Book Singin’ and Charm Songs R e c e n t l y, I received several emails from workshop writers asking clarifi - cation on two different subjects: The first was the dictum “Don’t sing the book”; the second was the category of “Charm song.” What’s common to both subjects is that their bro a d - strokes meanings can seem terribly v a g u e — t h e re are too many perfectly legitimate exceptions. It’s enough to bewilder a veteran, let alone a student. And it seemed to me there was more specific definition of each subject to be mined by examining the wealth of his - torical examples (and, tacitly, to factor in how that impacted upon my own work and that of my contemporaries and colleagues). And sure enough, I found that many of the ambiguities could be cleared up; and those that c o u l d n ’t be definitively c l a r i f i e d could at least be broken down into clearly identified variables. I combined my replies to the “book song” question to create the text for a mini-lecture I read aloud at one of the Advanced summer sessions I moderat - ed. After which the class asked me to pre p a re it as a written document. I did, with some expansion, and it’s reproduced below. The “charm song” section has not Vol. 8, No. 30 Winter, 2008 Works In Production . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 In Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 In Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 In Concert & Cabaret . . . . . .7 On the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Personals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Shelf Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 And the Winner Is... . . . . . . .11 Non-Writing Gigs . . . . . . . . .11 Richard’s Almanac . . . . . . . .20 Richard Engquist T able of Contents (Continued on page 12) by David Spencer
Transcript
Book Singin’ andCharm Songs
R e c e n t l y, I received several emailsf rom workshop writers asking clarifi -cation on two different subjects: Thefirst was the dictum “Don’t sing thebook”; the second was the category of“Charm song.” What’s common toboth subjects is that their bro a d -s t rokes meanings can seem terriblyv a g u e — t h e re are too many perfectlylegitimate exceptions. It’s enough tobewilder a veteran, let alone a student.
And it seemed to me there was morespecific definition of each subject to bemined by examining the wealth of his -torical examples (and, tacitly, to factorin how that impacted upon my ownwork and that of my contemporariesand colleagues). And sure enough, Ifound that many of the ambiguitiescould be cleared up; and those thatc o u l d n ’t be definitively c l a r i f i e dcould at least be broken down intoclearly identified variables.
I combined my replies to the “booksong” question to create the text for amini-lecture I read aloud at one of the
Advanced summer sessions I moderat -ed. After which the class asked me top re p a re it as a written document. Idid, with some expansion, and it’sreproduced below.
which played at the New Yo r kMusical Theatre Festival this pastFall, received two honorable men-tions, Best of Festival and E x c e l-lence in Lyrics at the 2007 NYMFAwards. The musical has book byRon Sproat and music by Christo-pher Berg, both Alumni, and lyricsby Frank Evans ( C o m m i t t e e ) .Kristin Maloney ( A d v a n c e d )played the lead and Mark Janas(Advanced) was Musical Director.
From the critics:“This heartwarming and well
crafted musical will surely find apermanent home after its brief runat the Sage Theatre as part of theNew York Musical Festival. Yo uwill have to see Back Home to hearthem for yourself and be touched,amused and uplifted both in mindand spirit.” —Oscar E. Moore, TalkEntertainment
“Back Home is so 1947, andthat’s dandy by me. It’s a touch-ing, charming little musical with-out an ironic or post-modern bonein its body. The virtues are many:characters we care about, storiesthat reach the heart, and a castalbum that we fondly hope getsre c o rded.” —Marc Miller, Back-stage
“ A sweet and charming newt u n er that looks at the challenges
faced by British women whomarry American G.I .s duringWorld War II. If that doesn’t sound
like typical musical comedy fare ,believe me when I tell you that thecreators make it so. A tuneful andenjoyable night at the theatre. Bergand Evans’s score is full of lovelysongs. Back Home is a genuinelymoving show with a big heart.”
—Michael Criscolo,NYTheatre.com
A CHRISTMAS CAROL 1941,a new musical interpretation of
the Charles Dickens’ classic withmusic by Henry Krieger and lyricsby Susan Birkenhead ( e m e r i t u s )was commissioned by A re n aStage. The show is set in Washing-ton, D.C. in the aftermath of PearlHarbor and will have its holidayworld premiere on Arena’s Fichan-dler stage Nov. 16-Dec. 30.
CROSSING MANHATTANa musical about a married cou-
ple dealing with post-9/11 trauma,with music by alumna Jenny Gier-i n g and book & lyrics by L a u r aHarrington, had a limited Fall runat the Connelly Theatre, under the
aegis of The Transport Group, thep roduction helmed by Tr a n s p o r tartistic director Jack CummingsIII.
THE GLORIOUS ONESbook and lyrics by Ly n n
Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaher-ty, based on the novel by FrancineP rose, tells the story of the Italiantroupe of Commedia del’arte play-ers who defined and codified theconventions of the form in the late1600s. It opened at Lincoln Cen-ter’s Mitzi Newhouse Theatre for alimited run, under the direction ofGraciela Daniele; the theatre andMs. Daniele were also aff i a l i a t e dwith the last two A&F musicals, AMan of No Importance and D e s s aRose.
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Jenny Giering
Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty
GREETINGS FROMYORKVILLE,
a two-character musical about asongwriting team (who also hap-pen to be married) trying to makeit big in Big City, opened in Sep-tember for an off-Broadway run atthe SoHo Playhouse. The showhad music by Robert Grusecki( a l u m n u s ) and book/lyrics by Anya Turner (who just sohappens to be Grusecki’s wife).
LOVE, N.Y.In November, composer R o b e r t
Rokicki along with Mike Ruby(book to Ethan Fro m e) pre s e n t e dthe first third of this Manhattanmusical comedy, as part of theS q u a re One Series of musicals inprogress.
(mis)UNDERSTANDINGMAMMY: The Hattie McDanielStory,
a play with music by Joan RossSorkin (Second Year) was featuredin the Chicago Humanities Festi-val in a one-night-only stagedreading on October 28. Bro a d-way’s Capathia Jenkins re p r i s e dher role as Hattie McDaniel, forwhich she received a 2007 DramaDesk nomination for OutstandingSolo Performance. The playe x p l o res Hattie’s controversial lifeand her attempt to vindicate her-self in the face of the unre l e n t i n gHollywood campaign againstMammyism led by Walter Whiteof the NAACP.
SONGS FROM AN UNMADEBED,
a solo song cycle that propels aresilient, wry, and ultimatelyromantic gay New Yorker throughthe heartaches and triumphs oflove in the city was presented aspart of the Williams College Sum-mer Theatre Lab series in Massa-chusetts last July. The show haslyrics by Mark Campbell andmusic by composers Debra Barsha,Mark Bennett, Peter Foley, J e n n yG i e r i n g, Peter Golub, Jake Heg-gie, Stephen Hoffman, LanceHorne, Gihieh Lee, Steven Lutvak,Stever Marzullo, Brendan Milburn,Chris Miller, Greg Pliska, Kim D.Sherman, Duncan Sheik, Jeff re yStock, and Joseph Thalken.
SEUSSICAL,Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Fla-
h e r t y‘s musical adaptation of theworks of Dr. Seuss, returned toNew York after several re - w r i t e sand successful remounts aro u n dthe country. The former Broadwayshow ran throughout July andAugust at Off - B roadway’s LucilleLortel Theatre in a free pre s e n t a-tion by Theaterworks/USA.
Music Theatre Internationalreports that the new version ofS e u s s i c a l has been one of its mostsuccessful titles among nonpro f i t ,stock, and amateur productions. Inaddition to this new draft of theshow, there is Seussical Jr., a modi-fied version of the new scriptintended to be performed by chil-d ren, and Seussical TYA , w h i c hboth adhere to the time re q u i re-ments of the Theater for Yo u n gAudiences contract, stre a m l i n i n gthe show to just 85 minutes. It is
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this 85 minute version of the showwhich Theatre w o r k s U S A p e r-formed in Manhattan.
A TALE OF TWO CITIESbook, music and lyrics by alum-
na Jill Santoriello, based of courseon the novel by Charles Dickens,had what is hoped to have been ap re - B roadway tryout pro d u c t i o nat Asolo Repertory Theatre ’ sMertz Theatre in Sarasota, FL.Michael Donald Edwards, A s o l o ’ sproducing artistic director, was themusical’s dire c t o r. Tony Aw a rdwinner Tony Walton (Guys andDolls, Grand Hotel, Pippin) wasscenic designer. Musical dire c t i o nwas by Wendy Bobbitt Cavitt. Form o re information: w w w. a s o l o . o r gor www.talemusical.com.
LORENZO—THE LIBERT I N ELIBRETTIST,
music by Judd Woldin, lyrics byRichard Engquist, and book byboth Woldin and Engquist, had aspecial concert presentation at theEngleman Recital Hall in Manhat-tan last June. The musical aboutthe colorful life of Mozart’s libret-tist Lorenzo DaPonte was first pro-duced by Eric Krebs 25 years ago,and Eric Krebs Theatrical Manage-ment produced this new look atthe show which included P a tC o o k (Artistic Co-ordinator) withmusical direction and arrange-ments by Beth Falcone(Advanced).
AFTERNOON TEA,a one-act musical with music by
Skip Kennon (Committee and fac-u l t y, ex officio) and book/lyrics byE d u a rdo Machado, was feature din “Summer Shorts,” a festival ofnew American short plays, at59E59 Theatres in Manhattan lastAugust.
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Jill Santoriello
In Progress
Skip Kennon
EVER AFTER,a Cinderella musical based on
the 1988 Twentieth Century Foxfilm of the same name, had a by-invitation-only reading last July inManhattan at the New 42nd StreetStudios. The new musical hasbook and lyrics by Marcy Heislerand music by Zina Goldrich withJill Abramovitz starring in theensemble. Currently the musical isscheduling an out-of-town tryoutthis fall with an anticipated Broad-way bow in the Spring.
FATES AND FURIEST h ree short plays by C a r e y
Lovelace ( L i b rettists) had a re a d-ing at The Bay Street Theatre, Sag
Harbor, NYI LOVE YOU BECAUSE
The 2006 Off - B roadway hit, ag e n d e r-swapped musical re t e l l i n gof the Jane Austen novel Pride andP re j u d i c e , had a run at London’sLandor Theatre, September 16-October 20. The UK premiere pro-duction was directed by RobertMcWhir and designed by A n d yE d w a rds, with choreography byRobbie O’Reilly, and lighting byRichard Lambert. Featuring musicby Joshua Salzman and book andlyrics by Ryan Cunningham (bothAdvanced), the musical centers ontwo New York brothers and thegirls they fall in love with. A sdescribed: “Greeting card writerAusten Bennett has feelings forphotographer Marc y, whoseuptight best friend Diana embarkson an unlikely romance withAusten’s slacker brother Jeff.”
SILAS,a new musical based on George
Eliot’s novel Silas Marner, had aby-invitation-only reading lastOctober in Manhattan. Pre s e n t e dby Plain Language Pro d u c t i o n s ,Inc., the musical, featuring lyricsby alumnus Michael Korie, musicby Bruce Coughlin, and a bookAnthony Stein, may be headed forBroadway soon.
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Jill Abramovitz
Carey Lovelace
NAMTThe National Alliance for
Musical Theatre’s 2007 Festival ofNew Musicals, held in October atNew World Stages, included theseentries by BMI Workshop writers,all presented as 45-minuteabstracts:
• The Chocolate Tre e, music byMarshall Pailet , lyrics by A . D .Penedo, book by Pailet & Penedo:“A remarkable young girl strickenwith a grave illness uses her richfantasy world and indomitablespirit to bring the impossible tolife, which takes her family andthe audience on a powerful, trans-forming journey.”
• The Story of My Life, m u s i cand lyrics by Neil Bartram, b o o kby Brian Hill, Directed by RichardMaltby, Jr.: “A two-character musi-cal about Thomas, a writer, andAlvin—lifelong friends, until lifesent them in diff e rent dire c t i o n s .When suddenly faced with thetask of writing Alvin’s eulogy,Thomas digs through the cluttered
collection of stories in his mind—with Alvin as his guide—to find away to celebrate his friend’s lifeand understand his untimelydeath.”
• Writing Arthur: book, musicand lyrics by David Austin:“Arthur Danby has finally foundthe perfect woman. Problem is,she’s a fictional character in hisnovel. When a very real womansteps into his life, his worlds col-lide. Will Arthur fall deeper intothe world he’s created or allow lifeto write itself?”
“ARE YOU NOW OR HAVEYOU EVER BEEN...”
Tony Award-nominee Liz Larsenand other members of the compa-ny of the award-winning NYMFmusical Such Good Friends a b o u tblacklisting in the 50’s, performeda one-night-only November con-cert of music by actual blacklistedwriters, among them Leonard
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In Festival
In Concert &Cabaret
Neil Bartram
Noel Katz
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Bernstein, Yip Harburg, Abe Burrowsand Harold Rome. The event at theZipper theatre also included numbersf rom Such Good Friends, with musicand lyrics by alumnus Noel Katz.
THE DONNELL LIBRARY “SONG-BOOK” SERIES
kicked off its new season in Octoberwith a concert of new songs by writ-ers such as: A n d rew Zachary Cohen,Ryan Cunningham, Patrick Dwyer,Zina Goldrich , Rick Hip-Flores ,Danny Lee Girton, Sean Hartley ,Marcy Heisler, Nick Levin, PeterMelnick, James Merillat, Ben Moore,Robert Lindsey Nassif , M i c h a e lRoberts, Joshua Salzman, Steven Sil-verstein, Paul Stephan, Richard Pear-son Thomas, and Sherman Yellen.
JEFF BLUMENKRANTZ the celebrated composer who
received a Tony nomination for hiscontributions to the score of U r b a nC o w b o y, presented his work at Bird-land on Nov. 4.
The composer-lyricist was joined onthe intimate stage of the famed jazzclub by Adina Alexander (Wicked, TheWedding Singer), Donna Lynne Cham-plin (Sweeney Todd, Hollywood Arms) ,Laura Patinkin (Beau Jest, Fiddler on theR o o f), David Perlman (Calvin Berg e r)and Alysha Umphress (“XL S t a r, ”Funked Up Fairy Tales). Show time is 7PM.
“What sets this show apart from theconcerts I’ve been doing for the pastfew years,” Blumenkrantz re c e n t l ytold Playbill.com, “is that, instead ofp resenting the same old songs fro mmy songbook and podcast, I’ll be pre-miering songs that have never beenh e a rd before: spec songs, cut songs,
new songs, songs from abandonedp rojects [and] a song written as anassignment for my first year in theBMI Workshop.”
THE MONDAY NIGHTS, NEWVOICES SERIES
had its annual New Composersevening Aug. 13 at the DuplexCabaret Theatre, celebrating the songsof Michael Cooper, Will Van Dyke andAdvanced collaborators Steven Rout-man and Joy Son. Among those inter-p reting the works of these writersw e re Nancy Anderson, SebastianA rcelus, Kerry O’Malley, To mG u a l t i e r i, Michael Zahler, CarrieManolakos, Dana Steingold andHeather Spore. Barbara Anselmi wasthe musical director.
THE SEVEN-YEAR B*TCHsubtitled, “An Anniversary Concert
of Two Never- Was Has-Beens,” andnamed as an Outstanding New Musi-cal in Talkin’ Broadway’s Summer The-a t re Festival Citations, proved awickedly funny and bitterly heartfeltrevue featuring the songs ofAdvanced writers Dan Acquisto(music) and Sammy Buck ( w o rd s ) ,
Joy Son
“everyone’s favorite second choicefor Bro a d w a y, off - B ro a d w a y, filmand TV jobs,” and writers of anoth-er NYMF hit (Like You Like It,2004). In its Summer debut andNovember encore (both sold-out,one-night-only engagements),Sammy and Dan gave their tell-alland demonstrated what it’s like top e r s e v e re, while five very talentedsingers performed songs about mis-a d v e n t u res in love and work, andnever winning a certain performingarts foundation grant each year.
A TRIBUTE TO PETER STONEa star-studded event at the Play-
ers’ Theatre on October 29, hadAdvanced Class featured modera-tor Maury Ye s t o n on its ro s t e r.Yeston collaborated with the latel i b rettist several times, on G r a n dHotel, Titanic and the forthcomingDeath Takes a Holiday. Stone’s mostcelebrated libretto was for 1776.
LIKE YOU LIKE ITFrom Advanced lyricist-librettist
Sammy Buck and composer D a nAcquisto:
“After our summer pro d u c t i o nat Theatre Under The Stars/SamHouston State University, we shotan MTV-style, cheesy-80s-stylemusic video of one of the songs(‘Be a Little Wi l d ’) and posted iton Yo u Tu b e. Check out our blogpage at w w w. l i k e y o u l i k e i t . c o m /blog.html for the link and for a lotof other news about all things LikeYou Like It and B u c q u i s t o. If youhappen to be a member of
Yo u Tube and enjoy the video,please feel free to rate it favorably.While you are on thel i k e y o u l i k e i t . c o m site, spy a round all the other links—wehave added a new video clip aswell as pictures from the fabulousTUTS/SHSU production. And asalways, thank you for your totallyawesome support.”
SCRUBSThe soundtrack to the musical
episode of S c r u b s — which fea-t u red a guest-starring appearanceb y Avenue Q Tony nomineeStephanie D’Abruzzo—is nowavailable for downloading oniTunes.
The episode, which was simplytitled My Musical, was nominatedfor five Emmy Aw a rds, and thesoundtrack includes four songspenned by Avenue Q s o n g w r i t e r sRobert Lopez and J e ff Marx :“Welcome to Sacred Heart , ”“Everything Comes Down toP o o,” “The Truth Comes Out”and “Finale: Friends Forever/W h a t ’s Going to Happen”. Both“Poo” and “Guy Love” were nom-
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On the Web
Sammy Buck & Dan Acquisto
inated for Emmy Aw a rds; the lat-ter was written by “Scrubs” super-vising producer Debra Ford h a m ,Jan Stevens and Paul Perry.
LOOKING FOR ARRANGERSAND TRANSCRIBERS
“I am frequently asked by actorsfor arrangements and transcrip-tions. If any of you are intere s t e din picking up some cash on theside, please send me your emailand your rates and I’ll pass themon to the appropriate parties.”Contact Matthew Hardy:[email protected]
HIGH FIDELITY Vocal SelectionsF rom alumna lyricist A m a n d a
Green: “[Composer] Tom Kitt andI are happy to announce that sheet music for the musical High Fidelity is now available top u rchase at $7 a pop! Go tow w w. g r e e n p i e c e m u s i c . c o m a n dclick on ‘Store’.”
LAURA KENNEDY: HERE ANDNOW
a new album on the PS Classicslabel has the Broadway cro o n e rsinging songs by, among others,BMI Workshop veterans A n d r e wL i p p a , Georgia Stitt, J e ff Blu-menkrantz & Libby Saines ,Marcy Heisler & Zina Goldrich,
and Joshua Salzman & Ryan Cun-ningham.
LITTLE FISHThe original cast album of the
Blank Theatre Company’s produc-tion of alumnus Michael JohnL a C h i u s a’s Little Fish— i n c l u d i n gAlice Ripley, Chad Kimball andG regory Jbara—was re c o rded inNovember for a Spring release byGhostlight Records. Co-pro d u c i n gthe disk with label co-founderKurt Deutsch is Joel Moss andDeutsch are producing the disc.O rchestrations are by Bru c eCoughlin. Featured in the cast areAlice Ripley, Gregory Jbara andChad Kimball as well as RobertTorti, Dina Morishita, GermanSantiago, Samantha Shelton andBrooke Tansley
Suggested by the short stories ofDeborah Eisenberg, Little Fish,a c c o rding to press notes, “followsCharlotte [Ripley], a young writerof short stories, [who] confro n t sher past, present and future in post9 / 11 Manhattan. She quits smok-ing and embarks on a modern dayodyssey as she attempts to fill hernicotine-starved days with swim-
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Personals
Shelf Life
Alice Ripley
ming at the Y.” The one-act musi-cal made its debut at Second StageTheatre.
SHOW BUSINESS: THE ROADTO BROADWAY,
the Dori Berinstein d o c u m e n-tary film which chronicles the2003-2004 season, arrived on DVDOct. 16. The DVD, which boastsall-new special features, is avail-able from Genius Products andLiberation Entertainment. It fol-lows the productions of four ofB roadway’s biggest shows duringthe 2003-2004 season: Wi c k e d ,Taboo, Avenue Q (by Robert Lopezand J e ff Marx) and C a roline, orChange (music by Jeanine Tesori).A c c o rding to press notes. “Berin-stein’s backstage access grantsviewers a rare behind-the-scenesview of the creative process—fromcasting call to curtain call—thatc a p t u res all of the heartbreak andhilarity of opening a Bro a d w a ys h o w.” For further informationand to view a trailer, visitwww.showbusiness-themovie.com.
2007 Dora Mayor Mavor MooreAwards,
honoring excellence in To ro n t ot h e a t re, opera and dance, wasfilled with BMI-affiliated nomina-tions including composer- l y r i c i s tNeil Bartram’s The Story of MyLife for Outstanding New Musicaland Outstanding Production of a
Musical, Lynn Ahrens a n dStephen Flaherty’s S e u s s i c a l f o rOutstanding Production of a Musi-cal, and Jeff rey Kuhn and Georg eMasswohl for Outstanding Perfor-mance by a Male in a PrincipalRole—Musical.
BYE, BYE BIG GUY,an irre v e rent musical with a
fairy-tale twist, was presented atthe New York International FringeFestival last August in the LucilleLortel Theatre. The cast includedBMI’s Jill Abrmovitz; and, thoughthis satire memorializes the late,g reat, gold-spinner, Rumplestilt-skin, it is not a musical appropriatefor young audiences. The showf e a t u res music by David Evans,lyrics by Faye Gre e n b e rg, and abook by Michael Slade.
RICK HIP-FLOREScontinues to be a sought-after
musical director: this season he hashelmed the NYMF production ofC a role Lonner’s The Kids Left, TheDog Died, Now What? and the YorkT h e a t re developmental reading ofAin’t We Got Fun?
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And theWinner Is...
Non-WritingGigs
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(yet) been presented in class, and isgetting its first public exposure inthese pages. Any reactions, rebuttal orfurther thinking are more than wel -come, and may be fodder for a futureedition of the Newsletter.
I. DON’T SING THE BOOK?
REALLY?
What is a Book Number?
Not long ago, a student expre s s e dbewilderment to me as a re a c t i o nto hearing a seasoned writer saythat he “rarely wrote book num-bers anymore,” because he foundthem “the hardest to write.” Sinceboth the student and I knew thiswriter could create excellent num-bers that are a natural outgro w t hof the story being told, it promptedher asking to have the phrase“book number” redefined. Anotherstudent was confused as to the oft-repeated dictum D o n ’t sing theb o o k—because he knew of count-less musicals in which “book mate-rial” was sung. He simply wasn’tsure how to proceed in any contextw h e re absorbing story into songwas called for. Both confusions areunderstandable and legitimate.
The statement that book num-bers are the hardest to write is upfor grabs, as it depends upon yourmindset, sensibility and personals t rengths. (Some people find bal-lads hard, some comedy songs,etc.)
A d d i t i o n a l l y, the term “booksong” has several applications—but in all applications a book num-
ber is an outgrowth of the storyand usually of character revelation.It defines the place where songtakes over from speech as naturallocution and tends not to be con-sciously acknowledged as song,because in suspending disbelief,the audience accepts it as a naturalmode of expression.
What isn’t a Book Number?
That established, book song c a nbe cleanly distinguished from:
(a) Source or “specialty” song,the kind of song that is consciouslyacknowledged as song (which is tosay that, in the play, it is dramati-cally dealt with as a song that theonstage characters recognize anda c k n o w l e d g e as song—as a tuneplayed on the radio, a rememberednursery rhyme, a dance hall ornight club turn, etc.). It’s called asource song because it comes froman e x t e r n a l s o u rce. (i.e. “SteamHeat” in The Pajama Game. S t o r y -wise it has nothing to do with any-thing, and its flimsy excuse forexistence is as a song performed ata Union meeting to rally the spiritof the workers. Another examplewould be “Take Back Your Mink”from Guys and Dolls.)
(b) Commentary song. The bestexample of the distinction made isthe “bifurcated” score fro m F o l l i e s .One one side, there are the num-bers that carry the “real” story—and on the other, there are the Fol-lies numbers (these too subdividedinto the “actual” ones recreated bythe veterans at the re a l - t i m ereunion—and the fantasy Lovelandnumbers that are an editorial
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reflection of the drama beingplayed out, delivered in a stylizedway).
Context is the Key
And that established, I believethat the writer who said “booksongs are the hardest” did not real-ly mean “book numbers” per se—which can be broken down into allkinds of sub-categories of songtype and dramatic function—butPLOT numbers.
Most “book numbers” carry thestory forward in one way or anoth-e r, via pro g ressing narrative orrevealing something about thecharacter(s) we didn’t know beforeand need to know—or at least needto hear expressed—for the rest of thestory to follow coherently.
But a by-Godfrey PLOT numberabsorbs a great freaking chunk ofbook—a substantial stretch ofstory—and renders it in total orn e a r-total musical terms. (InSweeney To d d , look at all the storywork done by—well, nearly every-thing, but especially “God That’sGood”; by the quartet encompass-ing “Kiss Me” and “Ladies in TheirSensitivities”; by the entire final
sequence from “City on Fire” rightthrough the end.)
In a certain sense, the creation ofplot numbers can be less “diff i-cult” than psychologically intimi-dating, because the pro c e s sinvolves the most challenging andsophisticated dramaturgical skillthat can be applied to theatricalsongwriting. A skill which encom-passes two complex tasks:
—finding the central unifying ideathat ties together a sequence of events;and then—
—mapping out the organization ofstory points in song form.
As musical dramatists, we’retrained to understand that for opti-mum focus and clarity, a theatresong can be about only one thing.But in a plot song that one thing canbe an umbrella for linked events,i.e. “God That’s Good”: It’s aboutthe rising of Sweeney and Mrs.Lovett’s fortunes—that’s theu m b rella—but it s h o w s us To b i a s ’ sinvocation to the crowd, Mrs.“God That’s Good
“Shall We Dance?”
Lovett working the customers, thecustomers’ culinary ecstasy, andSweeney overseeing the deliveringof his new barber chair and testingit out with Mrs. Lovett’s complici-ty; and each sub-topic has its owndistinct module of music.
Most plot songs aren’t nearly sointricate and often seem like “reg-ular” songs because they follow asimpler trajectory—“It’s Been aLong Day” in How to Succeed…and “Round and Round” in T h eFantasticks and “Shall We Dance?”in The King and I and “Te v y e ’ sDream” in Fiddler are a few exam-ples—but without exception, ifyou removed them from theirrespective scripts, the storieswould no longer make sense, asyou’d lose pivotal plot points andtransitions.
And there is yet another difficultaspect to mapping and organizinga plot song: Finding a way to makeits arc h i t e c t u re seem natural andunforced—because a song structure,by definition, is a vessel of constraint(featuring repeated and devel-oped phrases, possibly a re p e a t e dtitle line, rhythmic and melodicsignatures plus various other regu-lar patterns and stru c t u res); while
a sequence of linear events keeps push -ing forward.
The trick is in blending and bal-ancing the patterns of songwritingwith the forward movement of thestory.
So Why Are We Told Not to Sing the Book?
We ’ re not re a l l y. The dictum isan oversimplification. It’s not thatyou can’t or shouldn’t musicalizestory—or narrative—or plotpoints. As we’ve seen, it’s done allthe time, and Sondheim in particu-lar is a master of it.
The thing to avoid is d r y i n f o r-mation, information that o n l y p ro-vides data. When the song is aboutstuff that neither the audience norcharacters can invest in on a per-sonal/emotional level, song tendsto feel like an intrusion, or anattenuation of exposition. When asong elicits the response “Don’tsing the book,”what’s actuallybeing said is, “There’s nothingcompelling enough to sing abouth e re, nor anything that wouldn’t
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“It’s Been a Long Day”
“Tevye’s Dream”
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be communicated more eff i c i e n t l yand clearly in dialogue.”
H o w e v e r, if the information inthe song is intrinsically wedded toc h a r a c t e r, and thus to intention,and thus to passionate pursuit ofan objective—that makes it emotion -ally dynamic. That gives matters acharacter point of view, because itrelates all the information to needand motivation.
Indeed, if you re-examine all the“classic” plot songs that may havep reviously clouded the issue foryou, you’ll notice that they are alldriven by a character’s or several char -a c t e r s ’ d e s i re to achieve something.This emotional and/or objectivet h read is also what distills thematerial of the song into a single(or unifying) topic, which is whatin turn allows you to develop bothsong form and idea organization.
Once you’ve done that, youmight have your audience hum-ming the book after all…
II.SING SOMETHING
CHARMING
I actually can’t remember whatLehman Engel said in person aboutcharm songs, but he defined themin his book, The Making of a Musi -cal, thus: “songs with steady rhyth-mic accompaniments and an opti-mistic feeling (optimistic lyrics),with a steadier sense of movementthan one finds in most ballads.”He went on to write that charmsongs can actually be comedysongs as well, but only if the lyricsare funny.
It’s an odd definition because itreally only marks off a neutralground, whose sole distinguishingf e a t u re is a positive viewpoint.Otherwise you have more pulsethan a ballad, fewer laughs than acomedy song and no earthly ideawhat the devil that means exceptsortakinda maybe by way of exam-ple.
To be fair, Lehman pro v i d e dover a page full of examples. Theyfit his general charm song pro f i l ewell enough—but of the onesculled from what we’d think of as“contemporary”-style book musi-cals (about half), they’re dramatur-gically all over the map. Theyinclude: “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’”f rom P o rgy and Bess ( G e o rge andIra Gershwin); “Once in Love WithAmy” from W h e re ’s Charley?(Frank Loesser); “I Feel Pre t t y ”f rom West Side Story ( L e o n a rdBernstein and Stephen Sondheim);and “The Surrey with the Fringeon Top” from Oklahoma! ( R i c h a rdRodgers and Oscar HammersteinII).
To widen the scope and includesome more recent songs, I’ll add afew of my own choosing to the list
“I Feel Pretty”
too: “Standin’ on the Corner” fromThe Most Happy Fella ( L o e s s e r ) ;“Love, I Hear” from … F o r u m(Sondheim); “I Love to Cry atWeddings” from Sweet Charity (CyColeman and Dorothy Fields); “NoTime at All” from Pippin ( S t e p h e nSchwartz); “Timeless to Me” fro mHairspray (Marc Shaiman and ScottWittman); “Matchmaker, Match-maker” from Fiddler on the Roof(Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick);and “Dirty Rotten Number” fro mDirty Rotten Scoundrels ( D a v i dYazbek).
Any one of these can be emulat-ed, yet emulation puts you in theshadow of your model’s uniquecontext (i.e. the dramatic functionit serves, which can often identifythe source musical with the accu-racy of a DNA swipe and inviteunwanted comparison). The num-bers in the scores we write need tocarve out their own unique con-texts. So: Is there anything theexamples above have in commonthat can figure into the planning ofany charm song, in an original con-text?
T h e re sure seems to be. Tw othings in common—which yieldtwo possible implementations.
The first thing all these songshave in common is that they occur
at junctures where their storieshave room to breathe. A l m o s talways, these “pauses” in the nar-rative energy are natural, falling inplaces of transition between onestate of affairs and another; andequally necessary in order for whatfollows to be most effective, or forwhat has preceded to have themost satisfying sense of resolution.Sometimes you need to keep adevelopment at bay by pre p a r i n gfor it emotionally, lest it arrive tooquickly to be properly absorbed.(One of the reasons why the other-wise high octane On the Tw e n t i e t hCentury ends so unre w a rdingly isthat the creative team fail to pro-vide a cushion of descendingaction and music to let us enjoythe romantic reconciliation of tem-peramental star Lily Garland andmanipulative producer Oscar Jaf-fee, when they realize they’vemutually outsmarted one another.)
The second commonality is thateach song spells out what I’l ldescribe as a psychological and/ore n v i ronmental condition of being.To take a few at random: Porg ysings “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’” todefine his easygoing philosophy oflife; “Standin’ on the Corner” cre-ates an atmosphere in which easy-going male townies can passivelyogle the opposite sex; “The Surreywith the Fringe on Top” posits thestatus of Curley’s “ride” as ripe forcourtin’ a gal; and “Dirty RottenNumber” lets a couple of veterancon men revel in the thrill of thegame.
N o w, a dramaturgical c o n d i t i o nof being can be used for one of twopurposes:
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“Standin’ on the Corner”
To provide a backdrop (whichcan be environmental or simply apoint of view) against which adrama can be played out—
Or to celebrate the outcome of adrama that has been played out!
Thus—
Charm Category the First:The Backdrop Charm Song
In terms of the first category—ab a c k d rop against which a drama canbe played out—a charm number canbe re g a rded as a secondary openingnumber for a sub-theme of the show,deepening the context and defin-ing secondary permissions:
When Fiddler b e g i n s , the open-ing number tells us that we’regoing to see a show about “Tradi-tion” (and subtextually pre p a re sus for a show about traditionsbeing challenged and bre a k i n gdown). When Tevye’s daughtersfollow that by singing “Matchmak-e r, Matchmaker,” we are f u r t h e rp re p a red for the story to focus onthe traditions that govern familyunity and marriage.
The placement of a backdro p
charm number can vary, though,because it needn’t be pertinent tom o re than a segment of the show.When Charity Hope Va l e n t i n e ’ sfriends sing “I Love to Cry at Wed-dings,” in celebration of herimpending nuptials, we’re not farf rom the e n d of Sweet Charity. B u tbecause the song kicks off the finaldramatic arc of this somewhatepisodic musical, i t raises thestakes on her faith in happy end-ings and true love—providing themost powerful contrast when it istested by the realization thatboyfriend Oscar Lindquist isn’table to overcome his puritanicalobsessive-compulsiveness after all.
In almost all charm numbers thatfall into this first category—eventhe most benign, such as “Once inLove with A m y ” —the audience isbeing made to feel good about some -thing which will almost immediatelyt h e reafter come under fire . S o m e-times, a backdrop charm song caneven achieve poignancy by antici -pating a threat we know is coming:When Maria sings “I Feel Pre t t y ” ,she has no idea the ru m b l ebetween the Jets and Sharks hasgone down. But we’ve been wit-ness to it. And we know her broth-er Bernardo has met his death ather lover Tony’s hand.
At the v e r y least, what’s beingset up in a backdrop charm song iscontrast: The guys who sing about“standin’ on the corner, watchin’all the girls go by” are extollingtheir happy sense of passivity;t h e y ’ re harmless, hometown boyswithout much ambition, content toobserve and stay rooted. But their
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“Dirty Rotten Number”
manifesto of stasis is followed bythat of the ranch foreman who isthe odd man out, driven by wan-derlust, expressed in his epony-mous ballad, “Joey, Joey, Joey. ”And h e ’s the guy who will com-plete the tale’s romantic triangle,tempting Rosabella away fro mTony.
Though it’s probably true thatonly a portion of these songs wereconsciously conceived with a rigids t ructural function in mind (Somes o u rces allege that “Standin’ onthe Corner” was originally writtenfor Guys and Dolls), i t doesn’tinvalidate evolutionary revelationsthat come to light when examiningthe catalog with the gift of hind-sight. And what seems to haveevolved here is a kind of song thatgrants the audience—unbe-knownst to them or with their will-ing complicity—a temporary senseof security and stability—whichheightens their sense of dramawhen the story kicks into highgear again.
Charm Category the Second:The Celebratory Charmer
The second category of charmsong is a flat-out celebration.Something wonderful has beenachieved, and we’re going to kickback and enjoy it. This kind ofnumber seems to be less commonthan the first, likely because mostmusical theatre story constru c t i o nd a ren’t present a celebration thatisn’t followed by a negating ort h reatening force; to do so woulddilute narrative tension and invite
loss of thematic focus. Nonethe-less, when celebration occurs, youcan usually locate structural func-tion:
The blissful state of the Turnbladp a rents’ marriage in H a i r s p r a yexists in stark contrast to the dys-function and prejudice of o t h e rpeople that daughter Tracy is try-ing to overcome, proving that thehumanist ideal is possible. Thus,“Timeless to Me” offers hope, rightwhen it’s most needed.
After Pippin, in his quest forextraordinariness, has rejected pol-itics and warfare as overrated andfrustrating, he seeks out his grand-mother for the wisdom of old age.She provides both irre v e rent con-trast to his father, the warrior King(“Sometimes,” she declares, “Ithink men raise flags when theycan’t get anything else up”), andactual (as opposed to symbolic ors t ructural) permission for Pippinto immerse himself in a healthyfling or three by singing “No Timeat All” to him—and to us. And thisis the transition point pre p a r i n gfor the highly choreographed bal-
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“Timeless to Me”
lad “With You,” in which Pippingoes from tenderly exploring sen-suality to nearly drowning indebauchery.
Celebratory charm songs arealso rarer than backdrop charmsongs because they run the risk ofbeing re t rospective, when the nat-ural drive of musicals tends tokeep pushing them forward. Ye twhen, in Dirty Rotten Scoundre l s ,Freddy and Lawrence belt out that“It was a ball, it was a blast,” youcannot help but find it utterlyinfectious. And even then, it doesindeed push the show its final inchf o r w a rd, because the guys havebeen in ruthless contention a l levening, and having both b e e nthwarted by the mysterious “Jack-al,” this is their chance to laugh atthemselves and resolve their dif-ferences.
In charming conclusion…
When in doubt about creating acharm song, let stru c t u re guideyou. Ta rget a spot where yourstory breathes naturally; trackwhat leads up to it; and be mindfulof what it’s setting up, or re s o l v-ing.
And then, for God’s sake, havefun with it.
Chances are it’ll work likea…well, you know…
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“No Time at All”
When Barbara Cook presented her80th birthday recital, a re v i e w i nthe Times suggested that her choiceof material seemed to chart a life-long emotional journey, “fro mfaith and innocence through a darknight of the soul that is ultimatelyrejected with a vigorous assertionof optimism.”
An interesting take. Was thatwhat Ms. Cook had in mind, orwas she simply putting together asatisfying program of very goodsongs? And does it matter?
It got me thinking, since I’m notmuch younger than Barbara Cook:how would I chart my own emo-tional life in song? How wouldyou? This is better than a parlorgame; it’s almost therapy.
With thousands of songs store daway in my brain, I decided atonce that a list of a few titles—even a few dozen—was impossi-ble. But I was able to come up withcategories of songs that seemed tocharacterize my life’s journey.
1935-40 (I was born in 1933):songs my parents sang when theyw e re happy—“Only MakeBelieve”, “Shuffle Off to Buff a l o ” ,“Just a Baby’s Prayer at Twilight”,“Dear Little Boy of Mine”, “TheU m b rella Man.” Plus S u n d a y
School hymns that, try as I might,I’ve never been able to erase frommy consciousness.
1940-45: Big Band stuff; Your HitP a r a d e ; Gene Autry; World Wa r I Isongs—“Der Füehre r ’s Face”!How I loved Spike Jones!
1945-50: campfire songs, choirmusic, and tunes I associated withfavorite performers, such as BettyHutton and Marlene Dietrich. Fora high school variety show I gotmyself up in Mae West drag andsang “Frankie and Johnny”!
1950-55: The Great American SongB o o k—especially theatre songs ofthe period and earlier: Rodgers
by Richard Engquist
Barbara Cook
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and Hart/Hammerstein; IrvingBerlin; the Gershwins. This wasstill the golden age of radio forpop music—not to mention classi-cal, operatic, “country” and everyother genre.
1955-60: More show music, andthe great albums by Ella Fitzger-a l d , Nat King Cole and others.Radio fades. Gone are the dayswhen one learned every songf rom South Pacific, Guys and Dollsand Call Me Madam b e f o re seeingthe shows.
Well, I won’t bore you with therest of my catalog. But I s u g g e s tthat you review your own musicalexperience—what spoke to youpowerfully and shaped your taste?How did it lead to your ambitionto be a musical theatre writer?What should you be revisiting, orvisiting for the first time?
************On an entirely diff e rent sub-
ject…Over the Thanksgiving holiday I
spent time in a wonderfulnew/old house that struck me as ametaphor for writing a musical.It’s an old farmhouse with thecharm of those which were well-d e s i g n e d : s t u rd y, of pleasing pro-portions, sunny, cozy and inviting.The rooms are on the small side,and the ceilings aren’t high, butt h e re’s a comfortable, w e l c o m i n gfeeling that says home and family.
The house has recently been ren-ovated without altering the s t ru c-ture. The windows, bathrooms andkitchen fixtures are all new andstate of the art without appearinga n a c h ronistic. The interior and
exterior paint job is meticulousand elegant. In other words, onehas the charm of an old farmhousewith all the hard w a re and decorup to date. Perfect!
Why a metaphor for musical the-atre?
Because the structure itself is thebook—what makes everythingelse work: sturd y, well-planned,functional, familiar. All else isb r a n d new and exciting—thesound, the look, the surprise andinnovation.
Build your house with care. A shas often been observed, peopledon’t leave the theatre singing thebook or the scenery, but if thatb o o k ( s t ru c t u re) isn’t sound, thewhole thing teeters. Which is whythe book writer is always the keyelement but often unappreciated. Ifyou’ve ever tried to put together amusical starting with a bunch ofgood songs and no story, you’llknow exactly what I mean.
