BWW Blog: Clarissa Moon - THEatre ACCELERATOR Part 6: Developing Your Musical

This is the sixth post in my series about Apples and Oranges Studios' THEatre ACCELERATOR. THEatre ACCELERATOR utilizes new technology to develop musicals in a unique way. For a full explanation of THEatre ACCELERATOR, see my first post here.

In my last post, we discussed some key concepts from books by Jack Viertel, Joseph Campbell, and Robert McKee. How can we use these to analyze and develop our musicals?

Analyze the emotional charge at the beginning and end of each scene. Does it start off negative, and then become positive? Does it start off positive, and end negative? If so, that's good. It means your scene went somewhere. If the emotional charge is the same at the beginning and end of your scene, it's not going to be very effective, and you might want to consider a rewrite.

We can also utilize a technique used by Pixar, called "the skin jump." The audience "skin jumps" when they emotionally connect with one of your characters. Go through your show write down what characters you think the audience will connect with, and when.

Here are a few nuggets of wisdom on developing your musical from Tim Kashani:

-Is what you are promising your audience fulfilled at the end? If not, there's a problem in one of the two areas--the setup, or the payoff. If so, the rest of the story will work itself out.

-For characters that fall apart, there has to be some incident in act two that makes the characters set their problems aside and come back together.

-Musicals have to be simple. The simpler the setup, the better the payoff at the end.

-You can judge the success of a musical by the conversations people are having during intermission. What do you want your audience to discuss?

If developing musicals interests you, you should check out Jack Viertel's book The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built.

If you've written a musical of your own, you should apply for THEatre ACCELERATOR. Applications for the next session of THEatre ACCELERATOR are now open! For more information, visit nycoc.com/accelerator, or check out Tim Kashani on Twitter at @TimKashani or on Facebook.