How To Write A Musical - 2: The Plan

“And then when you have to collaborate”

To write a musical, there are three elements to write: Book, Lyrics, and Music. Sometimes one person can write all three. More often, there are two or three collaborators writing a musical. And in some cases, many more collaborators share the writing. (For the sake of simplicity in this and future articles, I’ll use the example of three writers, one on Book, one on Lyrics, and one on Music). Collaboration is one of the greatest things about writing a musical, but it can also be one of the most frustrating. The truth is that collaboration makes your own work better, assuming you have collaborators with whom you share a mutual trust and respect. The work is better for having additional voices to question, to brainstorm, and to clarify exactly what you, as a team, want to create.

Having everyone together in the early stages will help you write a musical which feels as if one person wrote it, because the goal is a musical which flows seamlessly from dialog into song and back to dialog. A musical where each character has the same vernacular whether they are speaking dialog or singing a song. Where each element of the musical supports the same story. It’s a mistake to think of the three elements of a musical as separate tasks, and it’s an incorrect assumption that the Book Writer is the “playwright” while the other two write songs to be inserted into the play. On the contrary, each theater song is an integral part of the dramatic through line of a musical. Whether you are a lyricist, a composer, or a book writer: you are a playwright.

So: you have three playwrights, together writing one play. Get the three of you together at the very beginning of the process and get to work. But don’t write anything yet! Before you start writing, your work begins with discussing it all. Together, create a central vision for your musical.

Start With The Story

Your vision for your musical starts with the story. “Story” doesn’t mean the “book.” The book is just one of three tools you will use, together with the lyrics and the music, to tell the story. Therefore, it’s important that all three collaborators have a clear handle on the story. In addition to talking about the plot and the specifics of what happens, also discuss the themes and the message of the story. Ask yourselves why:  WHY are you telling this story, why here, why now? What affect do you want this story to have on today’s audience? The answers to these questions will guide each of you as you write your element of the musical. The answers may change as you go along, and that’s okay, but having them spelled out at the beginning will help the three of you to write the same musical. As the writing and re-writing process goes on, as you find things changing (the plot specifics, the themes, the message, the style) just discuss it, come to a new understanding, and proceed.

Something that can help you focus the plans for your story is to create your “elevator pitch:” you step onto an elevator with a Producer and she presses the button for the second floor; as the doors close she says to you, “So, what’s your show about?” What do you say, in the amount of time it takes you to ride up one floor? That’s your “elevator pitch,” and though you may not be actively pitching your show to anyone for a while yet, going through this exercise helps you focus on what your story is. (And it prepares you, too, just in case you run into Jeffrey Seller in an elevator.)

Agree on a Plan

Once you are clear on what the story is, plan how your musical will tell that story.

Who are the characters?  How many characters? Who is the hero?

Do you need a large cast or small? What is the setting? Discuss the dramatic peaks of the story and identify probable song moments.

A lot of these questions will be answered by the source material, unless of course you are working on an original story. Look to your source material for the basics, and for inspiration, but realize that you don’t have to be true to everything in the original story. Remember, you are telling the story in a new medium, with a new voice: your’s. And even with underlying source material, this is the time to let your imaginations run wild. This is the time to say, “yes, and…” to each idea presented.

Look for ways to expand the original piece. Maybe there’s a character who is only mentioned briefly in the film, which might be worthy of developing into a subplot in your musical. In Green Grow The Lilacs, for example, Will Parker is mentioned but isn’t a character in the play; Ado Annie is described as an “unattractive, stupid-looking farm girl.” Hammerstein brought Will Parker onto the stage in Oklahoma! to partner with Ado Annie, who was now attractive, and naive rather than stupid. Also look at the events of the story which are mentioned in the source material but not dramatized; for example, if two characters mention they met at a formal ball, is there value in dramatizing their meeting at that ball?

As you and your team talk through the telling of your story, discuss which moments might become songs. Where a scene reaches a dramatic point, how can you use song or dance to heighten that moment? When a character in the story must make a decision, could that be a song moment for her? Look for the most emotional high points, and those moments will often become songs.

There are many more questions to ask and discussions to be had while planning your musical, but if you’ve gone through the above conversations, dreamed big, and reached some conclusions, you are probably itching to stop talking about it and get started. And that’s just what should happen. In the next article, I’ll give you some things to think about as you finally start to write the darn thing.