Random Musings

I guess everyone has their own list of “Things To Do Before I Die”.

I was thrilled to clear one of the items off my list earlier this year…and that was to actually touch a Steinway concert grand (see here).

That was great.

The next thing I want to do is related to musicals.

I hope to be part of the creation of a musical before I die.

Y’know, for the longest time I’ve been telling myself that one day if I make it rich and have tons of money, I’d throw a bit of it into creating a musical.

As in, using the money to fund the production of a musical…cos you need (a lot of) money to put together a production, i.e. sets, props, costumes, venue rental, actors, dancers, musicians, stylists, stagehands, publicity, etc.

But lately, I’ve been thinking…why wait for a day which may never come? Why not just do something about it now?

I’ve recently been starting to get obsessed with the idea of writing a musical.

And the more I think about it, the more I’m certain that I want to write a musical…soon.

Definitely the songs, that’s for sure.

Now the issue is about the book.

I can’t write a libretto for nuts…or at least I’ve never bothered to try.

So should I find a librettist to work with, or should I just try my hand at writing the book as well? (That would be unchartered territory for me.)

There are pros and cons to it.

For example, where do I find a good librettist to work with?

I don’t know if it is easy to find a librettist to work with…a librettist that I’m comfortable working with and whom I have confidence in working with.

But I’ll come to a decision on that soon enough.

So anyway recently I’ve been trying to watch as many musicals as I can.

I’ve watched two in the last two weeks – “Lost in Transit” by MTL and “Beauty and the Beast” by W!ld Rice.

(I would have caught “Victor/Victoria” if I had the time, but alas I didn’t.)

The idea is to expose myself to as much musical theatre as possible.

And I’m currently devouring this excellent book I got from Amazon called “Writing Musical Theater” by Steven L. Rosenhaus and Allen Cohen.

Extremely informative. Very good book.

And I intend to revisit other excellent books I’ve read, such as “Writing the Broadway Musical” by Aaron Frankel and “The Musical Theatre Writer’s Survival Guide” by David Spencer.

They are all wonderful books which I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in writing for musical theatre.

(to be continued)