Musical Idea?
Musical Idea?
dassher
Swing Joined: 11/28/15
#1Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/28/15 at 8:28am
Hi, all!
I've seen people share their ideas for musicals, so I thought I would.
I'm currently in the midst of writing a musical about Santa's 8 original reindeer (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, etc. ... just no Rudolph!) It's such an untold story (although we are told that "We know" them in the Rudolph song, but do we really?), that I wanted to see if I could tell it. (:
Let me know what you think! Open to comments, ideas, anything. I love critique!
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
OMG2
Understudy Joined: 10/20/15
#3Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/28/15 at 12:23pm
Write a musical and get Meaghan Trainor to write the music. NORTHERN EXPOSURE the musical. The Joshua Brand TV SHOW
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KCW
Featured Actor Joined: 10/31/15
#4Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/28/15 at 2:49pm
Don't slip into Christmas sound, look at Christmas Bells from rent to get an idea on how to have traditional sounds not dominate.
I appoligise for any spelling mistakes. I may be on my mobile. Clumsy fingers and small little touchscreen keys don't mixx. I try to spellcheck, but I may miss something.
#5Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/28/15 at 4:50pm
Since I don't like puppets or people in animal costumes(if you do have people in animal costumes do the lion king way) make sure the reindeer are only mentioned and never shown.
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
Signed,
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
https://theaterworkersforaceasefire.com/statement
#6Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/28/15 at 7:45pm
There are no good ideas or bad ideas, only good and bad execution of ideas. You're focused on the wrong bit.
dassher
Swing Joined: 11/28/15
#7Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/28/15 at 8:02pm
@FindingNamo Thank you!!
@KCW: I will be sure to keep that in mind, thanks! I definitely don't want to make all of the songs overly-Christmasty.
@Call_me_jorge: I haven't really thought about that yet, but if I do decide to go the more animal-like route I don't think it'd be anything too crazy. (: All I know is there'll be antlers!
@haterobics: That's very true, thank you for mentioning that!
#8Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/28/15 at 8:38pm
If you keep it simple enough that churches, schools, community theaters and choral groups can perform it, you could make a fortune on it. All those groups perform at Christmas time and love to find new material. You won't make a lot from any one performance, but there are thousands of such groups!
Although haterobics is right that if the execution is sufficiently creative and accomplished, even reindeer may make for a big Broadway musical, first-class Christmas musicals have the problem of making money in the short window when customers are interested in their subjects.
But lower your sights a peg or two and you'll find the non-profit market is hungry for holiday material. A single Christmas song of mine that was finished last year is having its third performance by a third different group next week. And I don't live in a large city, nor has the piece been advertised outside the immediate area where the composer and I live.
dassher
Swing Joined: 11/28/15
#9Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 10:50am
GavestonPS said: "If you keep it simple enough that churches, schools, community theaters and choral groups can perform it, you could make a fortune on it. All those groups perform at Christmas time and love to find new material. You won't make a lot from any one performance, but there are thousands of such groups!
Although haterobics is right that if the execution is sufficiently creative and accomplished, even reindeer may make for a big Broadway musical, first-class Christmas musicals have the problem of making money in the short window when customers are interested in their subjects.
But lower your sights a peg or two and you'll find the non-profit market is hungry for holiday material. A single Christmas song of mine that was finished last year is having its third performance by a third different group next week. And I don't live in a large city, nor has the piece been advertised outside the immediate area where the composer and I live.
"
That's a very good point. Thank you!!
The whole concept of only seeming interesting around Christmas due to being a Christmas-themed show was one of my worries at the start. The idea had stuck in my head for a few years to where I couldn't shake it so I decided to start on it anyway. I really like the idea of making it simple for that reason, but at the moment there's a lot of characters (from reindeer, to Santa, to elves, to even dogs) that I feel as if it'd be too complex. Another worry of mine is that it isn't completely child-friendly, I know that seems odd for a Christmas-oriented musical but the entirety of movies centered around reindeer have been just for children and I wanted to stray away from that. It's nothing too crazy, just some language and characters (for example, Blitzen starts out as a drunk, haha). I mean, I'm sure it'd be okay for some schools and community theaters of course but I'm not sure about churches.
I'm always open to making changes, though, and it's very far from being finished so I'm not scared to tweak it! The idea originally started as a sort of movie concept (art is my other passion next to broadway) so I always have a back-up. Thank you for the pointers (:
Updated On: 11/29/15 at 10:50 AM#10Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 11:00am
Stop worrying about selling or producing something you haven't finished writing. No unfinished piece ever sells well or is attractive to any market or demographic.
Whenever I feel I am doing this sort of thinking about my novel, it just means I am avoiding working on it and convincing myself I am doing useful work. Only I'm not. 
#11Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 2:29pm
The song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer portrays "all of the other reindeer" as quite mean-spirited, so if you portray one of them as a recovering alcoholic, it doesn't seem to me that it would be anything that radically non-child-friendly to me (but i'm not a parent, so my standards might be lighter). Plus no doubt some kids have one or more alcoholic parents, and some kind of redemption story about that might resonate with them. And schools/community groups generally favour shows with many characters, since they don't want to turn anyone away who auditions. All of this to say don't worry - just keep developing your idea!
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#12Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 2:50pm
Musicalize Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. It should be an instant hit.
Poster Emeritus
#13Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 5:08pm
Consider including a pantheon of the other, less commercial, Christmas Icons. Santa is the hero, but what about Krampus, Knecht Ruprecht, Swartpiet, the Yule Lads and the Goat of Yule?
KCW
Featured Actor Joined: 10/31/15
#14Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 5:16pm
I think that you really need to simple it up and listen to Gaveston if you really want to make money. Or if it is more for the experience and putting it out there, make it more risqué. You may only get a few productions of it like most shows get, or, it may be a hit.
I appoligise for any spelling mistakes. I may be on my mobile. Clumsy fingers and small little touchscreen keys don't mixx. I try to spellcheck, but I may miss something.
#15Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/29/15 at 9:01pm
Haterobics is right that one can't do one's best work while worrying about the end, commercial result. But there's a difference between writing a show for the broad non-profit market vs. the relatively narrow, big budget Broadway/national tour market.
That being said, I wouldn't worry about sanitizing your show for some imagined evangelical congregation. Write the show YOU want to see. No show appeals to every group, but there are many kinds of churches; some have very strict requirements re content, others are much more liberal. And the non-profit market is quite wide, even if your show doesn't appeal to religious groups. (Schools, including colleges, like "secular" holiday pieces because their groups are composed of people from many different faiths.)
Bottom line: if you write a score that can only be sung by Kristin Chenoweth and Jason Danieley, one that requires a $14 million budget for sets and costumes, you may limit your options.
dassher
Swing Joined: 11/28/15
#16Musical Idea?
Posted: 11/30/15 at 11:02am
@haterobics: Thanks, I should keep that in mind!
@adam.peterson44: I actually never thought about that. All of the reindeer do have their own issues, so I guess it works out pretty well! I'll just go in the direction I want with it, you're right, thank you!
@darquegk: It's kind of unavoidable to not include Santa mostly since he's what brought the deer to where they are now, but I do like the idea of adding in some other holiday figures. (:
@KCW: I'm not really focused on money at all at this point, but I guess I need to start looking a little bit into the future on where I want to go with this. I'm basically between continuing on making it the full-fledged idea that I started out with or play it safe and take it down a little to make it more simple. Maybe I'll have to make two versions, I'm not sure, there are a lot of different ways I can take this!
@GavestonPS: Exactly. I didn't realize all of the different routes I can take until now, so thank you for that! I could definitely make it more simple while still keeping its original theme, which I'll have to work on. This is my first project anyways so I really shouldn't make it too complex.
If anyone has any examples of relatively simple, but interesting musicals performed by community theaters / schools / churches, I'd love to check them out for some references!
