New Musical Marketability - Opening Number Ideas

So, one of the main considerations when writing a new musical is the marketability of it. I tend to feel that art and commercialism are inexorably linked. Good art will sell because it will appeal on some level. That's not to say all art must be beautiful. But it has to connect and communicate or it fails.

I remember when I first got hooked on the idea of musical theater. My sister brought home a copy of The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was the highlights version and so it began with the overture. She put it into our stereo, cranked up the volume and... Well, it was quite the experience. It was such a familiar piece even though I'd never heard it. It just resonated and drew me in. Immediately I was hooked. I took the cassette to my room and listened to it with headphones again and again. Wore out the tape, actually. It was years later that I found Les Miserables followed quickly by Miss Saigon (my favorite). The original version of Les Mis opens with a descending string ostinato that is interesting, but not quite as accessible as the current opening. Miss Saigon, perhaps, has the least accessible opening...and yet it is my favorite. It draws you into the feel of the show very well. I can't necessarily separate that from sentiment though.

In retrospect, I'd have to give Phantom the 'best overture' award. It's not my favorite musical...in fact, as an overall show, I find it a bit weak. Some of the music is magical...but the story and whatnot...meh. But Phantom doesn't actually open with the overture. It opens with recitative and dialogue. The only of these three mega-hits that has a real 'bang' for the first note is Les Mis.

So where am I going with all this. Well, I'm trying to rethink my opener.

I want to have that moment of glory. I want people who hear it for the first time to be immediately drawn in and captivated via memorability and strong song-writing. I also want it to clearly bring out the flavor of the overall show.

The current (as heard in the 2nd post of the blog) opener is okay. But it's not quite there. I don't get chills from it at least.

This is an interesting thing though. I have written a fair amount of music that I think is very good (at the risk of sounding arrogant - read: tremendous!). But I very rarely do it by forcing it. I would very much like to be able to force it though. I don't know if that's possible. I feel that being strong as a composer as far as marketability goes is something you either have a feel for or you don't. When it comes to that, even with my idea that some of my music is 'tremendous' I also freely admit that my thinking its tremendous has little to do with whether others find it tremendous or not. Either way...the stuff that I think is really good, more often than not, I just came up with by...I dunno...dreaming it or something. Just feeling it. Just a surge from the soul, if you will, vs. analytical design.

So...here's where I'm going. Over the next several posts I will attempt to rework the opening. I will write several introductions and post them. The attempt will be to 'force' a superb opening. Maybe none of my efforts will stand. But it will be fun to try. Then, sometime in the future, maybe I'll dream the real opener and all this work will go out the window. Who knows.