"The Rivals" - my new show

"The Rivals" based on the 1775  play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan is my latest show, written with the brilliant Peter Kellogg who wrote the book and lyrics.  The show was written over the course of two years in spurts, in between work on "The Honeymooners".  I really enjoyed the process since Peter is such an easy, warm and true collaborator.  This was also a show where I wrote mostly to his lyrics, versus music first which is how I usually write.  Both approaches have their advantages.  Writing music first gives me the freedom to explore the emotional arc of the song and find the voice (literally) of the character, while writing to lyric first takes some of that onus away from the composer and allows you to find the voice melodically within the already established concept and scan.

I started writing "The Rivals" with the intent of having a more classically-themed tone to the show, but that quickly gave way to more of my "Broadway" style of writing everything from big production numbers to ballads to quirky songs and comedy numbers.  "The Rivals" is a farce after all and works well within a musical comedy tonality.  Peter is a very accomodating collaborator and when I challenged him to change structure and literally re-write established lyrics, he did so at an incredible pace.  He is one of the fastest writers I have ever worked with.

We do envision a mildly enhanced string quartet playing on stage though and playing our score somehow in an innovative way.  That could be fun, and also gives them a chance to be a part of the show in funny and different ways.

We've just started the journey with this show and I have no idea where it will take us.  I remain hopeful however, as we all do when the glow of just having finished the first draft seems to linger, and that immense satisfaction of having completed the show is still fresh.  God knows there will be tons of re-writes and changes should the show get done, as is always the case, but I am proud of our work.

This also was a "first" in some ways - the "first" time I wrote a show from the public domain (believe it or not) and the first time I sang all the songs on the demo (all parts).  It was also refreshing not having to worry about rights for a change, the endless back and forth negotiating with  arrogant and dismissive corporate lawyers, creators and movie studios they represent.  It feels like a small victory when I can write something that evades all of that nonsense.  But, for the time being.....

I'm already thinking about my next show......