Music as a Show's Language

10/01/2023

Welcome! To understand our next step, we need to go back a little and convey some previous parts of the show’s development. We’ll start with the music.

One could say that the language of any musical exists in the show’s script. After all, a libretto or musical play’s language exists in the dialogue. But in the case of musicals, it also exists with song, and sometimes dance.

So when we were seeking the rights to adapt the book in 2018, we “pitched” or “auditioned” what we felt was the DNA of the show: three songs. (These can be found on the Songs tab in the menu.) When we were granted the rights, we then spent the next few years developing the work with more music until it was fully realized into the form it is today, a full script and 18 songs.

And something else.

The musical demos were very much a part of the development process as well. The orchestration has been on the composer’s mind since day one, keeping the texture of the musical world that the characters inhabit.

So things went from page:

To musical page:

To a fully-realized, orchestrated demo:

In our next installment, more about the show’s development and how music plays an important part.

Let’s Start with a Picture

09/21/2023

Welcome! For those of you who have just joined us, this website is dedicated to our new musical, Suddenly Supernatural. This blog will capture news, anecdotes, accolades; occasional rants, copious raves, and a few other things as we share our journey with you.

Let’s start with a picture.

Isabella Gomez-Barriento, Valentina Zazzali, Melissa Rose Hirsch, Kyra Orgass, Cicily Daniels, Allsun O'Malley, Katie Thompson, Tanesha Gary, and Taylor Gayner. From the left: writer/lyricist Joel Adlen, and composer/lyricist/writer Len Moors, with Director Terry Berliner.

May 2023, Open Jar Studios, New York City, NY.

Here’s a group of talented folk who came together for the third reading of the show. For those unfamiliar with the term, Readings can be part of a show’s development. And when the stars aligned, actors breathed life into characters, the room filled with song and melody, and well, that is a moment of magic… I suppose that is what you are seeing in this picture above. Magic happened!

So as we left a little rehearsal room in the heart of the theater district in Manhattan, the Director of the project turned to its creators and and said, “It’s time for the next step!”

And that’s what we’ll share with you in our installment—news about the next step.

Stay tuned!