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Creating the Musical (255-0-20)

Topic

Storytelling for the Musical Stage

Instructors

Masi Asare

Meeting Info

Wirtz Center WALLIS: Mon, Wed 1:00PM - 2:50PM

Overview of class

There are many metaphors for the process of writing musicals—putting up a tent, following the North star, finishing a hat—but let's think of it like baking a cake. It's all about proportions and timing (how much speaking? how much singing? what to add in when?) if you want the cake to rise in the oven and be as tasty as possible. This course is an overview of the precise and delicious art of musical theatre writing. The crafts of writing book (script), writing lyrics, and writing music for the stage…we'll work on each with tailored exercises and analysis of existing shows. Students will learn to identify the effective opportunity for song within a theatrical story. We'll study proven approaches to musical-dramatic structure at the level of song/scene and book. And we'll work with the foundations of musical and lyrical composition for the stage. Who wants to come test recipes?