Broadway music director ‘faces the music’

David Loud is a Broadway music director, actor, conductor, vocal arranger and pianist who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease at 45-years-old. // Graphic by Megan Naftali.

As a young boy from Cincinnati, Ohio, he constantly heard music in his head. It felt like something within him that needed to come out . It was his way communicating, of expressing what words could not. He knew his future would be playing, composing and arranging music. He never wanted to do anything else.  

Years later, David Loud is a Broadway music director, actor, conductor, vocal arranger and pianist. In 1981, at 20-years-old, Loud was cast in the original Broadway production of “Merrily We Roll Along” as Ted. He scored shows such as “Sweeny Todd” (2005), “Curtains” (2007) and “Sondheim on Sondheim” (2010). His dream has come true. At 45-years-old, so did his worst nightmare: Loud was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.  

Loud’s symptoms included stiffness in his shoulder and he started having problems with the left side of his body, more specifically his left hand became less coordinated than his right. His shoulder kept getting worse as he was conducting the Broadway show “Curtains.” He went to see a physical therapist who suggested he see a neurologist.

“I went and saw the neurologist, and as I walked into his office, he said, ‘Well, how long have you had Parkinson's?’ I was very surprised, and I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he said, ‘Well, obviously you have Parkinson's,’” Loud said. “It was devastating. I mean, to be told that you have a progressive degenerative disease with no cure,  I don't know if there's a good way to respond to that, but I didn't really respond very well to it.”

For years, Loud kept his Parkinson’s Disease a secret in his professional life out of fear that he wouldn’t get hired for jobs. When keeping the secret became too difficult, he told his co-workers the truth and the reaction was not quite as he expected. 

“The truth was that people went out of their way to find ways in which I could continue to work with them, which was surprising to me and gratifying and made me realize that I didn't need to hide it anymore,” Loud said.

Loud has played the piano since the age of six and Parkinson’s Disease had detrimental impacts on one of his greatest loves. 

“I noticed, around the same time that I was wondering what was wrong with my shoulder, that my piano playing was not the same. It used to be that when I practiced, I got better, and all of a sudden, when I practiced, I didn't really get better. I was having trouble with my left hand, and the first doctor I went to, the medication that he put me on did not help me with my fine motor movements, and my piano playing really went downhill,” Loud said. “That was very disappointing for me, but I did eventually get with a better doctor and he was able to bring my medication to a place where I could play again, and I had some concerts. I can play now. It's not everything that it used to be, but it's pretty close.”

Loud is on more medication to improve his fine motor skills because it is too important to him to give up on. 

“The thing with Parkinson's medication is that it has bad side effects and it's not going to work for that long,” Loud said. “So the point is to take as little as possible, but make it so your life is still bearable, and for me, playing the piano makes my life bearable.”

When Loud is conducting, he uses his whole body. He is only moving his arms, but he described the experience as a workout. Since Parkinson’s Disease affects the body’s movements, Loud has trouble conducting.

Loud scored shows such as “Sweeny Todd” (2005), “Curtains” (2007) and “Sondheim on Sondheim” (2010). // Photo courtesy of David Loud.

“The dopamine that my brain isn't producing controls the way my body moves, and to not be in control of how my body moves means that I can't conduct,” Loud said.

Loud is unable to conduct eight shows a week anymore, but after taking medication, he has full use of his body. In November, he conducted a few performances of “She Loves Me,” after a three year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the medication helps him gain control of his body, it isn’t always guaranteed to work how he needs it to.

“I had an orchestra rehearsal for ‘She Loves Me,’ [and] my pill didn't kick in and I could barely move. It was very difficult to get the rehearsal going, to get tempos where I wanted them. It was scary,” Loud said. “I worked through it and the pill eventually kicked in after an hour of agony. It sort of reminded me ‘You [have] to be very careful about this.’”

Around the same time Loud decided to conduct fewer shows, he was asked to join the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music. About six years ago, he joined the faculty and helped found the musical theater department. He teaches a year long course on the history of musical theater and he works with incoming freshmen on song performance. 

“I've sort of reinvented myself now as a teacher, which is not ever something that I dreamed about doing, but I love it,” Loud said. “[Becoming a teacher] might have happened without having PD as well, which would have been much nicer, but it certainly made me think about what I was doing and what else I could do that would also bring me fulfillment that wouldn't be as affected by Parkinson's.”

Pamela Quinn, a professional dancer who turned to teaching after she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, said teaching gave her life a new purpose by helping others. 

“There’s a [Hindu] proverb that goes ‘Help your brother’s boat across and your own will reach the shore.’ I think that the biggest thing I learned is that helping others helps me,” Quinn said.

Similar to Quinn, Loud has found a new purpose in teaching and has admitted that helping others keeps him going. It is evident by the way he talks about his students that he truly cares about them and they mean a lot to him.

“I learned so much from my students about everything that I teach. What I'm constantly looking for from them is their response to a song, a play, a scene, wherever it is we're working on,” Loud said. “Getting them to trust their feelings and their opinions and their own personal responses to the material, I always learn something fresh that I hadn't thought of or another way to see something through their eyes. It's amazing to me how, with a little encouragement, they're all in a sense, teachers.”

Additionally, Loud published a book in February 2022 titled “Facing the Music: A Broadway Memoir,” in which he detailed his unique Broadway experience where he literally got to face the music by facing the orchestra, but also by coming to terms with his Parkinson’s Disease.

“I don't think I ever took [music] for granted, but I certainly realized how important it was to me,” Loud said. “I think of the lengths I've gone to, to make sure that I can still have music in my professional life. It must be important to me.”