I noticed I have been dormant for a week, and truly this blog does lend some therapy, for the tens of people who read it. And I am thankful to you, I just like to talk out loud sometimes.
Well, let's catch up. I applied for a weeklong Musical Theatre Writers retreat during the summer where I am hoping to get back on track with my show, Retail. In the meantime, I have been developing music ideas for Sing While You're Winning, and I wanna get to more songs done before I create demos and send them off to England for feedback, etc. The book writer did give me some freedom in changing and shifting dialogue in/ out/ and around songs as needed. I have a huge pet peeve in musical theatre... and that is when we're all bouncing along and invested in a song, and boom let's pause for dialogue.... and we wait and the orchestra vamps or underscores, and I don't know about you, but I love interest in the song. This happens in the movie Tick Tick Boom with my FAVORITE song "Therapy." Its like we got this upbeat ho-down, but hold on lets be dramatic and go back and forth. Its jarring and I HATE IT WHEN IT HAPPENS! Anyways that's my musical theatre pet peeve.
Anyways this score is littered with such instances so I am cleaning it up a bit and allowing the Songs to actually reflect what is happening plot wise and drive the scenes forward, as it should. Mostly because it was created using Robbie Williams songs. I have nothing against pop music, and I have nothing against theatre but OMG. (ready for Pet Peeve number two?)
I HATE JUKEBOX MUSICALS. These can be done either as a biographical show a la Tina, Cher Show, Donna, etc., or using existing songs and writing plots around them a la Mama Mia, Jagged Little Pill, That one the Gogo's did. In a similar vein, I hate it when they turn movies into musicals for basically the same reasons. STOP RELYING ON NOSTALGIA AND FAMILIARITY TO SELL A SHOW! It's basically what Hollywood is doing with its incessant reboots and spin offs, and sequels. etc (save the brilliance of Marvel to plan WAY in advance for this huge world that is interconnected). We often hear during award speeches the need for diverse stories and more representation and originality. Which is completely what I am for. However the purse holders know that its too much of a risk, so having familiar material (movie, songs, artists, etc.). is WAY less of a risk. Like, no offense to Andrew Lloyd Webber but did we really need YET ANOTHER CINDERELLA?!?! Capitalism kills creativity once again. For those of us really trying to create something original and tell an original story we get downtrodden when all we see is musicals from existing music, or existing movies. How are we supposed to "Break the mold." Its like producers assume they know what an audience will respond to. Ugh. Frustrating as hell and really make one lose faith.
Anyways I am glad I can take this original book and create an original musical score. Kinda like they did with Moulin Rouge. I would have loved it if it didn't pander and cater to the pop culture and dribble. The story is great, but all it does is use pop reference to trigger audience response and connection. And if you already have a response to an existing song, you are polluting the reaction to the specificity of the scene.
I digress. Classes start next week and I am back to teaching dance in person. We are really starting our department back from scratch. I look to my students, as always, to inspire me with their resiliency and curiosity.
Photo: Cesar Emmett passed out.
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