The Premise
When writing a musical, you must eventually figure out your premise, what your show is really about. Then you must make sure that every element of your material fits in with and serves that premise. A good premise gives your show wide ranging (if not universal) appeal. This does not mean you should limit yourself to common characters facing common challenges -- far from it! For example, Sweeney Todd tells the story of a Victorian barber out to kill the vile men who stole his beloved wife and sent him off to rot in prison on false charges. But at its core, the show is really about the terrifying cost of revenge, how past resentment can cost us the present and even the future. This makes Sweeney's story the audience's story, and even though the plot is ridiculous, the audience can still relate.
Today, even a revue can have a premise. When Pig's Fly was a set of hilarious songs and skits built around one gay man's obsession with succeeding in the theatre -- despite a guidance counselor's warning that he would succeed only "when pig's fly." But the show's premise was that the more outrageous or "over the top" a dream is, the more it is worth pursuing. That theme resonated with gays and straights alike, and When Pig's Fly enjoyed a long and profitable off-Broadway run.
Just remember that when choosing your premise, you want to get as close to universal appeal as possible. If an audience member can't relate, they'll become unresponsive, and unresponsive audience members is not a good thing.
Tips before writing your musical
- See as many musicals as you can, on stage or screen.
- Study the musicals you like and figure out what makes them tick.
- Study the musicals you don't like and figure out what prevents them from ticking. You can sometimes learn far more from a flop than a flawless hit -- at the very least, make them lessons in what not to do!
- Since musicals are a collaborative art form, do your best to find collaborators you can work with comfortably.
- Find or invent a story idea that gets you so excited you can spend five or more years of your life working on it with no promise (or even a reasonable hope) of it earning you a penny.
- Structure your life in such a way that it leaves you daily time to write and/or compose. (but be sure this life structure provides a way for you to keep the bills paid.
- Work only on projects you are passionate about – never take on a musical based solely on its commercial possibilities. This year's "hot" idea often proves to be next year's embarrassment.
- Make sure your work has a genuine sense of humor. Too many new writers and composers tend to concoct "serious" musicals that bore audiences.
- Don't waste time being afraid of messing up. Every talent in history has failed from time to time. Treat every project you work on as a learning experience, and you will find that failure can be a very creative place.
Eight Rules For Writing Musicals
While, as stated before, no one can tell you how to write a musical, there are a few basic rules that may help aspiring authors and composers along the road to their first opening night. But don't take my word on any of them - prove them yourself. They will apply to any great musical currently in existence.
The first four rules apply to good writing of any kind.
- Show, Don't Tell
This is the number one goal for all writers, now and forever. Don't tell us who your characters are. Let their actions show us! Drama is expressed in action, not description. No one has to tell us that Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors is a gullible nerd when his every action screams it out for him. And we can tell a lot about Danny from Grease simply by the way he talks and dresses.
There is another aspect to "show, don't tell." Since theater and film are visual as well as literary mediums, musicals are not limited to words and music. Many a great musicals uses the power of visual images to communicate key information. (Ever notice that plays are called "shows"?) No one in My Fair Lady has to announce when Liza Doolittle becomes a lady – her wordless, elegant descent down the stairs before leaving for the Embassy Ball shows that her transformation has succeeded.
- Cut everything that is not essential
Some call this the "kill your darlings" rule. Every character, song, word and gesture has to serve a clear dramatic purpose. If not, the whole structure of your show can collapse, or its effectiveness can be ruined. If something does not develop character, establish setting or advance the plot, cut it -- even if it is something that you love. The next time you see a musical that seems to be losing steam, odds are that the writers did not have the heart to cut. Don't show your audiences such a lack of respect – ruthlessly cut everything that does not serve a clear and vital purpose.
- Know the basics of good storytelling
Musicals are just another form of telling stories, an art humans have been practicing since the invention of speech. But surprisingly few aspiring writers get this. Do you know the difference between a story and a plot line? (Yes, there most certainly is a difference!) Can you tell me what your show's premise is, and define the dramatic purpose of each speaking character? Take some time to learn the art of storytelling. That does not necessarily mean getting a masters degree – reading a few good books with a critical eye can get you thinking in the right direction.
- Get Creative
Your first duty in writing a musical is to tell a good story in a fresh, entertaining way -- not to teach or preach. If you make one or more intelligent points along the way, that's fantastic – but it won't matter much if your audience has lost interest, or simply stayed away. Dance a Little Closer condemned war and homophobia – and closed on its opening night. On the other hand, Hairspray protests racism – and is set to run for years. Some dismiss The Sound of Music as fluff, but it has done more harm to Nazism than all the World War II documentaries ever made. Put the story and characters first, and you won't have to hit anyone over the head with a "message." And a well-told story remains in peoples memories long after they've forgotten ever lesson or sermon they ever sat through. If you want to preach, build yourself a pulpit, not a musical. When you are really lucky, you are the one who will learn something from your writing.
Now, some rules that apply specifically to the musical form.
- Find the Song Posts
Song placement in a musical is not up to the artist writing it! Irving Berlin said that he evaluated potential projects by looking for the "posts" – points in the story that demand a song. Characters must have some emotional justification for singing, otherwise the songs themselves would be empty exercises. Consider your favorite hit musical, whatever it may be. The songs all have something to say, expressing the important feelings or concerns of the characters singing them. Joy, confusion, heartbreak, love, rage – when these life-defining feelings break through, characters can sing.
- Open With a Kick-Ass Song
Every now and then, a successful musical (My Fair Lady, The King and I) opens with a few pages of dialogue before the opening number, but these are the exceptions. Audiences usually prefer a musical that opens with music – duh! An effective song (or musical scene) sets the tone for the show to come and allows some swift plot exposition. By the end of the opening number, audiences should know where the story is set, what sort of people are in it, and what the basic atmosphere of the show will be. And the song itself ought to be one of the strongest in the score. A great opening number reassures audiences that there more good things to come. Oklahoma follows this rule with "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning," as do such diverse hits as Les Miserables ("At the End of the Day"), Urinetown ("Too Much Exposition"), and Hairspray ("Good Morning, Baltimore"). Unless you are certain your show is the next My Fair Lady, kick-off your first scene with a song.
- Book, Score and Staging Must Speak as One
In contemporary musical theater, the score, libretto and staging (which includes the choreography) share the job of storytelling. This results in frequent passages of sung dialogue, as well as scenes where characters move effortlessly between spoken word, dance and song. Think of the hilarious "Keep It Gay" in The Producers, the achingly beautiful "If I Loved You" bench scene in Carousel, or the powerful dances ignited by the songs in Moving Out – the dialogue, lyrics and staging form a seamless fabric. And please, keep the content flowing smooth and varied. A hint – if your libretto goes on for pages and pages between musical isolated numbers, something is probably wrong.
- Songs Are Not Enough
When you turn an existing story into a musical, you need a fresh vision. Just adding songs won't make for an effective musical. You have to tell the story with a fresh dose of energy, of re-inspiration. Annie took the characters from a classic comic strip, then added some new faces and placed them all in an entirely new story. Some of the best moments in My Fair Lady did not come from Pygmalion -- including the crux of the pivotal "Rain in Spain" scene. Don't just adapt -- re-ignite the material at hand!
Why You Should NOT Write Musicals
Yes, I mean you. Working in the professional theatre can be hellish. Can you stand the merciless judgment of producers, potential backers, fellow creators, critics and (gulp!) paying audiences? Can you handle years (and I mean years) of anonymous unpaid struggle? Are you ready to work your butt off eight hours or more at a demanding day job and then somehow find the energy to write? Can you handle the fact that most people will have no idea who you are or what you do even if you win a Tony or an Oscar? Finally, can you handle doing all this for no more than 2% of a show's profits? (That's the percentage the authors share under the present standard contract.) This is not a career for the uncertain.
Why You SHOULD Write Musicals
Yes, I mean you! You should write musicals if there is no possible way for you not to. If all the negatives cannot dissuade you, go for it! You might be crazy enough to succeed. Just be sure that you always have a solid means of paying your bills and recharging your spirits. And while talent and luck are valuable to any aspiring composer, lyricist or librettist, there are three things that matter even more – patience, determination, and guts. One of the worlds greatest musical comediennes said the following about acting, but it applies to writers and composers too:
"I'll give you a tip – it's risk. Once you're willing to risk everything, you can accomplish anything."
- Patricia Routledge, actress.
Source: How to Write A Musical, by John Kenrick.
