Open Source Project to create a stage musical

[sirat]

I've been talking about turning my 2011 novel Engineering Paradise into a musical for the last year or so, and have had a couple of false starts with would-be collaborators. I thought what I wanted was a full 50/50 partner who would put music to my lyrics, but I now realise what a huge commitment that is to a project that's very unlikely to generate any financial reward, so I thought I would try a different approach and turn into what I have called an Open Source Project, borrowing a term from computer code writers. The concept needs a bit of explanation and I have made a webpage to explain fully what the project is all about and, if you like writing songs, give you a way to get started straight away. Please feel free to write me a song! Here are the details: http://davidgardiner.net/EPOpen.html

You can email me direct on sirat@davidgardiner.net

[DooWahDiddy]

First of all, congratulations on writing a novel! That in itself is a huge undertaking, so kudos to you for making it happen. Secondly, congrats on trying to take it to another level by making it a musical. That's what I do; my "day job" is working in the NY theatre industry, playing piano for auditions, rehearsals, productions, etc. I'm also writing a musical myself; basically my entire day is spent either playing someone else's musical or writing my own!

Having said all that, I think you should hold out for the right collaborator. There are PLENTY of composers out there looking for lyricists; I would check colleges and local meet-up groups if you're having trouble finding one. The open-source thing is an interesting idea; a couple of musicals have been minorly successful with the same concept, with a different composer for each song (look up "Working"). But these are very rare, and the first problem I would foresee would be the lack of musical throughline. "Working" works (ha) because it's a revue; there's no storyline per se. It's just a bunch of songs sung by working-class characters in an entertaining way. If your show has a story, it might be a little jarring if every song sounds different from the next. You also need reprises, duets, ensemble numbers, the whole nine yards. Unless you specifically tell people to write one of those, chances are you'll just end up with 30 solos, which is no bueno for a musical.

I don't mean to be discouraging! I just think you would be better served by holding out for the right partner. Best of luck to you!

[sirat]

I understand what you're saying. I don't know exactly how long I spent searching for a collaborator but I think it was about six or eight months before one appeared on the scene, and we seemed to get along well where the 'work' side was concerned, but I found her very strange at the personal level. She was paranoid about having her musical ideas stolen, and believed that she was being stalked on forums and talked-about behind her back, and wouldn't allow me to mention her real name. She wanted people to sign a more or less legal document before I could allow them to see or sing one of her songs, and (you may find this hard to believe) on four different occasions said that she was to pulling out of the project entirely and I wasn't allowed to use any of her songs. Then she would just carry on as though nothing had happened.

Well, after the fourth withdrawal I decided to let her go, not because there was anything wrong with her music but because I could see that she would pull out for real at some stage and it was better she did it now than six months down the line when I had a group somewhere ready to start rehearsals. It made me realise that allowing anyone a share in the Grand Rights was a dangerous thing to do, because he or she could sabotage the whole enterprise at any point by refusing to allow people to perform the finished work. I have no interest in the financial side and am under no delusions that the project is going to make money but I want to be able to allow any amateur or student group that wants to perform the play to do so free of charge or hindrance.

I understand your point about a lack of musical unity if different people write different songs, but this is a 'folk' musical, all the songs are in the folk or contemporary folk idiom, and by-and-large I think any ballad with a strong melody is going to fit in. In fact I had the opposite worry to some extent with my first collaborator in that I thought some of the melodies were too similar to one another. I think there are points to be made for both arrangements. Regarding variety again, I have one duet but mainly the songs are personal and confessional, with one or two comedy numbers, all solos. The atmosphere I'm hoping to create is something along the lines of Cabaret, where again practically all the songs are solos.

An 'ideal' collaborator, that I felt comfortable with both personally and musically and whom I trusted completely not to make problems would no doubt be terrific, buy my worry is that i might not live long enough to find such a person. This system seems to be working fairly well so far, so I think I'll give it a reasonable try.

Thanks for your comments.