Interview: Michael Finke on GET WHAT YOU WANT Album Release at Chelsea Table + Stage

On Friday, September 12, Center Stage Records will release Get What You Want: The Songs of Michael Finke in streaming and digital formats. Showcasing the rising musical theater composer and lyricist heralded for his soaring ballads and unconventional story songs, the album weaves a tapestry of stories and characters fighting for what they want most out of life. The album release will be celebrated on Friday, September 12 with a concert at Chelsea Table + Stage at 9:30 pm, featuring performers from the album and new singers. 

Get What You Want features an all-star cast, including Emily Afton (Hadestown), Ari Axelrod (Fiddler on the Roof), Donna Lynne Champlin (“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”), Alex Goley (Big River), Alan H. Green (The Preacher’s Wife), F. Michael Haynie (The Heart of Rock and Roll), Tommy Kaiser (Rent), Sarah Naughton (The Sound of Music), Kyle Taylor Parker (Kinky Boots), Jelani Remy (Back to the Future), Kate Rockwell (Mean Girls), Analise Scarpaci (Mrs. Doubtfire), Justin David Sullivan (& Juliet), Talia Suskauer (Parade), and Matt Wood (Saturday Night).

Produced by Robbie Rozelle and Michael Finke, and co-produced by Yasuhiko Fukuoka, the album features arrangements and orchestrations by Nils-Petter Ankarblom. The album features liner notes by Grammy and Tony Award nominee Nathan Tysen (Paradise Square, The Great Gatsby).

Read a conversation below with Michael Finke about the new album and its September 12 release concert.

How do you feel about your upcoming album release show at Chelsea Table + Stage?

Oh my goodness. All the feels? Is that a thing? This release concert means it’s out there! It’s this official way of announcing to the world that this album, in all its musical theatre glory, is ready and available to be taken in and embraced. And to me, that’s what’s most exciting about all of this. It’s that anyone, anywhere in the world, can hear what we made. And this concert kicks that off into high gear. And the 15 singers we have for Chelsea Table have been a blast to rehearse and collaborate with. So, I’m anxious to get it out there, but also very ready.

What was the process of recording and putting this album together like?

It’s been a long and winding road getting this thing to the finish line. Believe it or not, we started recording most of the musicians back in February 2020. Which is crazy! But then a week later, the entire world shut down. We had to make a choice if we wanted this to be a “COVID-album” where all the vocalists and any additional musicians would record privately in isolation at home or if we wanted to wait until we could do it in person. And we chose the latter. This turned out to be the right call because by the time it was safe to get together, some new songs were added, a few new arrangements were included, and we finally got back into the studio.

But man, once we got back together? With these actors? It was a dream come true. These artists DOVE into the material and every session was honestly such a gift. Each person brought themselves into the song they were singing, made choices that only they could come up with, and you hear it in the finished product. So, it took a while but damn, it was worth it.

How did you choose which songs to include on it?

When Robbie Rozelle and I started working on the album, we went through so many songs from so many musicals. But we decided to ultimately focus on the stand-alone songs that could potentially co-exist on one album. We found this connective tissue of songs about peculiar people going to extreme lengths to reach a seemingly unusual goal. And then there was one song that confronted that theme head on, called “Get What You Want”. It was written for a Joe’s Pub concert years ago, but it felt like the culminating thesis statement of a lot of these songs.

Once we knew what songs to pull and what this album was saying, I wrote new songs to help fill the gaps and cover the ground that the existing songs didn’t. What happens when someone bails on their dream when it’s right there in front of them? How does it feel when the world seems to tell you you’re failing? What if what you want most in this world is to make someone feel better about themselves? I’m so excited about all the new songs. They gel so well with the pre-existing ones. It’s what makes this album feel like its own experience.

What’s one of your favorite things about the album?

When people ask what kind of musicals I write, it’s tough for me to answer, because the shows and scores I’ve written all feel so wildly different in tone and subject matter and style. And even though this album is a variation on a single theme, the characters and stories in this album are all over the place. There are stories that feel so every day and relatable, and then there are characters that feel too ridiculous to be true (and yet they’re based on real people!) And that excites me. The fact that this wide spectrum of songs can coexist in a single musical theatre experience feels emblematic of who I am as a writer. Musical theatre writers are constantly asked for Artistic Statements and things like that and it’s always been hard for me to define who I am and what I write in a single paragraph. This album seems to do that for me.

But also, for fun, here are a few favorite things on the album itself. Donna Lynne Champlin inventing fifty new vowels. The horn section going wild on a song about a terrifying 8-year-old. Analise Scarpaci magically showing the real fear that exists in a moment of courage. Nils-Petter Ankarblom’s epic orchestrations. Kate Rockwell and an electric guitar both riffing in vastly different ways and yet somehow in perfect synchronicity. I could go on. Everybody on this thing crushes it.

Aside from this album and show, what else have you been working on lately?

So many projects that couldn’t be more different from each other. I wrote a one-act musical comedy called “Movies Are Not Dead” that a high school tried out last year and is getting geared up for licensing. I’ve been developing a show with composer Andrew David Sotomayor about the true story of Ray Negron called “161st Street”. Another project I’m very excited about is a new two-man gay erotic thriller currently called the “Untitled Kansas Project” which had its first reading last May with director Michael Bello. It was bonkers writing a two-man musical (I don’t know how others have done it without going crazy) that ALSO happens to have a mystery involved. But I’m excited for what’s next for it. I’m also a member of the Theatre Now Writer’s Lab which is a wonderful community of writers that gets the opportunity to develop their work in a bunch of different ways with the support of Theatre Now. So many musicals, so little time. But that’s how it goes, right? 

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

This is my first time going into “album territory”. It’s scary. I’m used to writing for something that will be up on its feet, with a design, with movement. This is purely sonic. I’ve never done that before. And a lot of people held my hand for this one. Robbie Rozelle and Nils-Petter Ankarblom for starters. Also, the INCREDIBLE Yasuhiko Fukuoka, who’s had this album in his ears for literal years now, making sure it came out exactly right. But I’m just really grateful for them and everyone involved. Over 40 musicians and vocalists can be heard on this album. They make it what it is. And that makes me the luckiest writer in the world.  

Header photo by Michael Hull.