decade later, he was “riding a tour bus somewhere through the Midwest” when a voicemail across the airwaves delivered the news he’d been wait- ing for: Bagala had won his spot on Hamil- ton–the Broadway Box-office-smashing hip hop musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda that tells the all-singing, all-dancing, all-rapping story of the birth of our nation through a culturally diverse lens. A graduate of the Boston Conservatory and USM’s Early Study program, Sam Ba- gala is now on the road with the Hamilton troupe for the play’s first excursion beyond Broadway. This month alone, he’ll bounce From homeschool to Hamilton: Gray-native Sam Bagala takes us on his journey on tour with the world’s biggest musical. from California to Georgia and on to Ne- vada. After that? “I’ve lost track,” he says. Bagala is the show’s full-time musical as- sociate, splitting his talent between the or- chestra pit and backstage. “I love the diver- sity of my job,” he says. “Once a week, I’ll conduct the entire evening performance.” With his back to the vast audience, Baga- la’s baton steers the 10-piece orchestra and cues the singers through the play’s 46 soar- ing musical numbers. On other days, “I play first or second keys.” Outside of per- formances, he “might lead music rehears- als with new cast members, teaching them the scores and lyrics.” Five months into the role, Bagala knows the Hamilton playbill like a first language. Behind the scenes, he’s been every character on the cast. “I play five to six dance rehearsals a week, perform- ing the number for the dancers to follow.” The genre-bending Hamilton score fea- tures a musical spectrum that ranges from show tunes to hip hop. A one-man rendition takes vocal gymnastics to a new level. “I can be playing the piano while simultaneously rapping three different parts. Watching as I play the keys and cover the three-part fe- male harmony and rap in ‘The Schuyler Sis- ters’ is particularly funny to experience.” Early Inspirations Childhood in Maine sounds like “Marley, Springsteen, Buena Vista Social Club–and plenty of world music,” Bagala says. “My parents aren’t musicians [he outstripped his mother’s piano tutelage at five], but our