Preproduction: the period of time during which work is done on a show prior to the first rehearsal.
What comes first, the words or the music? That depends on who's doing the writing.
Although there have been a number of successful shows with books written around existing melodies -- Kismet is perhaps the best example, with music by the 19th Century Russian composer Alexander Borodin, musical adaptation and lyrics by George Forrest and Robert Wright, book by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis (based on a play by Edward Knoblock) -- there have been many more that have failed -- most recently Teddy and Alice, which ran very briefly on Broadway in the '80's, based on music of John Phillip Sousa. And shows written around completed songs have had similar problems. I'm talking about "book musicals" now, shows with a real plot, in which the songs specifically complement the action, not "revues," in which there may be a loose story line but whose raison d'etre is to showcase the songs. Among the successful book musicals written around existing songs is the recent Jelly's Last Jam, based on the life of and with songs by Jelly Roll Morton, and My One and Only, based on the songs of George and Ira Gershwin. And successful reviews span the 20th Century, including countless Follies, Gaeties, and Revues produced early in the century, through Ain't Misbehavin', Black and Blue, and the touring "Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber" (this last successful enough to have spawned a sequel).
The basic kind of troubles you can get yourself into with this kind of adaptation can be seen in a new show that received two productions this year. Two young men, Michael Scheman and David Stern, were so enamored of the work of Stephen Schwartz that they felt a stage celebration of some sort was in order. About four years ago they created a list of songs that they'd like to use and then set about trying to come up some kind of story to hold the songs together. They spoke with Mr. Schwartz about their idea, and eventually he was convinced of the viability of their idea to the point of suggesting additional songs, and agreeing to contribute some new material. The pair was able to raise some money to do a workshop of the show, now called Snapshots, to get an idea of how the material played. (A workshop of a show is more about the rehearsal process than a production. A group of actors is hired to rehearse a piece in order to give the writer(s) and the production team and producer(s) (if there are any at this stage) an idea of what kind of condition the work is in.) At this point the show was more revue than book musical. It didn't quite work as a show yet, but as a showcase for the music and lyrics of Stephen Schwartz it was very successful.
More work was done on the show, revising of the book and musical selections dropped and added. Another workshop was done, which led to another period of rewriting and revising. They then were able to get a pair of productions scheduled, with two smaller regional theatre footing the bills. During the rehearsal processes of both of these productions more rewriting and revising was done. Since much of the material was only superficially connected, Mr. Schwartz adapted lyrics to better fit the plots of the new show. The result of all this revising, rewriting, and adapting, although reminiscent of the earlier revue version, was now very much more a book musical. And even though the book scenes were more successful than the initial drafts, the songs now suffered. The mood of several numbers, in order to fit into the current scenario, had to be changed to the point where they last there original appeal; other songs appeared as frustratingly short fragments, alluding to beautiful material that never actually appeared. So the piece had gone from a lively, celebratory revue of the work of Stephen Schwartz to a pleasant book musical, somewhat buoyed by his work.
When a musical is being created, there is always some sort of give and take. When writers set out to create a work out of existing songs, the formula becomes much more complicated. How can you create a work and still do justice to the original material, in fact not damage the material? In this kind of juggling act, the writers often end up stealing from Peter to pay Paul.
Most musicals are adapted from some existing work -- be it a play, a novel, or short story -- as are many of the most successful musicals. Next week will take a look at this kind of adaptation.
Originally published at Suite101.com Theatre, 2/4/97
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