So far, we have identified thirty-seven positions in our musical story where there shall be music. We have identified them by color: entries colored black are definite songs. Entries colored blue are “scene change music” or “incidental moments.” The ones that are red in our list are “potential songs.” The ones that are in BOLD are consequential to the plot, and the purple ones are absolutely essential.
Of those in the absolutely essential category, each one we often think is the Best Song In The Show. That’s the song that we imagine you remembering the best at the end of the night. That’s the one that sticks in your head and two weeks later in pops back into your head and won’t go away for a long time. That’s the one we imagine high-school kids wanting to use for an audition someday because they love it so much. The Best Song In The Show.
I will let you in on a secret. Music is damned hard to write. The music and the lyrics.
There’s a rumor that Lin Manuel Miranda took a whole year to come up with “My Shot.”
“I am not throwin’ away my shot
I am not throwin’ away my shot
Hey yo, I’m just like my country
I’m young, scrappy and hungry
And I’m not throwin’ away my shot…”
You look at that and you think, “how hard can it be?”
It’s hard, yo.
Tinkering, wondering, and riffing, endlessly riffing.
When it comes together, when you feel it, when you hear it, when you know it works, it’s like heaven. I’m not the composer but I celebrate when it works. And I say, “That! That is the best song in the show!”
Even then, I know it will probably change and grow, as this whole thing is changing and growing all the time.
We can’t wait to share it with you.