Learning about "The Book"

I keep hearing this term--"the book"--in reference to musicals.  This blog post is my experience of familiarizing myself with what that is, exactly. What does it look like? I watch "SMASH" (though I wonder if it's headed for the crapper), and I hear them refer to Debra Messing's character's "book" all the time--is it the script + the lyrics? Does it read like a novel? Follow me as I find out.

WHOA, check out this site! The Broadway Musical Home It's the first thing that came up when I Googled "What is the book in a musical." It didn't have the answer to my query, but it has a wealth of information on the musicals themselves. Onward.

Okay, well here's the definition from Musical Theatre/Definition and scope

"The three main components of a book musical are its music, lyrics and book. The book or script of a musical refers to the story, character development, and dramatic structure, including the spoken dialogue and stage directions, but it can also refer to the dialogue and lyrics together, which are sometimes referred to as the libretto (Italian for “little book”)."

Aaaight, so kinda what I thought. Now, I want to see one so I can learn how extensive the story, character development, and dramatic structure are, typically.

And on Wikipedia's libretto page:

"In the context of a modern English-language musical theater piece, the libretto is often referred to as the book of the work, though this usage typically excludes sung lyrics...The libretto of a musical, on the other hand, is almost always written in prose (except for the song lyrics). The libretto of a musical, if the musical is adapted from a play (or even a novel), may even borrow their source's original dialogue liberally - much as Oklahoma! used dialogue from Lynn Riggs's Green Grow the Lilacs, Carousel used dialogue from Ferenc Molnár's Liliom, My Fair Lady took most of its dialogue word-for-word from George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, Man of La Mancha took most of its dialogue from the 1959 television play I, Don Quixote (from which it was adapted), and the 1954 musical version of Peter Pan used J.M. Barrie's dialogue. Even the musical Show Boat, which is greatly different from the Edna Ferber novel from which it was adapted uses some of Ferber's original dialogue, notably during the miscegenation scene. And Lionel Bart's Oliver! uses chunks of dialogue from Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist, although it bills itself as a "free adaptation" of the novel."

Heeeeyyyyyyyy, lookee here! Musicals 101!!!!!! That link takes you right to a page about The Book. I still want to see a Book, though, so I can have that "Ooooooooooooooh!" moment.

Well HECK, it seems like you can buy the book for just about any ol' musical on Amazon! I think "The Book of Mormon" is the one I should go with. I jist lurve them South Pork fellers!

So there it is. Thank you for taking this journal journey with me. When I get around to perusing an actual Book, I will post an update.

On My Own, Pretending You're Beside Me

Okay, here's the troof: I don't like a lot of musicals. I almost always like the stories and the lyrics, but not the music. To put a finer point on it, I don't like a certain kind of orchestration--AT ALL. It's that Chicago/Annie/banjo-y/marimba-y/muted trumpet-y sound that I can't stand. So the reason I don't like a lot of musicals is because alot of them have THAT GODFORSAKEN TIMBRE. Every Thanksgiving, the Macy's parade people haul out at least one medley of numbers from a hot new musical with that timbre. That Putnam County one does too--sorry, sister Rossi. The lyrics are clever, the story is great, but I think the orchestration is what makes some people say they hate musicals because everyone's always breaking out into a damned song!

So what am I doing, wanting to write a musical? Well, it's because I do like many musicals, and ADORE a handful. JC Superstar, Godspell, Hair--love these. They have that cool 1960s sound--mellow acoustic flute and guitar mystic crystal revelations or funkadelic bass-heavy libido, where the music paints as accurate a picture of the counterculture movement as any Life Magazine photo essay ever could. Andrew Lloyd Webber--I love a lot of his stuff, although there is a question as to whether it's HIS stuff that I love. Wicked, Les Mis, Miss Saigon--beautiful music. My mom raised me on Rogers & Hammerstein. I love The Sound of Music, LOVE. The Wizard of Oz is a musical, isn't it? Gilbert & Sullivan--that's brilliant stuff. Of the Disney musicals that are being churned out regularly in this day and age, I have only seen The Lion King, and I thought it was pretty good. The song "He Lives In You" was not in the movie and was composed for the musical, and it's brilliant. It's the song that comes to mind when I hear about mothers and fathers being killed in Afghanistan. Anyway, I have seen all the Disney movies, so I know how I feel about the music without having seen the shows. Oh, and The Wedding Singer. That was, like, totally bitchin'.

So maybe I should forget this idea of asking for suggestions for musicals to study. I am familiar enough with several musicals to have a clear idea of what I love and what I don't. And maybe I should forget this idea of waiting for the blogosphere to give me ideas. That seems like something to do once a whole lot of people know you and follow you. Oh, wouldn't that be cool--for someone who is widely-known and loved for being creative to invite anyone who'd be interested to a collaborative brainstorm for the (not my hyperlink-->) next project!

That person is not me, today. Today, I am a stay-at-home mom who is talking to herself in this blog. Today, when the support of a number of people would really inspire me and make me accountable, I have to do it all on my own.

The idea that's been simmering for years is to compose an Irish-American musical. Nine of my sixteen great-great-grandparents were Irish. In the United States, Irish heritage is a big deal. Of all our American holidays, only one celebrates another nation, and that's St. Patrick's Day. I see Taco Bell trying to edge in with Cinco de Mayo, and that just makes me think about a restaurant back in my hometown, Virginia Beach, called Carlos Murphy's. Until there are loads of parades in several US cities on May the fifth, I'm going to say that the Irish are still unique in this way. So Irish Pride is not hard to come by in the USA. It means that we (Irish-Americans) know the music and history of our heritage. The History Channel serves it up every March 17th. Do they still? This family dumped cable two years ago and have never regretted it for a single second. We've no shortage of love for and exposure to Irish music here--U2, Sinead O'Connor, The Cranberries, The Waterboys, Enya, and more traditional music recorded by bands such as The Chieftains. One of my favorite movies, This Is My Father, has all but gone ignored, and I don't know why. It's a great story that I think a lot of people would really like, especially if they're Irish-American. I just happened to come across it about twelve years ago while wandering through the video store.

Irish music can sound as ecstatic or as sorrowful as it is possible for music to sound. I'd love to find or make up a really riveting story that brings together the sounds that have come out of Ireland for hundreds of years. I'd love to use Irish dance as a character in the story. I think that I've resisted this idea for so long because it seems way too big and dear to me.