Help a playwright out (stipend offered)

This is all highly subjective as you know, and I hesitate to say anything that discourages you as a writer. But I do think in some ways you're in a tough spot. I do think we're getting to place where substance-less musical comedies are not as exciting as they used to be, and that we're generally moving away from their direction. That said I don't think you should necessarily abandon what you love to write, and what you're good at. If it brings you personal fulfillment as an artist, and if it brings some people enjoyment, that's what's ultimately important.

Also, I think there are exceptions. Shows like "The Play That Goes Wrong" (though not a musical), show us that if you do fluffy, derivative material really well, it can be extraordinary to watch. Also, you say that shows like Hello, Dolly do well only because they have an established fan base. That may be true from a commercial perspective, but speaking as someone who was not familiar with the show prior to this revival, I think they also achieved something artistically successful in presenting a classic music comedy REALLY well. It was thrilling for me to watch, and I got profound pleasure out of every minute of it. And I'm not even that big a fan of Dolly, Midler, or classic musical comedies in general. I feel the same way about the She Loves Me revival. And An American in Paris is a recent example that wasn't a revival.

Personally, I would caution you against writing musical comedies for the sake of "nostalgia," or paying homage to that genre. Some may disagree with me, but I think doing that, in some ways, snuffs out your own voice as a writer, and makes it more likely to feel like a stale, cheap imitation. But if you believe you have something to add to the canon with YOUR take on a musical comedy, I say go for it.

Also, this is all just my opinion. If what I'm saying is going to get in your way as an artist, forget it. Ignore me. I'm just a stranger on the internet, and I'm not a writer, so what do I know?

I have to echo so much of what has been said. I teach at a magnet arts and TAG school and I work with kids K-8. Once the kids hit about 5th grade, we always gave a dilemma of sorts: do we have the kids write with a scholarly voice or what works for them. In the end, it seems that kids automatically drift to the second. Maybe not immediately, but they end up with their own unique style.

I think that you, as a writer, have to write what works for you. Maybe that may veer one way or touch on something, but don't write something for the sake of writing it. Don't emulate the style of the Golden Age of Broadway if you can't do it. If you don't naturally write material perceived as "edgy" or "dark", don't force because you risk coming across as not being genuine in your work or even worse, having a hard time truly standing behind it.

In the end, you gotta do you. That's where the soul of what you write comes from.

Updated On: 9/12/17 at 12:57 AM

1. You will NEVER write a play or show that will not be criticized by somebody. Never happened, never will. (Sondheim takes jabs at SOUTH PACIFIC and MY FAIR LADY in MERRILY.)

2. You will NEVER write a successful play or show that you yourself don't love. Sometimes we learn to love a project after we've been assigned a subject, but the cynical approach rarely pays off artistically or financially. Oscar Hammerstein and Jerry Herman got rich and famous writing optimistic musicals because they are optimistic people. Stephen Sondheim and Jerry Robbins have done more pessimistic or ironic shows because those fit their world views.

3. If you need to be practical--and you may until you are well established--think about the costs you CAN reduce. Write for smaller casts; use imagination instead of elaborate sets. It's unlikely (though not impossible) that somebody is going to pay you to write a $14 million production for your first show. So see what you can do with 3 actors and a piano.

4. Lyric theater (musicals and operas) take FOREVER to write. Expect to spend 5-7 years on your first one (which is another reason to make sure you love what you are doing). As you hint in your post, there is almost no way to predict what will be current and trendy by the time your musical is mounted. Sometimes you win (I had a piece about Bosnia open just when we started bombing nearby Kosovo); sometimes you lose (I finally gave up on my lesbian wedding musical: I couldn't keep up with the pace of cultural and legal change).

^^^ There are also gentle jabs at both shows in the number "Opening Doors". E.g., "I saw MY FAIR LADY. I sort of enjoyed it."



P.S. Break a leg with your project! And don't necessarily be discouraged about the time it takes to complete it. On the other hand, some times we can't get a project completed because the idea just doesn't work. It's hard to tell the difference.

Updated On: 9/12/17 at 10:53 PM

Henrik, I actually LOVE that idea. Now I feel I'd be stealing your work. Lol

Sorry to shamelessly bump my own thread, but a lot of you had thoughts on my concern here, and I just posted about it more thoroughly on the blog...

Link (It's the very first one you see.)