I was recently watching a master class with Jason Robert Brown and The Dramatists Guild of America. Therein Brown said something that struck me (this was said in conversation – don’t judge the grammar too harshly):
“Structure is our whole deal – structure is the whole game. That’s all we’ve got really, as composers. Everybody’s got notes. All we can do it to arrange those notes within a certain structure.”
Wow. This is huge. I mean, it must be true – he does have three names and all…Continue reading
The book is the collected poems of William Blake. Within it there is an almost chronological progression of his poetry moving for the songs of innocence to songs of experience to much more epic content.
Perhaps it goes without saying, but theater lyrics exist within a show – they are heard once and often in quick rhythm. Therefore it is important not to overload the lyric with too many words or words that are difficult to understand when sung. In other words, keep it simple…stupid.