The reprise is a musical theatre staple – and with good reason. Far more than just repetition, reprises can be crucial to a musical’s storytelling. Using the same (or similar) music in a different context allows writers to emphasize or comment on a shift that has taken place over the course of the show. They’re […]
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Comedy is all about misdirection, and that’s why musical theatre is such a great medium for telling funny stories. Music can prepare an audience to hear one story, and then be completely surprised at the outcome. Having a melody or a well-placed rhyme deliver the punchline makes a joke land that much harder than it […]
The post 10 NMT Songs to Make You Laugh appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
In a recent interview with The Ensemblist podcast, songwriters Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lynn Ahrens, and Stephen Flaherty talked about why they like writing for ensembles and described the dramatic benefits that a solid ensemble can bring to a show. After listening to what these amazing composers had to say on the subject, I was inspired to […]
The post My Favorite Things: The Ensemble appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
“Counterpoint” is one of those fancy musical terms I was never sure I understood until I actually heard it in action. Once I did, I thought “witchcraft” might be a more accurate description. Essentially, counterpoint is when you have two completely different melodic lines happening at the same time. While this can be used to […]
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Adam Guettel’s beautiful musical The Light in the Piazza tells the story of a young American woman named Clara who falls in love with Fabrizio, a young man she meets on vacation in Italy. When Fabrizio sings about how empty his life was before Clara, it is entirely in Italian. Asking a primarily English-speaking audience […]
The post Il Mondo Era Vuoto: Multilingual Shows and Why I Want More Of Them appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
When Howard Ashman came to Disney to work on The Little Mermaid, he brought his years of theatre experience with him, and he shared his expertise with the animators on the film. In an interview taken from one of his impromptu “lunchtime lectures,” Ashman described the theatrical idea of the “I Want” song: …Early in […]
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I’m going to state the obvious: I love me a good key change. Take, for example, Michael Jackson’s “Man In the Mirror.” I’m pretty sure that like every person alive knows this song, but just in case you need a refresher, check out Broadway star Keke Palmer’s version from the movie Joyful Noise*. You think […]
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Songwriters make demos for lots of reasons: to share with collaborators, show producers, or simply to have for their own records. I love a beautifully complicated arrangement as much as anyone, but there’s something special about songs being performed by the people who wrote them. Without influence from orchestrations or staging or an actor’s interpretation, […]
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