Michael Aarons is an American guitarist and music coordinator based in New York City. He owns M² Music, a music-coordination and contracting firm that staffs orchestras and handles payroll for Broadway productions, touring companies, and recording sessions.
Aarons began playing in Broadway pit orchestras in 2004, with guitar credits on shows including Memphis, Green Day's American Idiot, and Kinky Boots. In the mid-2010s he moved into music coordination as an associate of the Broadway music coordinator Michael Keller. His music-coordination credits include Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Frozen, and Sunset Boulevard, along with more than twenty North American touring productions. In 2026 he was among the honorees at Broadway Salutes, an annual event recognizing 25, 35, and 50 or more years of work on Broadway.
Early life and education Aarons was born and raised in Washington, D.C. He attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. In 1994 he moved to New York City to study at the Manhattan School of Music, which lists him as a 1998 Bachelor of Music graduate.
Career Guitarist Aarons's first Broadway credit was as guitarist for Laugh Whore, the Mario Cantone solo show that opened in October 2004. He went on to play guitar on High Fidelity (2006), Grease (2007), 9 to 5 and Memphis (both 2009), Green Day's American Idiot (2010), Baby It's You! and Godspell (both 2011), Evita (2012), Kinky Boots (2013), and Frozen (2018), and he wrote additional guitar arrangements for Next to Normal.
Outside the theatre he has worked as a session guitarist, including on Liza Minnelli's 2002 album Liza's Back and Michael Giacchino's score for Incredibles 2 (2018). In jazz, he released the album Not By Coincidence in 2002, plays in the organ trio Aarons, Finland & Rose, which released a self-titled album in 2023, and has recorded with Michael Olatuja and Russ Anixter's Hippie Big Band.
Music coordination A music coordinator, also billed as a musical coordinator or music contractor, assembles a production's orchestra and manages the musicians' scheduling, contracts, and pay.
Aarons's earliest documented coordination credit is the Atlantic Theater Company's 2014 Off-Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera. On Broadway he was credited as associate music coordinator on Honeymoon in Vegas and Amazing Grace (both 2015), and then as music coordinator of Hamilton, School of Rock, and The Color Purple later that year; the billing was shared with Keller through 2018.
He has since coordinated Broadway productions including Dear Evan Hansen (2016), Anastasia (2017), Frozen (2018), Moulin Rouge! The Musical and Jagged Little Pill (both 2019), & Juliet (2022), Sunset Boulevard (2024), and Schmigadoon! and The Rocky Horror Show (both 2026), and he took over as music coordinator of Aladdin in 2023. Several of the productions he has coordinated have won the Tony Award for Best Musical or the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
Off-Broadway, Aarons's work began in 2014 with The Threepenny Opera and Found at the Atlantic Theater Company, and he has since worked for The Public Theater, Second Stage Theater, Classic Stage Company, MCC Theater, the Westside Theatre revival of Little Shop of Horrors, and the Perelman Performing Arts Center. His touring credits include four North American companies of Hamilton and tours of Dear Evan Hansen, Frozen, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, & Juliet, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and Dirty Dancing: The Musical. He was also music coordinator for the thirty-piece orchestra that recorded a new arrangement of the South Park theme in 2022.
M² Music M² Music, also credited as M-Squared Music, staffs orchestras for Broadway productions, touring productions, recording and scoring sessions, and live events, and acts as an employer of record and paymaster for the musicians it engages. According to the company, Aarons and Keller formed it in 2014; Aarons is its owner. Playbill credits the firm as music coordinator on Broadway productions from & Juliet in 2022 onward.
Composing Aarons founded the production company Hybrid Music Productions in 2004 and has written music for television, including the co-written theme song for the Style Network series How Do I Look?
Broadway credits
Music coordination The following Broadway music-coordination credits are documented by the Internet Broadway Database and the Playbill Vault. Year Production Theatre Credit 2026 The Rocky Horror Show Studio 54 Music coordinator 2026 Beaches Majestic Theatre Music coordinator 2026 Schmigadoon! Nederlander Theatre Music coordinator 2025 All Out: Comedy About Ambition Nederlander Theatre Music coordinator 2025 Mamma Mia! (return engagement) Winter Garden Theatre Music coordinator 2025 Real Women Have Curves: The Musical James Earl Jones Theatre Music coordinator 2025 Pirates! The Penzance Musical Todd Haimes Theatre Music coordinator 2025 Smash Imperial Theatre Music coordinator 2025 Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends Samuel J. Friedman Theatre Music coordinator 2025 Boop! The Musical Broadhurst Theatre Music coordinator 2025 Trisha Paytas' Big Broadway Dream St. James Theatre Music coordinator 2024 All In: Comedy About Love Hudson Theatre Music coordinator 2024 Swept Away Longacre Theatre Music coordinator 2024 Elf Marquis Theatre Music coordinator 2024 Tammy Faye Palace Theatre Music coordinator 2024 Sunset Boulevard St. James Theatre Music coordinator 2024 The Heart of Rock and Roll James Earl Jones Theatre Music coordinator 2024 The Wiz Marquis Theatre Music coordinator 2023 How to Dance in Ohio Belasco Theatre Music coordinator 2023 Harmony Ethel Barrymore Theatre Music coordinator 2022 & Juliet Stephen Sondheim Theatre Music coordinator 2021 Freestyle Love Supreme Booth Theatre Music coordinator 2021 Flying Over Sunset Vivian Beaumont Theater Music coordinator 2021 Diana, The Musical Longacre Theatre Music coordinator 2019 Jagged Little Pill Broadhurst Theatre Music coordinator 2019 Moulin Rouge! The Musical Al Hirschfeld Theatre Music coordinator 2019 Be More Chill Lyceum Theatre Music coordinator 2018 Ruben & Clay's First Annual Christmas Carol Family Fun Pageant Spectacular Reunion Show Imperial Theatre Music coordinator 2018 Pretty Woman: The Musical Nederlander Theatre Music coordinator 2018 Head Over Heels Hudson Theatre Music coordinator 2018 Frozen St. James Theatre Co-music coordinator 2018 Escape to Margaritaville Marquis Theatre Co-music coordinator 2017 SpongeBob SquarePants Palace Theatre Music coordinator 2017 Prince of Broadway Samuel J. Friedman Theatre Music coordinator 2017 Anastasia Broadhurst Theatre Music coordinator 2017 War Paint Nederlander Theatre Music coordinator 2016 Dear Evan Hansen Music Box Theatre Music coordinator 2015 The Color Purple Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre Music coordinator 2015 School of Rock – The Musical Winter Garden Theatre Music coordinator 2015 Hamilton Richard Rodgers Theatre Music coordinator 2015 Amazing Grace Nederlander Theatre Associate music coordinator 2015 Honeymoon in Vegas Nederlander Theatre Associate music coordinator 2014 Aladdin New Amsterdam Theatre Replacement music coordinator (from 2023)
Musician The following Broadway performer credits are documented by the Internet Broadway Database. Year Production Theatre Instrument / Role 2018 Frozen St. James Theatre Guitars; octave mandolin 2013 Kinky Boots Al Hirschfeld Theatre Guitar 2012 Evita Marquis Theatre Guitar 2011 Godspell Circle in the Square Theatre Guitars 2011 Baby It's You! Broadhurst Theatre Guitar 2010 Green Day's American Idiot St. James Theatre Guitar 1 2009 Memphis Shubert Theatre Guitars 2009 9 to 5: The Musical Marquis Theatre Guitars 2009 Next to Normal Booth Theatre Additional guitar arrangements 2007 Grease Brooks Atkinson Theatre Guitars 2006 High Fidelity Imperial Theatre Guitars; sitar; banjo; mandolin 2004 Laugh Whore (with Mario Cantone) Cort Theatre Guitar
Off-Broadway credits The following Off-Broadway credits are documented by the Lucille Lortel Theatre's Internet Off-Broadway Database, now hosted on Spectra, except where otherwise noted. Year Production Theatre Company Credit 2026 Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo Perelman Performing Arts Center Perelman Performing Arts Center Music coordinator 2025 A Christmas Carol Mike Nichols Theater, Perelman Performing Arts Center Perelman Performing Arts Center Music coordinator 2022 Only Gold Susan and Ronald Frankel Theater MCC Theater Music coordinator 2022 Kinky Boots Stage 42 Music coordinator 2022 Space Dogs Susan and Ronald Frankel Theater MCC Theater Music coordinator 2019 The Wrong Man Newman Mills Theater MCC Theater Music coordinator 2019 Little Shop of Horrors Westside Theatre (Upstairs) Music coordinator 2019 Superhero Tony Kiser Theater Second Stage Theater Music coordinator 2018 Carmen Jones Lynn F. Angelson Theater Classic Stage Company Music coordinator 2018 Miss You Like Hell Newman Theater, Joseph Papp Public Theater The Public Theater Music coordinator 2017 Hamlet Anspacher Theater, Joseph Papp Public Theater The Public Theater Music coordinator 2017 Joan of Arc: Into the Fire Newman Theater, Joseph Papp Public Theater The Public Theater Music coordinator 2015 Cymbeline Delacorte Theater The Public Theater (Free Shakespeare in the Park) Music contractor 2014 Found Linda Gross Theater Atlantic Theater Company Music coordinator 2014 The Threepenny Opera Linda Gross Theater Atlantic Theater Company Music coordinator 2008 Next to Normal Second Stage Theatre Second Stage Theater Guitar
National tours and sit-down productions The following touring credits are documented by the Internet Broadway Database. Opened Production Credit 2026 Dirty Dancing: The Musical Music coordinator 2025 Disney's Beauty and the Beast Music coordinator 2025 The Wiz Music coordinator 2024 & Juliet Music coordinator 2023 Mamma Mia! Music coordinator 2023 Company Music coordinator 2023 The Wiz (pre-Broadway tour) Music coordinator 2022 Aladdin Replacement music coordinator 2022 Jagged Little Pill Music coordinator 2022 Moulin Rouge! The Musical Music coordinator 2021 Pretty Woman: The Musical Music coordinator 2019 Frozen Music coordinator 2019 Hamilton (And Peggy company) Music coordinator 2018 Hamilton (Philip company) Music coordinator 2018 Anastasia Music coordinator 2018 Dear Evan Hansen Music coordinator 2017 Hamilton (Angelica company) Music coordinator 2017 Escape to Margaritaville (pre-Broadway tour) Music coordinator 2016 Hamilton (Eliza company, Chicago) Music coordinator 2015 The Bridges of Madison County Music coordinator 2015 If/Then Associate music coordinator 2014 Kinky Boots Associate music coordinator 2010 Next to Normal Additional guitar arrangements
Selected discography Recording credits are documented by AllMusic except where another source is cited.