Music ... check.
Lyrics ... check.
That leaves the usually neglected child of the three musical kids:
The book.
For those who may not know the term, the book (or "libretto") of a musical is everything in the script that's not lyrics. It's the dialogue, the stage directions, the scene structure, and the dialogue interwoven with the music and the lyrics.
It's the final cohesive version of the show that is typeset, bound, and sent to the wonderful people who will be producing the show. (Okay, the lyrics are also in the libretto, but they're the lyrics ... not the libretto. Got it?)
It's also the part of the show that frequently gets no respect. No respect, I'm tellin' ya!
And yet without a decent book to a show, the songs tend to fall flat and the audience gets bored. Or all you're essentially left with is an evening of singing, or a dance recital. But not a complete musical.
In original shows, it's the librettist who creates the very characters upon which the score is based. Even in adaptations, the librettist still is still initially responsible for how the characters are used within the framework of the show.
Contrary to a number of amateur theater folks' opinions, the book is not merely the "junk between the songs."
The lack of attention paid to the book is usually the major downfall of most musical productions. Where direction should be primarily focused, it's sometimes barely perfunctory. ("Perfunctory" is my big word of the day. I try to be pompous at least once a day. Makes me feel my college education was at least partially worth the money it cost.)
Some people find the book and dialogue to be the most expendable part of their show (even though cutting or trimming dialogue is actually illegal by contract). I've seen terrible hack jobs on such classics as West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Camelot and Fiddler on the Roof. Killing the dialogue kills the characters, which kills the entire show and actually diminishes the precious singing and dancing.
I was guilty of it myself in my very early career. Until I learned better ... and became a playwright and librettist myself, of course. And through that, I have come to realize with every fiber of my being that every single word I write is golden.
[Insert cricket sounds]
Shoot ... I almost wrote that with a straight face.
Writing the book takes me the longest to do.
Creating a song means creating a musical piece or story that's only 2-7 minutes long, and it must remain consistent only within those few minutes.
The dialogue, though, carries the weight of the evening and usually fills over half the content of a show. And it must remain consistent in tone, style and flow throughout the entire work -- from curtain to curtain. And while it is "between the songs", it's the foundation and logical progression of story to get from song to song, and it makes each song make better sense within the show.
It is also the vacation from the songs. (Just as some feel the musical numbers are the vacation from the dialogue).
I love writing the dialogue, and I hate writing the dialogue. While it's really fun, it's also really hard (well, hard to do well. I've written a lot of stuff very quickly, but it usually shows and ends up getting rewritten. One of my favorite activities.).
The exception, I think, is The Poptimists. Since it's almost a revue, the book is very scant. I wrote the whole thing in about 45 minutes. But as I mentioned somewhere, I'll be expanding it, so that means at least one more pass.
I've always been dialogue-oriented. Let's face it: I have a big mouth and I love playing with words. I began writing TV and film scripts very young, and they are primarily dialogue-based. I tried writing fiction, but I always ended up with a ton of dialogue, and very little prose.
The stage format is faster. It's visual. I can get on with the story and not have to write nearly as many flowery descriptions of the location, or inner thoughts of the characters. That's what the set designer, the director and actors are for. Let's get to it! Chop, chop!
I especially love writing the transitions into the musical numbers, and the dialogue within the numbers. And since I also write the music and lyrics, it's usually seamless and I don't have to run it by my "collaborators." But, as mentioned in previous posts, if it sucks, it's all my fault.
But as the librettist, I essentially decide who's in what scene, what scenes are necessary, the order of the scenes, the locations of the scenes, how every story element is going to tie and interweave together throughout the story .... whew!
Crap! I just realized I'm not getting paid near enough!
When I'm working on the libretto, I always write "long". No, that doesn't mean I'm stretched out on the sofa, or on a chaise by the pool ... (if I had one). It means I deliberately write too much dialogue. I over-write. I do this because it's much easier to trim and edit a scene than it is to "pad it" if it's too short.
Also, I can play with more ideas in a scene and decide which ones best suit the show.
And I never really know how a scene will be until I get it on its feet and I hear someone else read it aloud. I hear it in my head as I write, but I know exactly what I want, so I'm a little biased. When I see the furrowed brow on a friend's face as s/he reads the dialogue, I usually know something's amiss.
And the rewriting is almost endless for a libretto. Because once the score starts creeping in, changes to the book are inevitable.
But the end result is always very satisfying. I love typing the final "BLACKOUT" at the end of the book.
One of the reasons I became a writer and left performing is that a writer has something concrete to show for his work. A script. Sure, you can video performances, but there's something about producing a completed printed work that gives me tremendous satisfaction.
I can share it with other people and I'm removed from it when they read it. They're not judging how well I perform, but reading a black and white page that they have to interpret. It's much more objective, so when I succeed, it's much more satisfying.
And you can't rewrite a performance. I know. I have some of my performances on video.
And I hope they're not played at my memorial service. Well ... except that one, maybe ...
Next: The Art of Distraction (Unless I think of something better)
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