When Vital Theater Company approached me in the summer of 2009 to write the score for their children’s musical UNCLE PIRATE, I half-heartedly said yes. They were in a pinch, having just lost their songwriter, I was free, and the director was a good friend. I don’t have children. I didn’t even know much about them, but I figured I’d […]
The post Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing Children’s Theater appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
We talked about how having a good video to share gave you an obligation to share it. There are plenty of ways to make sure your video gets out there: Tweet it Blog about it Link to it in comments But if you’re the only one sharing it, it’s only going to go so far. […]
The post #NMTVotW: Extended Marketing appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
Hello theater geeks, performers, fellow writers, and parents of the theater geeks, performers, and writers who are reading these blogs as to further understand why their child is “the way they are.” Today I wanted to tackle a subject that comes as an occupational hazard… writer’s block. This blog may seem to be catered to strictly composers and writers, […]
The post Drew Gasparini’s Guide To Saying “F*** You” To Writer’s Block appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
What a fascinating community we have where we can enjoy so many different people creating a story out of our songs. There are plenty of songs where many different performers have sung the same song differently and have gotten comments on how different they are, but none have received the attention like Run Away with […]
The post I’d Run Away With Them All appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
I had a really cool experience this past month. I was trolling Twitter and saw an informative and non-judgemental post (which is rare on that bitchfest machine) by Broadway Spotted. Now, like the UK’s West End Producer Twitter account, Broadway Spotted is an anonymous poster. I responded to “Spotted” and got a very kind response. We […]
The post Kindness Within The Community appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
Don’t get me wrong, I love me a love song. But after one too many vocal coachings, concert plannings, and/or friends in need of new book options that ended up with an endless parade of one sad long break-up song after another, I decided to make an active effort to seek out some more varied […]
The post Top 10 New Musical Theatre Songs That Are Not Love Songs (in no particular order) appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
Every time I have performed an evening of my music, I am inevitably asked the same questions: “What is that from?” “Why did you write that song?” “What did you write first, the music or the lyrics?” “What’s your bank account number?” Well, the last one only happened once…… But the point is…people ask questions. So, it […]
The post THE WRITER’S BLOCK: More Than Just Sundays appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
In my quest to find the right #NMTvotw, I ran into a lot of really good singers, singing some amazing #NMTsongs, but the quality of the video just didn’t allow the singer to make the cut. Don’t get me wrong: film away with the amazing new technology of being able to carry just one gadget […]
The post #NMTVotW: Making a Good Quality Video appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
There’s an old theater adage that “no one leaves humming the set.” I contend it’s equally true that “no one leaves humming the syncopated, accidental-filled, sixteenth-note-y vamp.” As more new musical theater is being written by amazingly talented, expert pianists (who are often non-singers), increasing attention is being paid to the accompaniment figure, which is being written first, at […]
The post Melody Matters appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
Welcome to Song Spotlights, where I focus on one of the many great songs available for purchase at NewMusicalTheatre.com’s kick-ass store. This week, we’re looking at Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s song “Hometown Hero’s Ticker Tape Parade” from their musical Dogfight. Dogfight is based on a 1991 film starring River Phoenix and Lilli Taylor. It’s about the unexpected […]
The post SONG SPOTLIGHT: Hometown Hero’s Ticker Tape Parade appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
Can I tell you a Story? In an ideal world, that question is what I use to maintain my laser-like focus every moment of the ten hours each day as I write a great piece of new musical theatre. In reality, it’s a bit more like: What kind of song does this character need… Should I have […]
The post My Writing Process appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
Truman Capote would have a pen in one hand and a glass of Brandy in another. Hemingway would limit himself to 500 words a day, only writing in the morning. Sondheim likes to be lying down on his back so he can easily doze off, and he only uses Blackwing pencils. Writers’ rituals become part of our personalities […]
The post Ritual in Writing appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
Songs in musicals are written for all kinds of reasons. But often, their indispensability to a show has to do with fulfilling several functions at once. In the case of “The Twitter Song” from Nobody Loves You, my show with Itamar Moses about a philosophy student who becomes a contestant on a Bachelor-style dating show, […]
The post WRITER’S WORKSHOP: How a song for a musical gets written appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
If you’re a fan of new musical theatre, you’re no stranger to YouTube. With most of the #NMTwriters posting their latest and greatest concerts on YouTube for the non-New Yorkers to enjoy, it’s one of many joys we get that from #NMTshows that we don’t get with Broadway ones. But YouTube isn’t just a gateway […]
The post Becoming #NMTFamous appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
I’ve got this duality to my career that has provided me with some pretty helpful insight. I spend a big part of my professional time writing music and lyrics for songs and shows, but I also spend a big part of that time music directing, teaching, and coaching singers. One of the most important things […]
The post Writing Actable Songs appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.
A little over a year and a half ago I was somewhere… don’t remember where… doesn’t matter where. When you are a writer in New York, there are only a handful of places you can be, really… so anyway, I was in this place and I was drinking my white chocolate mocha when I… STARBUCKS!!! … I was […]
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