Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
It's hard to put together a musical—that complex interplay between writers, actors, and live musicians. It's even harder when you're the writers, the actors, and the only live musicians on the stage. That's the case for Nygel D. Robinson and Brian Quijada, who are currently performing and playing all the instruments in the hit Off-Broadway musical Mexodus—which they also wrote together.
But how do they do it every night at the Daryl Roth Theatre?
Well, it involves them picking up multiple instruments from around the stage, and a looping station—a nifty device that allows them to play a musical phrase, record it, and then play it back. Mexodus' live score is made from layering multiple musical phrases together. Sound confusing? Watch Robinson and Quijada walk Playbill's Jeffrey Vizcaíno through their elaborate process in the video above, as they demo how they put the song "All My Life" together with the help of piano, guitar, and some atypical musical instruments (like a set of calipers).
It's hard to put together a musical—that complex interplay between writers, actors, and live musicians. It's even harder when you're the writers, the actors, and the only live musicians on the stage. That's the case for Nygel D. Robinson and Brian Quijada, who are currently performing and playing all the instruments in the hit Off-Broadway musical Mexodus—which they also wrote together.
But how do they do it every night at the Daryl Roth Theatre?
Well, it involves them picking up multiple instruments from around the stage, and a looping station—a nifty device that allows them to play a musical phrase, record it, and then play it back. Mexodus' live score is made from layering multiple musical phrases together. Sound confusing? Watch Robinson and Quijada walk Playbill's Jeffrey Vizcaíno through their elaborate process in the video above, as they demo how they put the song "All My Life" together with the help of piano, guitar, and some atypical musical instruments (like a set of calipers).
