NYT: Benj Pasek and Justin Paul Join the EGOT Club. What Does That Mean?

[MezzA101]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 6:12am

Many people were introduced to the idea of an EGOT — winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony — through “30 Rock.” But it’s an actor from the 1980s who deserves the credit.

https://www.nytimes.com/article/egot-winners-history.html?unlocked_article_code=1.JU4.opVY.aVV1kE3LUB3r

[quizking101]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 7:03am

I think most people on this board have a general idea of what the EGOT is.

Admittedly, I’m surprised they have achieved it so quickly - the fastest of all the EGOT winners, besting Robert Lopez by 3 years. With few exceptions, I find too much of their music middling since it seems to aspire to being “radio friendly” at the cost of being insufficiently diegetic to the show/movie’s story.

”Pickwick Triplets” is a certified banger though and is one of those exceptions..

[willep]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 7:53am

I agree on both counts, that song is a banger but most of their music is middling and very generic, but I guess that has worked in their favor for their careers, so who am I to criticize?

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 8:30am

They can write straight-down-the-middle songs that work within dramatic structure, have a hook, sometimes get crossover, and they are incredibly prolific. I wish they’d branch out more, stylistically, but that is the kind of currency that will keep them employed for the rest of their careers.

Everyone’s going to get mad at me for saying this, and I’m not saying they’re on the exact level of talent as these people, but in some ways they are this generation’s equivalent of Charles Strouse or Jule Styne or Alan Menken. Bobby & Kristen Lopez are in a very similar spot. (If we are making comparisons for their contemporaries, Lin more resembles ALW/Rice, while Dave Malloy & Michael R. Jackson hover closer to the Sondheim space.)

[inception]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 9:38am

What it means is they have been wasting their time writing for Movies & TV instead of for the stage.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 9:53am

inception said: "What it means is they have been wasting their time writing for Movies & TV instead of for the stage."


Ah, yes. The legendary winning an Oscar and an Emmy time waste.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 9:55am

If Pasek was 3 months younger, he also would have beaten Robert Lopez's record of being the youngest EGOT winner.

I also wish we'd get more work like Dogfight from them (it's never too late for a revival), but I really enjoyed their work on Only Murders and Spirited.

[RUkiddingme]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 10:22am

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Everyone’s going to get mad at me for saying this, Michael R. Jackson hover closer to theSondheim space.)"

Not even close!

 

[OhHiii]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 11:05am

The impact (derogatory) these two have had on current musical theater sound has is one thing I wish we could reverse. 

[JSquared2]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 11:50am

RUkiddingme said: "ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Everyone’s going to get mad at me for saying this, Michael R. Jackson hover closer to theSondheim space.)"

Not even close!

"

Exactly.  Molloy and Jackson aren't even in the same universe as Sondheim.  A more accurate comparison would be Adam Guettel, Jason Robert Brown and MJ LaChiusa. 

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 1:27pm

In the minority, maybe, but I don't like it when two awards for the same project counts towards EGOT. From Ben and Cynthia's Emmy wins for a promotional appearance, to P&P, among others, winning a Grammy for the same product they put on Broadway.

[smidge]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 1:56pm

everythingtaboo said: "In the minority, maybe, but I don't like it when two awards for the same project counts towards EGOT. From Ben and Cynthia's Emmy wins for a promotional appearance, to P&P, among others,winning a Grammy for the same product they put on Broadway."

I agree with you on Ben & Cynthia’s Emmy wins. But a Musical Theater recording Grammy is bound to have a lot of overlap with the Tonys.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 2:13pm

Congratulations to these two geniuses, they have written incredible songs over the years. And, as quizking said above “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?” is an absolute BANGER of a song. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 2:20pm

Thankfully the category for which Platt and Erivo won their Emmys doesn't exist anymore ("Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program"). It was around for 4 years and the winners were Rachel Platten (Fight Song) on GMA, and the casts of Color Purple, DEH, and Band's Visit on the Today Show.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 3:19pm

Plus, there’s been more focus on the “Triple Crown of Acting” being more prestigious in recent years (Oscar, Emmy, Tony) because of the questionable ways people can get EGOTS

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 3:31pm

inception said: "What it means is they have been wasting their time writing for Movies & TV instead of for the stage."

 

Thank you, Charley Kringas! :)

 

[kdogg36]

Posted: 9/9/24 at 5:13pm

smidge said: "I agree with you on Ben & Cynthia’s Emmy wins. But a Musical Theater recording Grammy is bound to have a lot of overlap with the Tonys."

Also, if you ignore the Dear Evan Hanson Tony win, they still have one of each of the awards for four entirely different properties, so I don't think this situation is at all comparable to the others mentioned in this thread.

[TheatreMonkey]

Posted: 9/10/24 at 3:55am

Aside from the EGOT angle, from many of the articles announcing this win, I find this so interesting because the song wasn't just composed by Pasek & Paul -- they were originally hired to do the music for the season, but brought in other co-writers for me each of the songs featured. Per EW, 

"Pasek and Paul signed on to the project first and recruited Shaiman and Wittman to write the number alongside them." 

An Emmy won, is an Emmy won -- but it was awarded to the four of them. I'm curious what the unique contributions of both teams were. 

Updated On: 9/10/24 at 03:55 AM

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/10/24 at 5:53am

They've all discussed it in several articles.

https://broadwaydirect.com/how-the-catchy-only-murders-in-the-building-song-was-written/

"Marc Shaiman: [The producers] came to us knowing it would be about the Pickwick triplets and an entire song about how could infants possibly murder their mother? They gave us names of what the three triplets would be. That was it, and we were off to the races. There were four of us in a room, and I was like, “How is this going to work?” I mean, it works great with Scott and I. It turns out it was just as easy and we got even more ideas. We were all on a Google Doc so we could type or delete what someone else had done.

SW: It was like playing Scrabble.

MS: It was like playing a game. It really was. We all love perfect rhymes. We wouldn’t allow anything but a perfect rhyme, and then finding the alliteration and rhymes at the same time. And then how many words are there that can relate to an infant and murder and then other odd works? Pisher, a yiddish word, got in there.

How long did it take?

SW: We had two writing sessions.

MS: At the end of the second one, Justin and I started playing with musical ideas. Then [I felt like I was] naked and I just came out of a very cold ocean. I had trouble writing music in front of three people. Words are so specific. Music is just a different thing. After a while, Justin said, “Well, why don’t you just take a crack at the whole thing and send it to me?” And that’s what I did. Justin is the one who first sang “Which of the Pickwick triplets did it?” with that melody and rhythm, and that set us off. I wrote music to it and what I thought it would be. Justin took that and changed a few chords and a few things. [We got] almost no notes. [The producers] had given us all enough information, and we just delivered what they wanted."

 

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/only-murders-pickwik-triplettes-1236106909/

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 9/11/24 at 1:30am

They've certainly been in the ~ego~ club for a  long time. 

[TimeToDither]

Posted: 9/11/24 at 2:12am

Scarywarhol said: "They've certainly been in the ~ego~ club for a long time."

This.