Zoe Sarnak & Michael Weiner Look to the Stars to Find the Sound of GALILEO

What goes into making the music of our favorite Broadway shows? How do Broadway composers make our favorite characters sing and our favorite scenes come alive? BroadwayWorld is finding out with Notes on a Score.

Today we continue the series with Zoe Sarnak and Michael Weiner, who wrote the score for Broadway's out of this world new musical, Galileo. Watch as they unpack the title character's big Act 1 anthem, "Heaven's Changing."

When luminary Galileo peers into the heavens, what he sees challenges humanity's understanding of the world. Unwilling to deny the truth, Galileo finds himself in a fight with the most powerful institution on Earth. As his trusted confidant Barberini ascends to power, friendship leads to betrayal, and the dreams Galileo has envisioned for himself and for his brilliant daughter Virginia begin to slip away. Belief, ambition, and love pull the trio out of orbit, each confronting what they're willing to sacrifice for what matters most.

"We knew we wanted the score to feel explosive and rock because we felt like Galileo was a rock star of his time, challenging authority," explained Weiner. "So we wanted to see if we could come up with a musical vocabulary that we both felt was that character—and we came up with this song that we call 'Heaven’s Changing.'"

"We wanted to fill the show with themes that recurred in different ways and connected characters together… Galileo’s theme of ‘Heaven’s Changing’ that he sings is, ‘I’ve been dreaming, I’ve been dreaming.’ But we thought we could use that same piece of music for Virginia in a different way in the song when you first meet her. So we might not realize it as an audience at first, but you just feel that they’re connected."

I close my eyes
And I see something strange, Then 
Open my eyes
And I see heaven's changing

Galileo will open on Broadway on December 6 at the Shubert Theatre.