TaPS MASTER CLASS RESOURCE PACK: From text to song, musical theatre adaptation
by Neil Ginsberg
October 2012, New York
TaPS Master Class Resource Pack
Master Class: From Text to Song: Musical Theatre Adaptation by Neil Ginsberg
Introduction
Musicals and operas work best when they effectively adapt materials into
believable, viable, and delightfully idiosyncratic theatre pieces. When done well, a
musical adaptation seems like a logical extension of the story and its characters. The
songs heighten the emotion and drama while giving us insight into points of view. In a
theatre piece, well-crafted music not only entertains, but also furthers the plot,
establishes the setting and style, and reveals character. Whether you love rocking out
to Rent or prefer a night at the opera, singing the story is universal and transcends the
shackles of naturalistic theatre.
But even for the masters, adapting materials into musicals and operas can be a
tricky business. Bernstein found the rough streets of New York best suited his
adaptation of Romeo and Juliet but was unable to get Peter Pan off the ground. Puccini
completed his masterpiece Madame Butterfly only after disastrous previews, and in their
musical Cabaret, Kander and Ebb needed dozens of rewrites of a songʼs introduction
before finding the one that seamlessly transitioned from spoken text to singing. There is
a lot for the aspiring theatre artist to learn by taking a close look at how musicals are
conceived and constructed. Studying the great works compels the student of musicals
to ask fundamental questions that are as relevant as ever: What materials are best to
adapt? What style of music best serves the story? At what point in the story should
characters sing? What are the conventions of musical theatre? How are songs, scenes,
and large pieces structured? How can music help the audience experience the play on
a deeper level?
Before answering How and What, we (perhaps most importantly) must answer
the question Why. Why does this material need music and song to be fully realised? Is
it full of monologues that need to be sung? Is its epic scope too vast for a straight play
to capture? Is the setting too musically ripe for to satisfy without breaking into song? Or
is simply the timeless appeal of the story is too good to resist adapting, as is the case
with The Wizard of Oz or Christmas Carol. Audiences will always have appetites for
new takes on classics and creative musical theatre artists will always discover new ways
to tell these familiar and beloved stories.
Master class overview
Adapting Musical Theatre
© Neil Ginsberg October 2012, New York
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The workshop will consist of a combination of analysis and creative exercises.
We will examine some excerpts from musicals and operas and discuss the processes of
adaptation used to create them. Students will be asked to create their own ideas for
musically adapting materials and sketch/draft/present their own musical version of
dramatic moments from well-known stories. Students will learn basic song structures,
lyrical language, and compositional techniques including: ostinato, singing range, and
melodic structure. Questions for reflection and guided discussion include: How can
music and song enhance story telling? What are ways to describe music in a theatrical
context? What decisions can be made before beginning creative musical theatre work
to enable an efficient creative process?
Exercises
• Discussion
Planning into action
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•
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How can we add music/song to a theatrical project we are already working on?
What existing play, story, or source material would make a good musical or
opera? Why?
When watching a musical theatre piece, why or why not do you think this was an
effective adaptation?
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Bibliography
Books, Articles, Dissertations
Sondheim,(2010) Finishing the Hat, Knopf ISBN-10: 0679439072
Music! Words! Opera! Ames, Roger, Brooks, Clifford (2012) GIA Publications
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Baum, L. Frank ISBN-10: 0060293233,
The Wizard of Oz (Film) Warner Brothers
The Wiz; Sam French, Inc.
Othello, Shakespeare
Adapting Musical Theatre
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Verdiʼs Otello
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-10-31/entertainment/ct-ae-1031-women-verge20101031_1_new-musicals-yazbek-movies
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Practitionerʼs pathway
Throughout my career, music and theatre have gone hand in hand. While I toiled
away at my Hannon piano exercises and modestly conquered Bachʼs inventions, I
couldnʼt wait to apply the lessons learned about music to the context of theatre. I
accompanied singers, wrote arrangements, played in show pits, and eventually began
creating songs and scores for musicals of my own, and, of course, teaching others how
to do all of the above.
When I finished high school, I studied music education, composition, conducting,
and piano at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Ct. Being at a conservatory was a
delightful pressure cooker and allowed me to be around other aspiring and inspiring
musicians. I learned traditional and new techniques from master teachers, including
Roger Ames, who brought me to his summer program the Berkshire Ensemble for
Theater Arts, where high school students from around the world worked with theatre
artists (who were all older and much cooler than me) to create new musical theatre
pieces and from blank page to lit stage. At BETA, I was introduced to ISTA and I began
doing festivals abroad.
Moving to New York after college was everything I hoped it would be and other
things too. I worked constantly as a pianist and music director (including the Off
Broadway productions of “Forever Plaid” and “Nunsense”), toured with small companies,
conducted amateur choirs, played at bars, accompanied auditions, worked at regional
theatres, and taught music and drama all over the city. I wore many hats as I biked
around the city with a backpack full of 3-ring binders filled with worn copies of classic
musical scores and pencilled sketches of new works. I divided my time teaching,
conducting, accompanying, composing, coaching aspiring singers from my West Village
one-room apartment and working at the Juilliard School of Drama. There were no cell
phones yet (we had answering machines) and computers were basically just typewriters
with screens.
After a few years in New York, I moved to Los Angeles to complete a graduate
degree in film scoring. I worked the night shift in a small music studio creating
Adapting Musical Theatre
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soundtracks for some forgotten cable shows, commercials, and film trailers. I also had
the opportunity to orchestrate and conduct regularly and take my skills to a higher level.
While I was pounding the freeway pavement in the competitive film and TV industry, a
publisher interested in my music approached me about writing choral music with an eye
towards the educational market. My experience in classrooms and theatre lessons
learned about collaborating made this a good fit. I have since published over 50 works
for choir that can be heard coming from the windows of school choir rooms. GLEE here
we come!
While the west coast had its charms, after a few years I decided it wasnʼt my cup
of tea. I returned to New York to teach music and drama at the Brooklyn Friends
School. Since then, I have taught at several schools and became a national teacher
trainer for Opera America, teaching teachers around the country to implement the Music!
Words! Opera! Curriculum into their classrooms.
www.neilginsberg.com
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Adapting Musical Theatre
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