Preproduction: the period of time during which work is done on a show prior to the first rehearsal.
There have been many shows written by a single creator -- lyricist, librettist and composer all rolled into one -- but, looking at the track record, it seems that the greatest triumphs have been the result of some form of collaboration. (Self Test #1: Name five well-known musicals created by a single person.)
A creative collaboration consists of the following:
- Lyricist, who writes the words for the songs;
- Composer, who writes the music -- perhaps just the songs, or maybe the dance music, underscoring, or other instrumental music.
- Librettist, also known as the Bookwriter, who creates the dialog or "play" portion of the show;
What part of a script should become songs? In deciding where songs should appear in a show, the rule of thumb generally used is:
When a scene or character reaches a point where the emotion is too strong to be contained or expressed by dialogue alone.
The process of actually writing a show may begin with a general outline or fairly fleshed-out draft of the script. The creation of the outline may be done jointly, but most of the script will be the work of the bookwriter (at least the early drafts). Once the "show" has enough form for the writers to feel comfortable with it, work on the other elements will begin. And then everyone starts "contributing" to everyone else's area: bookwriter suggesting lyric ideas, composer suggesting changes to lyrics, lyricist suggesting dialogue, etc.
In Part 2 of these articles I discussed the difficulty (folly?) of creating a new book around existing songs. For a show to be successful, the exchange and "give and take" between the collaborators -- bookwriter, lyricist, composer -- must be intense and constant. It is not enough for the lyricist and composer to take a script, find the places where songs would seem to be appropriate, and write and "install" them into the book. The book will need to adjust for the new material. Especially in more modern musicals, book scenes are not just replaced by songs, but incorporated, interspersed, threaded, etc.
An example of this give and take can be seen in a process I have often noted in the first readings or workshop of a new piece. The draft of the script used on the first day of rehearsal will be very sectionalized: scene, song, scene, song, scene-part of a song-more scene-more song, etc. Over the course of the workshop the songs and libretto begin digesting each other
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