The same sky - A musical

Abstract

THE SAME SKY is a ‘live’ on-going Musical Theatre project. This research investigates, from the perspective of the composer, the entire creative and technical process of producing a musical, from conception through to performance. The creative collaborative dialogue between composer, author and theatrical director in the production of a new musical will be presented and discussed. Each step has been documented allowing the investigation of the developmental mechanisms, planning, communication and practicalities involved in the launching of such a project. Considerations of the technical practicalities, theatrical possibilities within constrained budgets and how these also effect the compositional and artistic decisions made. It additionally explores the subjective nature of the creative process and questions how the combination of tried and tested compositional methodologies might combine with newer creative skill sets to ignite the development and evolution of a new project. Each step along the production timeline will be illustrated with musical examples to offer insight into the creative process. It is hoped that the research will demonstrate that it is indeed possible to produce a musical with little experience of the genre, providing the appropriate supporting expertise is in place; but this should not diminish the author’s many years experience in the related area of song-writing without which such a venture would be ill-advised.