NYPost: His 70th birthday. This weekend a passel of would-be Sondheims (and Larsons, and Porters) will unveil their work as part of the New York Musical Theater Festival, which runs through Oct. 16. In the spirit of the Sondheim list (published in The New York Times in 2000), we asked composers in this year’s festival: What song do you wish you had written? Which song in your show expresses your voice? And why?
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Musical Theater Festival Composers Name Dream Songs
NYPost: His 70th birthday. This weekend a passel of would-be Sondheims (and Larsons, and Porters) will unveil their work as part of the New York Musical Theater Festival, which runs through Oct. 16. In the spirit of the Sondheim list (published in The New York Times in 2000), we asked composers in this year’s festival: What song do you wish you had written? Which song in your show expresses your voice? And why?
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3 comments:
I think this article was a really great idea. One of the best things about creative work is that there is so much to appreciate. No one person thinks of everything. There are times when we see a piece of work that someone else has created and think "Oh my gosh, that's so cool! I wish I'd thought of that." And there are plenty of times when we look at a piece of work and just appreciate how great it is, without any other thoughts. I think this article is a really great way to show how appreciative we are of each others work.
What is really impressive in these interviews is the diversity of inspiration for musical theatre composers. I think often musical theatre folk (myself included) are pegged as campy and perpetuating a genre without much depth and importance. This group of composers, drawing inspiration not only from other musicals, but from popular music both classical and contemporary is a testament to the range of influence on writers. Reading through the descriptions of the shows at NYMF this year, they are equally as diverse as their sources of inspiration. Kudos to the NYMF staff for what I assume is a conscious choice to present a variety of musical stylings.
This article gives us a unique insight into these composers' minds. I would have never thought to ask someone what they wished they had written. I didn't really realize how much attention they paid to other peoples' work. To hear them describe someone else's songs as their dream song or what songs they identify with is a cool way of thinking about life through music. As theatre goers we are often in awe of the music we hear and its cool to know that the composers of our favourite songs feel the same way about others' work.
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