Stephen Oremus won a Tony Award for "The Book of Mormon" and helped shepherd "Wicked" and "Avenue Q" to Broadway.
But while he plays an indispensable role in getting shows on their feet, if you’ve only been glancing at the marquees, you may never have heard of this Livingston native.
Oremus has spent the past 15 years working as a musical director, arranger and orchestrator for the theater.
"To be able to help shape and create the music, and be part of taking a show to the finish line, has been such a huge thrill to me," Oremus says.
Sitting in the Al Hirshfeld Theatre between rehearsals for his latest project, the 42-year-old musician’s youthful face and starry-eyed, humble wonder contrast his extensive résumé.
"I never dreamed I would be conducting on Broadway," he says. "It just happened."
He is currently working on "Kinky Boots," Cyndi Lauper’s first musical, based on a 2005 film about a young man who launches a footwear line for drag queens in order to save his recently deceased father’s shoe factory. Harvey Fierstein wrote the book and the show stars Stark Sands, Billy Porter and Annaleigh Ashford.
"It’s amazing that I’m still here, that I’m still getting to do what I love and that I have the opportunity to have shows that actually had a modicum of success that are still running," Oremus says.
"To say I’m grateful is an understatement."
Oremus can trace the trajectory of his career back to his home state. Trained from childhood as a classical pianist, he began accompanying singers for voice lessons near his home when he was 12. Although he performed in the musicals at Livingston High School, he played piano for rehearsals or worked with the orchestra more often than he was onstage.
After receiving a degree in film scoring from Berklee College, where he was able to conduct, he became a musical director for Neil’s New Yorker dinner theater in Mountain Lakes. Several productions there led to connections in the musical theater world, but he was not an overnight success.
"It was a hard road," he says. "I still had all my college debt."
For his day job, he played classes at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York, where he learned show tunes from the early 20th century to the present.
Oremus began to garner attention after a production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" in Nyack, in which the show was set in South Africa. Andrew Lippa saw it and asked him to come work on his New York debut as a composer, lyricist and book writer: "The Wild Party," which earned 13 Drama Desk nominations in 2000 and won Outstanding Off-Broadway musical.
"That was the minute that I was like ‘aha,’ this is what I’m supposed to be doing," Oremus says.
"It was the first experience I had where a group of people came together and created this piece that we were so proud of and fell in love with. Of course, then came the disappointment of not getting to Broadway and ‘Why are we doing this?’ "
Oremus raises his arms to the sky, mock-beseechingly.
Although it did not transfer, "The Wild Party" firmly planted him on New York composers’ and producers’ radars. Soon after, Stephen Schwartz selected him to be the musical director of "Wicked," which he conducted to make his Broadway debut.
In 2009, Oremus reworked Dolly Parton's music for "9 to 5." His experience bringing pop to the stage led "Kinky Boots" director Jerry Mitchell to invite him to meet with Lauper.
"My first concert, when I was 13 years old, was Cyndi's first tour with 'She's So Unusual,' so it was kind of mind-blowing," Oremus says.
To create "Kinky Boots," Lauper gave Oremus demos she had recorded and they discussed sounds she wanted. He jotted down notes as they talked and later turned them into sheet music. His job was to "blow up" the vocal line into harmonies, create the incidental material that linked scenes and songs, and flesh out melodies to work with a Broadway orchestra.
"I’m fluent in Lauper-ese at this point," Oremus says.
"She’s really taught me a lot about how she makes music and how to translate that so it still sounds like her and also has integrity and a really distinct sound to it."
For "Kinky Boots," Oremus is the music supervisor, arranger and orchestrator.
"I didn’t conduct this one because I have to sit out and listen, and make sure it’s all happening the way it should," he says.
While Oremus puts his final touches on "Kinky Boots," he also still works on "Wicked" and "Book of Mormon." He spent half of the past week in New York and half in London, where a new "Mormon" is running.
There’s not a day that goes by during which he’s not involved with the two previous shows. That’s a lot of work, but it’s a good thing, especially when he’s conducting.
"With both of those shows, it’s very personal because I get to hear all the stuff I helped make happen," he says. "It’s just the greatest thrill to relive that."
It’s also a juggling act he’s become used to. When he was working on a production of "Wicked" in San Francisco, for example, he found out that "Avenue Q" was moving to Broadway. The score had to be refitted to include parts for two additional musicians. He rewrote while he was in rehearsal, during dialogue scenes that didn’t involve him.
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With "Avenue Q" and "Mormon," Oremus found himself involved in irreverent, edgy shows. "Every show has had its own challenges, but aside from being riotously funny, those particular shows also have a lot to say," Oremus says.
"Avenue Q" may have had puppets singing about internet porn, but it also depicted the struggles of growing up. In "Mormon," the characters learn how to become a cooperative community regardless of the finer points of the doctrine they follow.
"Kinky Boots is the same thing," Oremus says. "While it’s super, super energized, it has such a positive, wonderful message and it’s so much about the transformation of this group of people in such an unexpected way.
"It’s really exciting to go on that ride and to feel the audience embracing it."
Ronni Reich: (973) 392-1726, rreich@starledger.com, Twitter: @RonniReich
Kinky Boots
Where: Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 W. 45th St., New York
When: In previews, opens April 4. Through April 7: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m., Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m. From April 8: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m., Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m.
How much: $57 to $137; call (212) 239-6200 or visit telecharge.com
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