MOVE LIKE A SHARK: 2019 ASCAP MUSICAL THEATRE WORKSHOP

BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO

The ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Workshop, in partnership with Universal Theatrical Group and The Wallis, has returned to The Wallis in Beverly Hills this May with three new musicals. This workshop, led by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell, Pippin, The Prince of Egypt, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and organized by ASCAP’s Michael Kerker, provides an opportunity for musical theatre writers to present a reading of an original musical in progress, then immediately receive feedback from industry professionals in front of a live audience. This year the workshop includes three 50-minute presentations over the course of two days. The musicals selected to participate this year are: Sean’s Story: Part One/The Awakening, Timberlakeand first ever Australian production, The Life of Us. 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL PHOTO GALLERY!

The experienced panelists this year include: Stephen Bray (12 billboard top ten recordings: “Angel”, “Into the Groove”, “Poppa Don’t Preach”, “True Blue” and “Express Yourself”); Shana C. Waterman (Head of Television of Vin Diesel’s, Universal based, One Race TV). Kevin Bannerman (The Lion King, Monkeybone, Forever Plaid: The Movie, Ever After, and Pocahontas); Winnie Holzman (Wicked, My So-Called Life, Jerry Maguire, and Thirtysomething); and the prodigious Stephen Schwartz.

MUSICAL NO. 1: Sean’s Story: Part One/The Awakening

Book, music and lyrics by Khiyon Hursey

Directed by Patrick Vassel

SUMMARY

An exploration of a young black man’s relationship with his own blackness as he navigates first love and racial injustice. 

Part One is about our protagonist, Sean, experiencing: An awakening to injustice. An awakening to mortality. An awakening to his own ignorance. An awakening of rage. An awakening to his own stupidity. An awakening of pain. An awakening to his own blackness.

MUSICAL NO. 2: TIMBERLAKE

Book, music and lyrics by Matt Schatz

Directed by Brian Kite

Music Direction by Scott Anthony

SUMMARY

Beth is an ambitious literary manager at a non-profit theater company in New York City. When a well-known white male playwright misbehaves, a slot opens up in the theater’s current season. Beth risks everything to fight for a play set in Kenya by an emerging female playwright. But Beth’s artistic director has another writer in mind and this writer might just be a genius! 

MUSICAL NO. 3: THE LIFE OF US

Book, music and lyrics by Ben Bennett

Book by Ashleigh Taylor

Directed by Neil Gooding

Music Direction by Nicholas Gentile

SUMMARY

The Life Of Us follows the long-distance romance of Charlie and Ellie. Forced apart by circumstance, they maintain their relationship through technology, but how much connection can a person truly feel through a screen? As we watch their lives unfold and their relationships crumble, we begin to understand what we want isn’t always what we need. The Life Of Us is a modern day musical that looks at how we love and what it means to be connected.

WORDS OF WISDOM

Although each of the shows presented comes with its unique set of feedback for improvement from the panelists, within these specific comments are valuable lessons that can be applied to any musical in progress. Below is a compilation of general remarks given by the panelists that are useful to anyone in midst of writing a new musical. 

Stephen Schwartz Says:

• Much like the myth about sharks that they have to be constantly moving in the water, or they drown (which is not true), but for theater purposes, it is true. Like the shark, your story must have forward motion, not just the external story (events, cause/effect), but more specifically the internal story (the characters feelings).   

• A sign that a show’s working is when you are hearing the same feedback from various audiences. And often when the opposite is the true, it’s a show that is not working and one that may never work. 

• The experience of hearing and watching an audience react to a reading of your show changes your perception of the show. A writer’s own experience of that will prove most valuable to them as they continue to develop their show.

• Musical theatre is an extremely artificial medium because people don’t sing I real life. Thus, when people go see something that is that artificial it has its own set of rules. When we see a musical that works, without being conscious of it, we have been told the rules. The rules have been established very, very early on. 

• In general, musicals are about compression. They’re a much more compressed form than a play and that’s because lyrics tend to compress. 

• In addition to story boarding your musical scene by scene, it’s a good idea to also story board the story of just your protagonist. When you do this take notice to what your character is doing, and how long they’re sitting in the same place and when are they making active choices, even choices within themselves. 

• Songs (music) should not serve as vehicles for the lyrics, it must be the other way around. Songs must be tuneful to fully land. 

• If your characters are in the same place (internally) for too long you get diminishing returns when some new happens. 

• When writing a musical, you must stay ahead of your audience, you must find ways to surprise them. If your audience knows everything that’s going to happen, no matter how well you tell it, they will fall out of the show.  

• In 90% of theatre songs you must end somewhere different than where they started. 

• Repeated choruses often create problems regarding lack of momentum. You want to find ways to vary aspects of the chorus each time it’s repeated.  

Winnie Holzman Says:

• A scene has momentum and the end of a scene should bring you somewhere new. It should wash you up on the shore of a new little island that you’ve never been before, even if it’s a worse place. 

• By the time you get to the end of a song you should get to a closer level of truth. 

• The dynamic of a scene should be clear. 

• There should be contrasts in music flavor/dramatic content from song to song.

• If you’re writing a musical on a specific subject that a you assume people know about, the show should still be written so that people who do not know about that subject will have as good a time watching the piece, and no one is left out. 

• Songs in musicals need to break free. Songs are built to deliver inner struggle. 

Stephen Bray Says:

• A conventional musical theatre opening number should introduce everyone quickly, tell what these people are about, establish where the story takes place and identify the protagonist. Tell us something, tell us again, and tell us that you told us. 

• When a new character appears on stage the writer must tell the audience who the character is, their name and their relationship is to the main character.

• Be aware of how much book happens, before a song starts. Steal from your book to create song that’s packed with dramatic content and picks up where the book left off. The emotional peaks and valleys in the book are often where songs should occur. 

• Audiences are hungry for conflict. They want to see people working out differences on stage. 

Kevin Bannerman Says: 

• Before a character sings, who they are, and their purpose must be well defined by book elements. 

• Pop songs are great a exploring a moment, but not moving a story forward. 

• Scene to scene should be like dominos falling, leading and pushing forward into the next scene. 

Shana C. Waterman Says: 

• Your main character should not be reactive, but proactive, they should be driving the story. 

APPLY FOR NEXT YEAR

Writers interested in applying for next year’s ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Workshop should visit: https://www.ascap.com/help/career-development/workshops#mtworkshops