Creating a Musical
Much of this text has been borrowed from:
http://www.musicals101.com/write.htm
No one can tell you how to
write a musical. The creative process is intensely personal so it is impossible
to define any method as right or wrong. Each writer, composer or collaborative
team must figure out (usually by trial and error) what works best for them.
Your goal in writing a
musical, is the same as any playwrightÕs: to tell a story. If you are adapting
an existing work into a musical, your goal is to create something different
than the original but still tell the same story.
Paragraph #1: Discuss
Steps 1-3
Step 1: Before you begin, ask
two essential questions:
1)
What's the show about?
2)
What is the emotional core of the show?
Step 2: Eliminate any
elements of your show that do not fit into your concept. Cut everything that is
not essential - cut characters, words and gestures that do not serve a clear
and vital purpose.
Step 3: Decide which
characters need or want something so desperately that simply talking about it
is not sufficient. Which characters get so emotional that they burst into song?
Paragraph #2: Discuss Step
4
Step 4: Open with an
effective song - a few musicals (My Fair Lady, The King and I)
open with a few pages of dialogue before the opening number, but these are the
exceptions. Audiences usually prefer a musical that opens with music –
duh! An effective song (or musical scene) sets the tone for the show to come
and allows some swift plot exposition. By the end of the opening number,
audiences should know where the story is set, what sort of people are in it,
and what the basic atmosphere of the show will be. A great opening number
reassures audiences that there more good things to come. Oklahoma
follows this rule with "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning," as do such
diverse hits as Les Miserables ("At the End of the Day"), Urinetown
("Too Much Exposition"), and Hairspray ("Good Morning,
Baltimore"). So kick-off your first scene with a song.
Paragraph #3 & #4:
Discuss Step 5 - pick 2 Song Posts and discuss
Step 5: Find the Song Posts -
Song placement in a musical is not arbitrary! Irving Berlin said that he
evaluated potential projects by looking for the "posts" –
points in the story that demand a song. Characters must have some emotional
justification for singing, otherwise the songs themselves would be empty
exercises. Songs in a musical all have something to say, expressing the
important feelings or concerns of the characters singing them. Joy, confusion,
heartbreak, love, rage – when these life-defining feelings arise,
characters sing.
Paragraph #5: Discuss Step
6
6. Songs Are Not Enough -
When you turn an existing story into a musical, you need a fresh vision. Just
adding songs won't make for an effective musical. You have to tell the story
with a fresh dose of energy, of re-inspiration. Annie took the
characters from a classic comic strip, then added some new faces and placed
them all in an entirely new story. Some of the best moments in My Fair Lady
did not come from Pygmalion -- including the pivotal "Rain in
Spain" scene. Don't just adapt, re-ignite the material!
