A new Workshop feature debutingin the 2002-2003 season is the“Master Class” program. In eachMaster Class session, two select-ed Advanced projects are allotted30-minute presentation slots,allowing for a greater sense ofdramatic context and a morecomprehensive demonstration ofa given score’s overall texture,vocabulary and function.

The authors may decide thebest format for their presentations,depending upon the needs of theproject: either a mini-“backers’audition,” in which key songs areperformed with whatever conti-nuity is needed for providingcontext; or a half-hour, straight-through excerpt of the showproper, done as a minimally-staged reading. Whether or notperformers are engaged for thepresentations is likewise up tothe creators.

Enhancing the traditionalpost-presentation discussions,each Master Class will play hostto an invited panel of two theatri-cal notables who will weigh inwith their expertise. The MasterClass moderator is award-win-

ning composer/lyricist DavidSpencer o f t h e S t e e r i n gCommit tee.

In its initial year, there will beone Master Class per semester,with eligible presenters limited toAdvanced Class members only.Projects and writers will be select-ed and solicited by the SteeringCommittee—no formal applicationis required. The very act of partici-pating and presenting in theAdvanced Workshop is, by itself, ade facto application.

Vol. 5, No. 18 Fall, 2002

New Master Class Program

Works

In Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

In Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

In Cabaret . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Miscellany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Personals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

And the Winner Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Rodgers Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

In Memoriam : Clark Gesner . . . . .10

You Want to Put on My Play? . . . . . .14

You Are What You Submit IV . . . .17

Lehman’s Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Class Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Richard’s Almanacby Richard Engquist . . . . . . . . . .26

Table of Contents

HIM & HERbook, music and lyrics by

Paul Scott Goodman (alumnus)was a heralded,“ g o o d b u z z ”attraction of the2002 NY FringeF e s t i v a l i nA u g u s t . T h eshow consists oftwo solo one -acts about a hus-band (Mr. Good-man) and a wife

(Liz Larsen) dealing with parent-hood.

ISABELLE AND THE PRETTY-UGLY SPELL:A Musical Fairy Tale

with music and lyrics bySteven Fisher (Advanced) andbook by Joan Ross Sorkin(Librettists) and Steven Fisherwas produced at Upper DarbySummer Stage in Upper Darby,PA from July 16-19. Over 4,000“children” of all ages attendedduring its five-performance run.Fisher and Sorkin were commis-sioned to write the work for the2002 Summer Stage season, andthe show was developed in work-shop at both Summer Stage andBMI during the past year.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN NEW JERSEY

a musical by alumni SusanDiLallo (book and lyrics) andSteve Weiner (music) had itsworld premiere at the MuhlenbergSummer Theater Festival inAllentown, PA. The production ranfrom June 12–June 30 to nightly

standing ovations and very posi-tive critical response. Productiondirector Charles Richter willagain direct the piece in a stagedreading at a NYC venue TBA inNovember. One of the leads ofthe show was Librettist Workshopmember Jeffrey Simno.

PHOENIX PARK(A POET’S JOURNEY)

a commissioned ChamberOpera in Four Scenes, set in Ire-land, had excerpts presented byDowntown Music Productions atthe Church of the Epiphany onMay 31. With music by DavidStrickland (Advanced) and librettoby Ilsa Gilbert (Librettists alum-na), it was performed along withtheir piece for soprano, piano andcello, Birds We Have Known.Phoenix Park, the full work, willhave its premiere on November 7,2002 at Theatre for a New City,where it will be directed by TomO’Horgan.

Qa musical revue featuring the

songs of Dan Martin and MichaelBiello (both Advanced) was pre-sented at the Philadelphia FringeFestival in September 2002. Q,which celebrates the partners’ 25-

3Martin & Biello

Paul Scott Goodman

WorksIn Production

AVENUE Qmusic and lyrics by Advanced

writers Jeff Marx and RobertLopez, book by Marx, Lopez andCraig Shemin , has beenannounced as a joint offering ofboth the Vineyard Theatre andThe New Group Theatre ’supcoming seasons. These twonot-for-profit theatre companiesare co-producing the show inWinter 2003 and housing it at theVineyard, at 15th Street just offUnion Square in Manhattan. Hereis how the show is described inthe Vineyard’s season brochureand on the placard currently hang-ing in their window: “Singing pup-pets and their human neighborstackle life’s most vexing issues—including love, sex, money, raceand what to do with a jury dutysummons. The place is New YorkCity, and the street is Avenue Q,the only address you can affordwhen you’re fresh out of college,or out of a job, or just trying to findyour way in life. A smart and capti-vating new musical—for grown-ups.”

The show was developed as amain event in this past summer’sEugene O’Neill Musical TheatreConference in Waterford, CT.

BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DOby Joan Sorkin (Librettists)

was performeda s p a r t o ft he Samue lFrench One-A c t P l a yFes t i va l onWednesday ,August 14, atThe AmericanT h e a t r e o fActors.

CONDENSED CLASSICSmusic by James-Allen Ford,

book and lyrics by Kristen Ander-son (both Advanced) will tour theNew York area this fall for The-atreworks/USA with a nationaltour slated for Spring 2003. Theshow is a wacky a cappellaretelling of four classic literaryworks for secondary school audi-ences. The tour commences inManhattan at Town Hall , 123West 43rd Street, 10:30 a.m. Mon-day November 4th. Please con-tact the authors for further datesand times.

2

Joan Ross Sorkin

Anderson & Ford

current BMI Workshop writers.The represented shows from theWorkshop ranks were: Adven-tures in Love (Marcy Heisler andZina Goldrich ) , The Fabulist(David Spencer and StephenWitkin), Like You LIke It (SammyBuck, Daniel Acquisto), and Nor-mal (Yvonne Adrian, in collabora-tion with non-members CherylStern and Tom Kochan).

SUBURBAN FOLKSONGSmusic and l y r i c s b y

Clay Zambo( A d v a n c e d )performed byt h e a u t h o r,played Aug-ust weekendc o n c e r t s a tD o n ’ t T e l lMama.

Miscellany

FIVE-DOOR HATCHBACK a song from Advanced com-

poser-lyricist Clay Zambo’s revueSuburban Folksongs was fea-tured on National Public Radio’sCar Talk.

MIKE DANSICKERAlumnus composer, has sev-

eral projects in various stages ofdevelopment and completion.From an e-mail to Jean Banks:“The Audition Suite will be inmusic stores next month and I’mfinishing my work on Analyze

That (DeNiro and Crystal) asVocal Supervisor. I’m scoringBaby Take a Bow for Ken TitonProds. (video) and preparing amajor reading of my newest opusDriscoll—quite a lot of interestfrom the B’way boys. I wrote thedance music for The AstaireAwards (TDF) and am doing twoevents for ‘The League [of NewYork Theatres and Producers]’—[one in] New Orleans and then[one] at [NYC mayor Mike ]Bloomberg’s home…”

THE LUCY MOSES SUMMER MUSICAL THEATREWORKSHOP

played host to a number ofshows by Workshop members inits Summer 2002 session:

• Tsugele, book and lyrics bySean Hartley, music by JihwanKim (both Advanced), based onTsugele and Her Broom byValerie Scho Carey.

• Fishie Follies, music andlyrics by Daniel S. Acquisto(Advanced), book by Daniel BoLipton, based on a story byAlexander Pushkin.

• The Three Questions, bookby Steve Brennan, lyrics again bySean Hartley, music by SolbongKim (Advanced), additional lyricsby Steve Brennan and EliScheer, based on a story by LeoTolstoy.

• Prince Ivan and the Fire-bird, book by Christina Morris-sey, music by C. Colby Sachs(alumnus), lyrics by Clay Zambo(Advanced), based on a version ofthe story retold by BernardLodge.

5

Clay Zambo

year collaboration, is an irreverent,sexy and joyous expression of lifefrom an LGBT perspective. Lastyear, the musical revue enjoyed acritically acclaimed 9-week run atChicago’s Bailiwick Theatre. Q’ssongs have also been performedat Merkin Concert Hall by TonyAward winner Karen Ziemba; inCity Theatre’s Summer ShortsFestival 2002 at the Jerry Her-man Theater in Miami; and in therevue Sex! The Musical.

In Progress

THE ICONOCLASTa new play by Sheila K.

Adams (Librettists) was givena s t a g e dread ing onAugust 26,2002 at theTheatre atSt. Peter’sChurch. Fea-tured in thec a s t w e r eEric Mi l le-g a n , P a t t iKarr, HenryGrossman and Beth Fowler.

INSOMNIABook, music and lyrics by

Charles Bloom (Advanced), willbe presented as part of the YorkTheatre’s Developmental Seriesof staged readings, on Monday,November 18th, 2002 at 7:00p.m. The musical, which exploresthe personal issues and relation-ships of a single, gay man overthe course of a sleepless night,

will be directed by Donald Bren-ner and feature musical directionby Jeffrey Biering. The York islocated at 619 Lexington Ave.(Between East 53rd and 54th);call (212) 935-5824, extension 24for reservations.

MEET JOHN DOEmusic by Eddie Sugarman

(Advanced), music by AndrewGerle (participating collaborator),book by Sugarman and Gerle, hadits first act presented as a stagedreading on September 30 as partof the Chip Deffaa InvitationalTheatre Festival for two perfor-mances at Chashama on West42nd Street.

THE MISTRESS CYCLEb y A d v a n c e d w r i t e r s

Beth Blatt (book/lyrics) andJenny Giering ( m u s i c ) w a spresented by TheatreWorks PaloAlto as part of their first NewWorks Festival in May. This wasfollowed by a workshop at theBarringt o n S t a g e Companyin August under the direction ofJulianne Boyd. (See also entryunder “And the Winner Is…”)

In Cabaret

IN THE WINGSa cabaret concert sponsored

by the National Alliance forMusical Theatre and ASCAP,held Sunday September 22 at theJohn Houseman Theatre, fea-tured songs from upcoming musi-cals by a number of former and

4

Sheila K. Adams

SEEKING MOTIVATEDCOMPOSER

to help Carol McAllister tran-scribe her compositions on anongoing basis. She has written a“musical all ready to go to Broad-way” and her musical assistantshould have musical direction skillsto assist in studio demos, etc. Any-one interested may call Ms. McAl-lister directly at (212) 472-9353.

And theWinner Is...BABY CASE

with book, music and lyrics byMichael Ogborn (Advanced),which playeda t Ph i l ade l -phia’s ArdenTheatre lasts e a s o n , h a sb e e n n o m i -nated for 11 B a r r y m o r eAwards (theregional equiv-alent of theTony) in the categories of: Out-standing Overall Production of aMusical (Arden Theatre Compa-ny); Outstanding Direction of aMusical (Terrence J. Nolen); Out-standing Leading Actor in aMusical (Jeffrey Coon and ScottGreer); Outstanding SupportingActor in a Musical (Ben Dibbleand Richard Ruiz); OutstandingSupporting Actress in a Musical(Kristine Fraelich and Tracie Hig-gins); Outstanding Ensemble in

a Musical—and for Mr. Ogbornhimself, nominations in the cate-gories of Outstanding New Playand Outstanding Original Music.

The show was also namedone of the Top 10 works of the2001-2002 season by thePhiladelphia Inquirer.

BETH BLATT (Lyricist/Librettist)and JENNY GIERING (Composer)

have been selected bythe D r a m a -t i s t s G u i l das 2002 Jona-than LarsonM e m o r i a lMusical The-ater Fellows.The fellowshipincludes anh o n o r a r i u mand mentoringby luminariesin the (musi-cal) theatreworld. (Seealso The Mis-tress Cycleunder “Works:In Progress.”)

JEFFBLUMENKRANTZ

has alsobeen selectedby the Drama-tists Guild as2002 Jona-than LarsonM e m o r i a lMusical The-ater Fellow,having applied

7

Jeff Blumenkrantz

Michael Ogborn Jenny Giering

Beth Blatt

• The Firebird, or How theOgre Found His Soul, book byJudith Ferrenbach, music andlyrics by Clay Zambo.

SWEAT OF MY BROWa poem by Adam Steinberg,

was read on National PublicRadio’s The Next Big Thing,hosted on New York’s leadingNPR station,W N Y C , b yDean Olsheron Sunday,July 14. Thep o e m w a schosen fromo v e r 4 0 0entries to rep-r e s e n t t h eadult categoryof the Poetry in Motion Contest,sponsored by the Poetry Societyof America. In the annual compe-t i t ion, one poem from each ofthree age groups is chosen to bedisplayed on New York buses andtrains, along with the likes of Ten-nyson and Hopkins. (Winners areto be announced in October.)

PersonalsSEEKING COMPOSER #1

to work with writer who hascompleted scripts in libretto form(verse) of several different literaryclassics. The musical style couldbe classical or more modern. Onep i e c e w a s p e r f o r m e d w i t ha n i m p ro v i s a t i o n a l m u s i c a l accompaniment (guitar and per-

cussion) that made a stunningproduction and garnered veryfavorable reviews. Please con-tact me by e-mail if interested:EThomalen@aol.com.

SEEKING COMPOSER #2Ron Yatter, former Senior VP

at the William Morris Agency, islooking for a composer in thePuccini/Andrew Lloyd Webber/Les Miz vein to set a completedlibretto (book and lyrics) for a the-atre musical play. The musical playis a new telling of the Samson andDelilah biblical legend with a bookby the late Frederick S. Roffman,former BMI Lehman Engel Work-shop Librettists class member,based upon an original outline andwith lyrics by Ron. The musicalplay contains many dramatic andromantic lyric pieces. Interestedcomposers are invited to sendcredits and samples of their musicto Ron at: 200 West 57th Street,Suite 802, New York, NY 10019.Ron can also be r e a c h e d b ye-mail at ronyatter@aol.comor by phone at (212) 247-9800.

SEEKING COMPOSER #3fo r mus ica l se t i n 1930s

Brooklyn. We have excellent book and lyrics, strong story line,recognizable characters. Need tal-ented melodist with theatricalexperience to create memorablesongs. Cal l Ted Sennett at( 2 0 1 ) 7 6 8 - 3 9 5 1 o r w r i t e t oOATB2@aol.com.

6

Adam Steinberg

duced by Paulette Haupt, bestknown as artistic dir-ector of theEugene O’Neill Music TheatreConference , where the show was first developed. The director is David Schweizer, rememberedfor his stunning production ofRinde Eckert’s …And God Creat-ed Great Whales. A “first look”performance for an invited audi-ence that was held on September20, to assess needed revisions,will be followed by further perfor-mances in October—times, loca-tion, precise dates and cast to beannounced. E-mail alerts andclass announcements wil l beforthcoming.

The Fabulist, music and lyricsby David Spencer (Committee),book by Stephen Witkin (Libret-tists alumnus), based on the novel

by John Vornholt (himself analumnus ofthe Californiabranch un-der LehmanEngel) is hav-ing its readinghosted by TheYork TheatreC o m p a n y

(Artistic Director James Morgan)in its home, The Theatre at St.Peter’s Church (Citicorp Center,Lexington Avenue at 54thStreet). The director is SherylKaller, the musical director is42nd Street’s Fred Lassen, ands t a r r i n g i n t h e t i t l e r o l e (a.k.a Aesop) isDaniel Marcus(currently Offi-cer Barrel inUrinetown).

A prelimi-nary “first-look”reading ( l ike-wise to assessneeded rev i -s i o n s a n drewrites prior to later “industryintensive” performances) played toa full and enthusiastic house onAugust 8. In the supporting castwere Workshop veterans JennyGiering, Richard Gleaves andCraig Fols.

Subsequent readings havebeen rescheduled for the firstweek in February 2003. Heretoo, e-mail alerts and classannouncements will be forthcom-ing. (For more news on The Fabu-list, see “And the Winner Is…”)

John Vornholt

Witkin & Spencer

Daniel Marcus

9

with the project Fits and Starts,for which he is writing both musicand lyrics.

DAVID SPENCERhas received a 2002 Gilman

and Gonzalez-Falla TheatreFoundation CommendationGrant for his work as composer-lyricist on The Fabulist. This is hissecond such award from G/G-F;his first came in 1996 for his workin the same capacity on Theatre-works/USA’s YA version of ThePhantom of the Opera. (For morenews on The Fabulist, see“Rodgers Watch.”)

TICKTOCK MINUTES:PATRIOTISM

Lyricist Michael Earl andc o m p o s e r R a n d y K l e i n(Advanced),w o n t h e i rthird EmmyAward in thecategory ofMusic Com-position forthe i r songsfor TicktockM i n u t e s —Patriotism.The awardswere presented at the NATASAwards Ceremony held on Sat-urday, June 8, 2002 in Atlanta.Ticktock Minutes, produced byMississippi Educational Televi-sion (PBS), has garnered twelveEmmy Awards to date. This Fall,Ticktock Minutes will be availablenationally on CD, cassette, videoand DVD through an exclusive dis-tribution agreement with BMG

Special Products. Also, Dr. Tick-tock will appear as a guest artiston the award winning PBS televi-sion series Between The Lionsproduced by WGBH in Boston.

RodgersWatchAs announced in a previous edi-tion of the Newsletter, both showswinning this year’s 2002 RichardRodgers Development Awardswere written by Workshop mem-bers. The award allocates $35,000to each project for a series ofstaged readings in a not-for-profitvenue, as the first public steps i na s h o w ’ s onstage life (plus$3,000 foreach of theauthors).Here areupdates onthe status ofboth musi-cals.

The Tutor,b o o k a n dl y r i c s b yM a r y r o s eWood (Ad-vanced), musicby AndrewGerle (Partic-ipating Col-laborator), ish a v i n g i t sreadings pro-

8

Randy Klein

Maryrose Wood

Andrew Gerle

Cozy home…board and bed,Sturdy roof…beneath my head…Not bad…not bad at all…

Snoopy was far from the onlyanimal he wrote for insightfully. Hewas an animal lover who had anuncanny knack for seeing theworld through non-human eyes, asin his portrait of the faithful caninewith attention deficit disorder in ADog Outside a Store; or the sup-pressed emotions of A Bird in aCage, who says of her staid exis-tence of seed, newspaper andwater, “That’s right, that’s right,”and finds herself terrified to faceher deeper wildlife instincts.

Where writing something to be“just fun” can be hard work forsome, for Clark it seemed to be anatural reflex; and it was as muchfun to watch him performing hisown work—which he did with abrilliance, zest and presence hisself-effacing personality didn’tprepare you for. Take the songYou’re the One I’m For: A seem-ingly ordinary title, until you realizethe singer is crooning to a giantnumber one while wearing a teeshirt sporting a giant number four.Then there’s the baby sketch. Twoparents bickering in a diner whiletheir infant child (Clark in over-sized footy pajamas) makesobservations in baby language noone but the audience can hear—alanguage of perfect Shakespeare-an iambic pentameter. (As he wetshis diaper, the baby cries blissfully:“It seeps! It seeps!”)

Clark was also a deft observerof society, able to codify andheighten common things we’d

otherwise take for granted. Here’shis paean to the all-purpose diner:

The veal is always a cutlet.The hamburger’s always a steak.The pie is eternally apple.And the milk is always a shake.

The sign always blinks, and is neon.

The flies in the window are dead.The salad is always cole slaw.And the jello is always red.

When I first met Clark at aDramatists Guild reception a num-ber of years ago, I was in awe, andovercoming my shyness, I some-what haltingly told him how enor-mous an impact his score forYou’re a Good Man, Charlie Brownhad on me—which made himbreak out into a big, slow smile.Slightly emboldened, I added that,of all the recordings of it (whichincluded the cast album, the liveaction Hallmark tv soundtrack anda budget studio recording on anoff-label), the forgotten pre-pro-duction 1966 “concept” album—starring Orson Bean in the title roleand featuring Gesner himself asLinus, singing to a small but fullorchestra—was by far my favorite.

With great deliberation, as ifafraid of being overheard, Clarkcast his eyes to his right…to hisleft…then leaned over, grabbedmy forearm firmly and urgentlywhispered, “Mine too!”

I went on to tel l him howpleased I had been in college tofind a stereo copy—after years ofbeing sustained by the monauralplatter I’d bought as a kid. Atwhich point Clark blinked, sur-

11

Editor’s Tribute: One of the mostbeloved original members of thesongwriters’ workshop was ClarkGesner. Though The New YorkTimes ran a fairly comprehensiveobituary on July 27, 2002 (repro-duced below), what it didn’t sayabout Clark, and what you have tounderstand, is that he was a manof ineffable sweetness. Side byside with a devastating wit andsense of humor was the deceptivepersonality of a mildly addledteddy bear, and a fellow way toomodest for his formidable talents.He was last seen at BMI perform-ing in the Alumni Cabaret, where,closing the show, he played andsang Happiness (the closing num-ber of You’re a Good Man, CharlieBrown), with a simplicity and sin-cerity that charmed everyone—and moved to tears those of uswho understood what we werehearing and seeing: one of themost perfect ballads ever written,performed by the author whobelieved it with all his heart.

Happiness is five different crayons,

Knowing a secret,Climbing a tree.Happiness is finding a nickel,Catching a firefly,Setting him free.Happiness is being alone every

now and then.And happiness is coming home

again.Happiness is morning and evening,Daytime and nighttime too.For happiness is anyone and any

thing at allThat’s loved by you!

Clark’s music was variegatedand vital, yet always to the point,never grandstanding, only asshowy as it needed to be, no extrafrills. And as a lyricist he was amaster of the subtle stroke, suchas the joke he trusted you to getwithout his needing to explain it toyou. Here’s Snoopy reflecting onhis idyllic existence.

In Memoriam:Clark Gesner

10

The Faces of Clark Gesner

ald and tuneful revues. Mr. Gesnerremained active in the club as agraduate trustee until his death.

Shortly after graduating fromPrinceton, Mr. Gesner took a jobas a staff writer for the children’stelevision show Captain Kangaroo.

When Mr. Gesner first beganworking on Charlie Brown, he hadproblems obtaining permissionfrom the strip’s syndicator to usethe characters in a show. So Mr.Gesner contacted Mr. Schulzdirectly, sending a five-songdemonstration tape. Weeks later,Mr. Schulz called Mr. Gesner andoffered his blessing.

The show opened on a$16,000 budget on March 7, 1967,at Theater 80, which was a con-verted nightclub; more than fouryears and thousands of ticketslater, the show made a brief leapto Broadway, where it lasted lessthan a month. A 1999 Broadwayrevival did only marginally better,lasting 149 performances. [This had nothing to do withClark’s material; the 1999 revivalwas an extensively re-written andreworked distortion of book andscore, for which Clark’s participa-tion was neither solicited nordesired. Apparently the originalcontract for the show—whichmade this violation possibledecades later—was what subse-quently spurred him to become amember of The Dramatists Guild.—Ed.]

Charlie Brown and its myriadproductions made Mr. Gesner ahealthy living for the rest of his life.And while he remained active inthe theater as a writer and actor,he never matched this success.

The Utter Glory of MorrisseyHall, his musical about an Englishboarding school, lasted just onenight in 1979. His later creditsincluded performances in regionalproductions of 1776, Lend Me aTenor and Carnival! As a compos-er, he continued to write cabaretand theater songs, many of whichwere included in a 1998 revue atthe York Theater Company, TheJello is Always Red, in which Mr.Gesner also performed. [BothMorrissey and Jello were recordedand both have been released onCD. —Ed.]

He was a longtime resident ofBrooklyn Heights and never mar-ried. In addition to Page Gesner,he is survived by another niece,Amber Gesner, of Philadelphia;and a nephew, Eli Gesner.

In the 2000 interview in TheSt. Paul Pioneer, Mr. Gesnerseemed happy with the subtle sat-isfaction his show provided.

“It leaves you with—well, Iwon’t say a warm and fuzzy feel-ing—but at least it’s a feeling,” hesaid. “If you watch these peoplegoing about their business, youunderstand it.”

12 13

prised, and said: “It came out in stereo?”It was my turn to blink. “Didn’t

you know?”He laughed. “I guess all I got

were mono copies because all Ihad at the time was a mono box.”

“Well…uhh…I treasure it toomuch to part with it, but…mine’sin mint condition. I’d be honoredto run off a cassette for you.”

And he beamed.“I’d be honored,” he returned

with a little bow.Happiness was Clark Gesner…

CLARK GESNER, 64, CREATOR OF‘CHARLIE BROWN’ MUSICAL, DIES

by Jesse McKinley

Clark Gesner, the composer andlyricist of You’re a Good Man,Charlie Brown, the good-naturedand oft-produced musical basedon the Peanuts comic strip, diedon Tuesday on a visit to thePrinceton Club in Manhattan, ofwhich he was a member. He was64.

The cause was a heart attack,said Page Gesner, his niece.

A series of vignettes featuringsix of Charles M. Schulz’s big-headed characters and a 14-songscore, You’re a Good Man, CharlieBrown was the breakout hit of1967, opening at the 179-seatTheater 80 in the East Village andgoing on to run for nearly 1,600performances. It spawned sixnational tours and countless pro-ductions at high schools, collegesand community theaters across

the country and around the world.With a cast that included Gary

Burghoff (as Charlie Brown) andBob Balaban (Linus), the musicaloffered a light, but still slightlysubversive take on childhood at atime of enormous social and politi-cal upheaval. Writing in The NewYork Times, Walter Kerr said Mr.Schulz and the show’s creatorshad accomplished a small miracleby “opening up one end of hiscomic strip frame and letting hispeople out.”

That small miracle did notcome easily; Mr. Gesner was, infact, skeptical early on that theproject would work. “It was just alittle private project,” Mr. Gesnertold The St. Paul Pioneer Press in2000 before a local productionthere. “Me and the songs and thestrip.” In the end it was the projectthat defined his career.

Born and raised in Augusta,Me., Mr. Gesner headed south toPrinceton in the fall of 1956. Whileat Princeton, he became an actor,writer and composer at the Trian-gle Club, the undergraduate the-ater troupe known for its often rib-

1966 Concept Album Gesner’s Last Album

perusal copies of my musicalsAmelia and Billy Bishop Goes toWar, “so that we may considerthem for inclusion in our fal lschedule” on behalf of the Gener-ic Theatre Company, “a 182-seat,three-quarter thrust space with afive-to- six-play season.” The let-ter quoted ticket prices forevening, matinée and school per-formances, and asked that wedirect the materials to Wall’sattention, “so that they bypassour literary department.”

Perhaps it was the oddly mini-malist letterhead, or the absenceof a telephone number, or theHotmail address (theatres usuallyhave Web sites), or the literarydepartment (what the hell isthat?), but for whatever reason,my sharp and significant otherbegan shuffl ing through thehaystack we call a filing system,and behold: Up surfaced a similarrequest three years ago from oneCody Miller, on behalf of the NewArts Theatre of Bristol, Tenn., “aprofessional theatre dedicated toproducing new and classicalplays which enlighten, educateand entertain.” In this case, mate-rials were to be addressed to “ourLiterary Manager, William Rat-cliffe.”

New Arts Theatre’s letterhead,unlike that of the Generic TheatreCompany, had included a phone

number, which, when dialed in1999, reached a voice—a soft,weary drawl who knew nothingabout the New Arts Theatre, but alot about Cody Miller. Who readilyinformed us that, no, there was notheatre, but that Cody “just likesto collect theatre memorabilia.”

Cody’s middle name, by theway, was Wil l iam Ratcliffe. “ C o d y i s a b i t o f a s c a mart is t , I ’m af ra id,” the vo iceadded, unnecessarily.

This time, out of curiosity Ilooked up Bristol on the Internetand—what do you know? Bristol,Tenn., and Bristol, Va., are oneand the same place, a town of45,000 whose main street corre-sponds with the state line. An e-mail request to the Bristol Cham-ber of Commerce revealed that theGeneric Theatre Company’s streetaddress is, in fact, the location ofthe Carriage Hills Apartments.

Which prompted my loved oneto place one more call to thenumber given in 1999 as the NewArts Theatre; whereupon weencountered that same soft drawl.

“Just a quick question,” weasked, after identifying ourselves.“Is Cody at it again?”

“I’m afraid so, Mrs. Gray, yes.Cody moved out of the house lastmonth. He has a job with a cell-phone company. He left his col-lection behind and Ervin carted it

15

(From the Toronto Globe and Mail,Tuesday, July 30, 2002)

For a writer of plays and musi-cals, aside from one’s quarterlyordeal as an amateur collector ofthe goods and services tax, fewbureaucratic chores are as inher-ently depressing as the phenom-enon known as a “request forperusal material.”

Usually originating with aregional theatre in the UnitedStates, such a request takes theform of a letter indicating themildest possible interest in a par-ticular work, combined with thefaint, yet tantalizing, prospect thatsaid work might, just might, bedeemed appropriate for produc-tion in the upcoming season.

To facilitate the decision-mak-ing process, the artistic directorurgently requests a perusal copyof the script and score, togetherwith an audio tape and/or CDand/or videotape, plus, if avail-able, sti l l photographs andreviews. The producer stops justshort of demanding that the Cana-da goose fly south and honk it

himself. Given the absence of an exec-

utive assistant to the playwright, itis up to the writer (or more likelyhis spouse, given the improbabilitythat the artist will get around to itthis millennium), to locate, accu-mulate, collate and date thesematerials, to trundle down toCanada Post and to mail them off.I won’t vex you with the costsinvolved—only that, you may restassured, not one penny of it isborne by the recipient. And itwould take an addled optimist toexpect a syllable in reply—letalone that the materials will evermake the long journey home.

One might as well shove one’swork into a bottle and throw itinto the sea. Yet one goes aheadwith it. As with Lotto, hope in thetheatre springs eternal, howeveradjacent to zero.

Pathetic, I know. And it getsworse.

I’m not certain what causedmy mate’s antennae to prick upupon receiving a request by oneT. R. Wall of Bristol, Va., (birth-place of country music) for

14

You Want toPut on My Play? Not So Fast

by John Maclachlan Gray

17

Nice thing about most consumerelectronics: you buy your unitscarefully, you use and maintain’em wisely, most can last for manyyears.

Don’t you wish it were thesame for computers?

Alas, with software/systemupdates, peripherals that must beadded on or consumed, and theinevitable obsolescence of thecomputers themselves (no matterthat they may still run perfectlywell), the computer industry hasthe user over a barrel. Still: at leastwhen you pay for something tech-nological, you may come awaywith the thrill of a cool new toy orapplication that makes your workand life easier.

But when you feel like you’rebleeding out of your wallet to payfor paper goods, that’s when itbecomes absurd.

Fact of life: Musical dramatistsneed to generate demos of songsand scores. (I’ve already writtenabout the optimum professionalconception, recording and presen-tation of such recordings in PartsTwo and Three of “You Are…” inthe January/February andApril/May Newsletters of 1999 attheatreworkshop@bmi.com)—andwhile I maintain that you cannever, and must never try to, stint

on electronic quality, there are cer-tain non-technical budgetaryexpenses that can be kept lowerthan the vendors want us to think.Specifically, the monies allotted toCD labels, cassette labels, andinserts of various sizes for jeweland cassette cases.

Companies like Avery, Fel-lowes (Neato) and CD Stompercharge a lot for the privilege ofusing their pre-formatted sheets ofpeel-off labels and perforatedtemplates. And yet, how can youavoid paying $30 or more for abox of 25-50 sheets (dependingupon the product) and still havegood-looking presentations thatdon’t require you to spend pre-cious do-it-yourself hours with aruler and scissors?

You change the rules of thegame.

Step one: Go Forth andDownload. Ironically, all the paperproduct vendors mentioned abovefurnish you with some of the basicammo to cut costs, right off theirown Internet websites: Templatefiles. Entire, comprehensive sets ofthem, for CDs, cassettes, cases,the works.

These template sets areabsolutely free and intended forconsumer downloading. Their filesdisplay the borders around—and

You Are What YouSubmit, Part Four:Saving Money on Labels and Inserts

by David Spencer

out to the dump. Several truck-loads. We didn’t want to beresponsible for them. Cody liesand doesn’t pay his bills.”

“You’re saying that it looks asif Cody is replacing his old collec-tion?”

“Looks like maybe he is.” Several truckloads: Scripts,

scores, tapes, CDs, 8 X 10glossies, thousands of dollars inphotocopying, all diligently assem-bled by playwrights all over theworld, from well-known tounknown, now awaiting a “finaldecision” on whether their life’swork merits inclusion in theupcoming season of the Bristoldump.

To our latest e-mail request forGeneric Theatre’s phone number,our friend T. R. Wall replied that itmight prove difficult for us tospeak in person.

“We are currently in rehearsalfor Harry Who? The Songs ofHarry Warren, a revue of materialby the writer of 42nd Street andother great tunes.”

T.R., by the way, stands forTheodore Roosevelt. “My parentsare huge history buffs.”

Thank you, Cody. So am I.

jmgray@globeandmail.ca

16

CHOOSE YOUR PHILOSOPHY

“No man but

a blockhead

eve r w ro te

exc e p t f o r

money.”

—Dr. SamuelJohnson

“You don’t write for the money,b e c a u s eif you do,y o u ’ r e am o n k e y .You don’tw r i t e f o rthe fame,b e c a u s eif you do,you’re a monkey. You don’teven write because you like towrite, because if you do, you’resti l l a monkey. You writebecause to NOT wr i te i ssuicide.”

—Stephen King

and cut the cost of your suppliesby at least 90%.

Step Three: Buy a papertrimmer. All office supply vendorshave ’em. It’s a tool with a flat sur-face (often displaying an alignmentgrid), some form of paperguide/safety guard mechanism—

and a blade: either a tension-spring blade-arm, hinged on oneend, with a handle on the other; oran enclosed rotary blade thatoperates along a track when itssafety-handle is depressed. Thetrimmer is the most expensivething you’ll buy for your insert-making set-up—between approxi-mately $35 and $120, dependingupon how wide a surface youwant to work on and how sturdilybuilt the trimmer is—but unlike theoverpriced, consumable paper

products you’ll otherwise pur-chase, it’s a permanent piece ofequipment which you only pay foronce. (My trimmer is a rotary bladeBiDex, manufactured in China by acompany called Carl. It was thecheapest model in the store. Atrimmer is a low-tech toy perform-ing a no-tech function; you cansafely be frugal.)

Step Four: Choose yourblank paper. You can use regular8.5” x 11” bond of any color, orthe slightly heavier card stock thatpaper supply vendors use for theirperforated sheets. Sturdier cardstock may be very mildly prefer-able for removable inserts. (Beforebuying hardier stock, though, besure your printer can handle it;check with the manual or techhelp for the maximum thickness.)However, for a tray card, whichstays locked in position betweenthe CD-holder and the rear of thejewel case, thickness matters notat all.

Step Five: Go to your com-puter and boot the application inwhich you intend to do yourdesign work.

Step Six: Select an applica-ble template, generate a newdocument and create yourdesign. For the sake of example,let’s say we’re going to design aNeato-style (Fellowes) tray-cardfor the CD tray of a jewel box. TheNeato template shows two tray-cards per sheet. Once your designis complete, you can elect toduplicate it in the second field orleave the remaining tray-card

19

the guidelines within—varioustypes of labels and inserts, allaligned to conform with the articu-lated brand-name sheets you aremeant to buy. Thus you can settext and graphics within correctlymeasured fields; and once that’sdone, easily make invisible ordelete the borders and guidelines,leaving only your finished design,for a neat job of printing. Tem-plates are routinely provided forvarious word processing programs(l ike the ubiquitous MicrosoftWord), desktop publishing pro-grams (l ike the ever-popularQuark), and even graphics pro-grams (like Adobe Photoshop).

The templates seem to workcross-platform, even when Mac-specific versions are not featured(for example, I opened up Stom-per’s Microsoft Word for Windowsset perfectly well with Word 98 forthe Mac).

Now: let’s consider ouroptions with the two categories ofpaper goods for which we’vedownloaded our free templates inthe first place—adhesive paperproducts and non-adhesive paperproducts.

Adhesive Paper Products

Because adhesive paper prod-ucts—specifically CD and cas-sette labels—aren’t the kind ofthing most of us can create neatlyout of raw materials, you do haveto buy them. But a little diligentweb-browsing will turn up vendorsthat sell in quantity at discountprices.

Step Two: Locate such avendor and make it your source.The best place I’ve found so far is:

Lin-Pak DivisionP.O. Box 88

Swanton, OhioToll Free: 1-(800)-524-4845

Phone: (419) 826-9977Fax: (419) 826-9978

E-mail: Sales@linpak.comWebsite: www.linpak.com

Lin-Pak makes and/or distrib-utes label sheets that use thestandard brand-name layouts fortheir templates. You choose thepattern you need. The paper is alittle thinner, but the resultinglabels are just as good, and thesavings are significant. Where youmight pay $15 or so for a box of50 CD labels at Comp-USA orStaples, $25 gets you a box of200 from Lin-Pak. For a little moremoney, custom features, like color,are also available.

Non-Adhesive Paper Products

These are the inserts for J-cards,tray-cards and booklets that dis-play information through the plas-tic cases of CDs and cassettes.

The perforated,h e a v y - s t o c ksheets you canbuy are certainlya convenience…but if you’re will-ing to be only

slightly industrious—figure anextra 15-30 minutes for each pre-sentation—you can eschew these

18

Cassette J-Card and Labels

Trimmer—Blade Arm

Trimmer—Rotary

“fold” lines, for the two thin titlestrips that wil l be displayedthrough the opposite narrowspines of the jewel box. But theseare easily created. Hold any strip-edge of your insert flush with anyspine-edge of the tray. Then,using a pointy but not-too-sharptool that you can handleeasily…say the tip of an emptymechanical pencil (you don’t wantto puncture the paper)…and beingcareful to keep the insert steadyand smooth against the plasticsurface of the spine as you pushdown…“draw” an invisible linethat tucks the insert securely intothe right angle between the tray-spine and the tray backplate.Then do the same for the oppo-site side of the insert. After mini-mal practice, this takes barelymore time than it would to foldalong a manufactured crease.The end result is identical andlooks every bit as professional.

Now let’s review the math.The average supply of pre-

made inserts from the store willrun you about $30. Prorated persheet, you’re spending somethinglike 50¢ per insert.

On the other hand, once youchange the rules in your favor:Classy-looking cream-coloredpaper, which makes lovely inserts,goes for about $5 a ream. A reamis 500 sheets. Each sheet canyield two tray cards. Add the one-time expense of the paper trim-

mer, and that’s $40 for 1,000inserts. $5 for every 1,000 there-after.

“Beating the system” isputting it mildly…

Postscript

Three more quick notes on savingmoney:

(1) You will need a CD labelingtool. The CD Stomper is probablythe most popular, though Memo-rex and various other companiesmake them too. They’re all prettymuch the same, despite cosmeticdifferences. I won’t describe themechanism here, but it’s a simple,spring-loaded device that lets youperfectly center the labels on yourdisks. All brands are typicallyoverpriced, at roughly $30 perunit, but it’s worth the expensenot to have to apply stickum withunaided hand-eye coordination.And as with the paper trimmer,you only have to buy the labeleronce.

2120

blank, depending upon how youprefer to print the finished result(see below).

Step Seven: Manually Dupli-cate the Outer Outline. Using thecyber-tool that lets you drawstraight lines on your document(all the relevant applications haveone; in Microsoft Word, it’s locatedon the “Drawing” toolbar), tracethe four outer outlines—thosewhich define the rectangularshape—of each tray-card tem-plate you’ve filled in. If the appli-cation software won’t let you posi-tion your lines precisely atop thetemplate guides, then create par-allel lines outside but as close tothem as possible; ultimately, thefraction-of-an-inch variable won’tmatter that much. Don’t trace theinner lines, however. Those aredisposable aids that define subdi-visions of the visible tray-cardfield, and should not appear onthe finished document. And they’lldisappear once you perform—

Step Eight: Delete the Pre-Existing Template Outlines. Fol-lowing the click-and-delete proto-cols of your designing application,locate and remove the factory-provided guidelines. When youhave done so, there should benothing left but your design andyour duplicate outer l ines. ( Ifyou’ve left the second tray-cardfield blank, it should now beentirely invisible, and its half of thefull-page view entirely empty.)

Step Nine: Print copies asneeded. If you’ve filled in bothtray-cards, a single pass throughthe printer is, of course, all youneed per sheet. If you’ve filled inonly one template, rotate yourprinted pages 180°, so that thebottom edges lead, and feed themthrough your printer a secondtime. Each printed sheet shouldnow contain two perfectly format-ted tray-cards.

Interlude before we contin-ue: Except for tracing the outlinesof the tray-card rectangle, youhave so far done nothing “extra.” Isay this to emphasize what Imeant by “slightly industrious.”Now we proceed to the fewchores that actually do requireminor physical exertion and addedsteps in the normal tray-card-making chain.

Step Ten: Create the finalproduct with your paper trim-mer. Using the outlines that youcreated, slice your inserts out ofyour printouts. Don’t cut right onthe outlines, or the inserts will betoo big and you’ll have to trimthem again. Cut inside the outline,about an eighth of an inch. Anaverage paper trimmer will let youcut through about five sheetssimultaneously.

Step Eleven: Insert theinsert. The only disadvantageyour home-made tray card hasover one from a factory-madesheet is the lack of articulated

(2) Everyone knows you canpurchase blank CDs in bulk, butbe careful which brand youchoose. Some render inconsistentresults and may not play well onolder CD players. Since you haveno knowledge of what machine aproducer, director, screener, col-league or loved one will be using,spend the few extra bucks. I’vehad good luck with Fuji, bad luckwith Sony and Memorex, and sur-prisingly great luck with the bud-get brand Imation. Once you find abrand or two that work for you—stick with them. What you don’tsave on money you’ll save onaggravation and uncertainty. (Cau-tion, though: whenever your CD-demo is going someplace impor-tant—a producer, a competition, ahigh-profile director—do yourself afavor and proof-listen the disk allthe way through, on the oldest CDplayer you own, before sending itout. Even with a good brand ofCD, you can unexpectedly burnthat rare copy with skips anddropouts. Last year, a proof-listen-ing saved me from sending a“coaster” to the Rodgers competi-tion—that I won, just so youunderstand how crucial this canbe—and the near-miss is still aharrowing memory.)

(2) CD jewel boxes and cas-sette cases are also more cheaplybought in bulk. For my mostrecent demo, I created a two-sided tray-card layout that

required completely clear jewelcases, which are not always readi-ly available. Again, ’net trollingrevealed a place where I could buy100 clear cases for about $30,plus shipping. The vendor is:

Sleeve City6610 Summer Ave Suite 101

Bartlett TN 38134Phone 901-380-4168

(M-F, 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., CST)Fax 901-380-4179 (24/7)

e-mail:customerservice@nviclassical.com

website: www.sleevetown.com

Happy and handsome demosto you all...

Of all the evolving elements in ourmusical theater, none has under-gone so many and such radicalchanges as the group of girls andboys known as The Ensemble. Inoperetta days, it was a fair-sizedgathering of strong-voicedsingers, Their music taxed theirvocal ranges. Since they wereused at important dramaticmoments, it was necessary forthem to give out a powerful sound.Their number was very often inexcess of fifty…

. . . [ E ] c o n o m i c c o n s i d -e r a t i o nh a s u n -doubtedlyc a u s e dc e r t a i na r t i s t i cchanges:neverthe-less, as ith a s n e -cessitated a more sober kind ofthinking and planning, it has large-ly resulted in artistic benefit. Letme explain. The hiring of singersfor shows has often been a resultof habit. One does a musicalshow; naturally there must be avocal ensemble. If, however, thisgroup, no matter how potentially

effective, has little opportunity tofunction within the framework ofthe show, its engagement iswasteful.

Librettos—and directors—have been responsible for thecurrent trend, which is to usedancers who can sing adequatelybut dance expertly, and then eitherreinforce singing with a few opu-lent voices (if necessary) or getenough vocally from the dancersthemselves to satisfy the show’sneeds. The librettos have con-tributed to this practice in that the

b e s t o fthem morenearly re-s e m b l eplays thans p e c t a -cles—oncethe trade-m a r k o fmusicals.

In a play, since we are involvedprincipally with the problems of afew people, the action is usuallylimited in space and offers littleopportunity to bring on a group of“merry villagers.”

…Out of a singing and danc-ing ensemble totaling thirty-six inMy Fair Lady, only nineteen (aboutone half) were not named as char-

Lehman’s TermsDeath to All Merry Villagers

2322

CD Jewel Case

ClassSchedulesFor The 2002-2003 Season

First Year

The normal meeting time is Mondayevenings from 6:15 to 8:30. However,due to a number of legal Monday holi-days, certain sessions have beenshifted to Wednesday evening atsame time, and in the list below, thosespecific sessions are followed by “-W”. Dates listed merely as numbersare Mondays.

September 23, 30October 7, 16-W, 21, 28November 4, 11, 18, 25December 2, 9, 16

HOLIDAY BREAK

January 6, 13, 22-W, 27February 3, 10, 19-W, 24March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31April 7, 14, 21, 28May 5, 12, 19, 28-WJune 2, 9, 16, 23, 30

Second Year

Meets Tuesday evenings from 5:15to 7:30. The June dates for end-of-year presentations are still to be deter-mined.

September 17, 24October 1, 8, 15, 22, 29November 5, 12, 19, 26December 3, 10, 17

HOLIDAY BREAK

January 7, 14, 21, 28February 4, 11, 18, 25March 4, 11, 18, 25April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29May 6, 13, 20, 27

Advanced

Officially meets Mondays from 4:00to 6:00, but owing to the high volumeof sign-ups, the class will sometimesbegin at 3:30. Please monitor the starttime on a week-to-week basis.

September 23, 30October 7, 21, 28November 4, 18, 25December 2, 9, 16

HOLIDAY BREAK

January 6, 13, 27February 3, 10, 24March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31April 7, 14, 21, 28May 5, 12, 19

Librettists

Meets Monday evenings from 6:00to 8:00. Same dates as Advanced,above. There may be additional ses-sions added as needed to fulfill theassignment and sign-up load, sched-ule to be determined and announcedby the moderator.

September 23, 30October 7, 21, 28November 4, 18, 25December 2, 9, 16

HOLIDAY BREAK

January 6, 13, 27February 3, 10, 24March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31April 7, 14, 21, 28May 5, 12, 19

Monday Holidays

Following is the list of Monday holi-days during which the BMI offices willbe closed:

October 14: Columbus DayJanuary 20: Martin Luther King DayFebruary 17: President’s DayMay 26: Memorial Day

acters in the cast. The entire castof West Side Story numbered thir-ty-nine; Man of La Mancha con-t a i n e d t w e n t y - f o u r ; 1 7 7 6employed twenty-seven. Everymember of each played a part! …

For one or another of a wholecombination of reasons—artistic,economic, directorial or psycho-logical—the singing chorus, thatonce innhabited the musical the-ater by divine right, today totters,or is altogether obliterated from it.This is a matter of fact. If the elab-orate ensemble were ever to findits way home again, it would be asthe result of an honest, functional,theatrical need for it. The chorus[only] held sway so long as con-vention was not questioned, andthe cost was incidental. Now thatconvention has been examinedand rejected: who needs it? Thequality of the music, once requir-ing stentorian singing voices, hasundergone a metamorphosis. Thelibretto says that every person onstage is an identifiable characterwith an acting function. The costtoday of a singing chorus is high,along with everything else. When acommodity is no longer essential,it begins to collect dust on anyshelf.

From The American Musical Theater

Revised Edition, 1975, Collier Books, NY

24 25

BMI-Lehman Engel

Musical Theatre Workshop

320 West 57th Street

New York, NY 10019

212-830-2508

theatreworkshop@bmi.com

Jean Banks – Senior Director

Steering Committee

Patrick Cook

Richard Engquist

Frank Evans

Frederick Freyer

Nancy Golladay

Alan Menken

Susan H. Schulman

Jane Smulyan

David Spencer

Maury Yeston

Newsletter Staff

Editor: David Spencer

Associate Editor: Frank Evans

Design: Patrick Cook

Layout: James-Allen Ford

Copy Editor: Jane Smulyan

craftsmen, with a wide range ofinterests. Very impressive. Couldthey write a book show? Why not,with the right librettist?

Another example (don’t laugh):ABBA. My wife is a major ABBAfan so I’ve been perforce listeningto their stuff for decades, and youknow what? I think it’s terrific. Imean the best of it. Not only doAndersson and Ulvaeus come upwith great hooks and vamps, butthey have also created quite abody of memorable melodies. Andthere’s something about theirrelentless professionalism thatfinally erodes all resistance—I lis-ten today with more pleasure toFernando and Dancing Queenthan I did when they were new.One cannot make light of ABBA’shold on the public imagination,and why would one? What’swrong with popularity?

When I was a child, the greatpop songwriters were also thegreat theatre and movie writers.Not until the 1950’s did a gulfbegin to appear and then widen.Pop writers were not interested inthe discipline of theatre writing,and some theatre writers forgotabout things like tunes and strong,simple emotions. Countless the-atre songs never had a chance tobecome popular, and countlesspop songs were such dreck theycould never have engaged a the-atre audience.

This “either-or” was a mostunfortunate development. Popsongs need to have class, andtheatre songs need to hit a nerve.When you get “both-and,” then

you know the piece is going to bearound for generations.

Today at breakfast in the localdiner and later in the barbershop Iheard Beauty and the Beast, Mackthe Knife, I’ll Never Fall in LoveAgain, I’m a Woman, Blue Moon, IGet a Kick Out of You, Send in theClowns. Get the picture? A wildvariety, from many sources, butevery one sturdy enough to hold astage anytime, any place. Theseideas, rhythms, melodies andmoods are a blend of the idiosyn-cratic and the universal, and eachof these compositions has enor-mous sophistication along with abreathtaking simplicity.

(Admittedly, the diner and thebarbershop feature radio stationsthat cater to people of a certainage. And admittedly, also, I’m notlisting what I “tuned out.”)

In the right hands, stand-alonesongs and revue material can con-tribute significantly to the musicaltheatre. And the World Goes‘Round, for example, is a knock-out. So is Side by Side by Sond-heim. And think of a period piecelike Tintypes or a skillfully con-trived sermon like “A” My Name IsAlice. Isn’t it lucky that there’ssuch a range of tastes, and some-thing for everyone? Because whenall is said and done, all you need isan idea and excellence. And—oh,yes—collaborators who are all insync, plus inspired casting, plusproducers who know their busi-ness…

That’s not asking very much.

27

I’m writing this a few days afterthe opening of the Broadwaymusical blockbuster Hairspray.What good news!—a big, fat,unqualified hit. It can only help thebusiness and everyone who toilsin it. The composer, MarcShaiman, is known to me from hismovie scores—I especially likedBogus– and it is clear he knowstheatre music. He also brings to it( l ike David Yazbek of The FullMonty) a pop sensibility. This isalso good news. [Editor’s note:Shaiman is also co-composer andco-lyricist for the animated musicalfilm South Park: Bigger, Longerand Uncut.]

Those of you who have beenfollowing this column for sometime know what a purist I can be.My life-long love affair with greattheatre songs has made me, if nota perfectionist, something of asnob. If a piece can be beautifullycrafted (in my view), why settle forless? And why should we expectpop songwriters, who have differ-ent standards, to conform to theparticular demands of theatre writ-ing?

But you will also know that Iam crazy about many genres of

music—jazz, swing, country-and-western, folk, gospel, moviemusic—not to mention opera andmost forms of “serious” music.But only the best in each of thesedisciplines! There’s never enoughtime for mediocrity.

The question then becomeshow to get the best of the best ofany genre into forms that will workin and enrich theatre pieces. Theanswer seems to be: put thematerial into the hands of sea-soned theatre professionals whoknow how to structure a show.When that happens, you get amega-hit like Ain’t Misbehavin’ —no dialogue, no flab, all songs, allwonderful.

Try to duplicate that patternand you may get the good-but-not-sensational: SophisticatedLadies, Eubie. From there thecopycats go downhill to the inept,embarrassing and forgotten.

Consider another distinct suc-cess: Smoky Joe’s Café. I’ve beenlistening to this lately, and watch-ing the videotape, with renewedadmiration. Frankly, I’d forgottenwhat fine songwriters Lieber andStoller are—funny, witty, dramaticand passionate. They are also

by Richard Engquist

26

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