Scene to Song June Newsletter
"And the band starts to play as the horses go round."
Happy June! For those who have a traditional work week, June is like the Friday of summer, as you feel like you have the maximum amount of summer ahead of you. I love that feeling! And I hope you’ve had a chance to listen to the latest episode on the musical Chess. It’s a great way to prep for the upcoming Broadway revival, especially if you are like me and didn’t know the show previously.
As you may have figured, I’m reverting back to a monthly release schedule now that the year is in full swing. It was nice to have so many episodes ready to go at the beginning of the year, as well as some additional time to edit and release them every two weeks, but this podcast is only one of many things that I do. Thank you for sticking with the podcast through an irregular release schedule this spring! I’m excited for more episodes to come this season.
And if you are not yet subscribed to these emails and want to be, subscribe here:
— Shoshana
Recent Episodes
Episode 123: Tim Rice, Benny Andersson, and Björn Ulvaeus's Chess
In this episode, attorney and writer Tara Krieger discusses Tim Rice, Benny Andersson, and Björn Ulvaeus's 1986 musical Chess. We also talk about the song "This Is the Hour" from Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's 1989 musical Miss Saigon.
Music played in this episode:
"Merano" from Chess
"Pity the Child" from Chess
"One Night in Bangkok" from Chess
"Someone Else's Story" from Chess
"Nobody's Side" from Chess
"The Arbiter" from Chess
"Quartet (A Model of Decorum and Tranquility)" from Chess
"Endgame #1" from Chess
"Endgame #3" from Chess
"This Is the Hour" from Miss Saigon
Meet the Guests!
Tara Krieger is an attorney by trade, but still likes to think of herself as a writer with a day job. In a past life, she was on staff as a sportswriter at Newsday and as an editorial producer for MLB Advanced Media. She enrolled in law school searching for a challenge, but still writes in her spare time. Most of her recent bylines can be found with the Society for American Baseball Research, where she serves on the Board of Directors and co-edited the anthology, Yankee Stadium 1923-2008: America's First Modern Ballpark. She lives in New York.
Hometown: Wayne, NJ
Current Town: New York City
What are you Working on Right Now: Just started research for an article involving women's baseball in Australia.
What do you have coming up: You caught me when I have no immediate publications coming up, but I am representing the City of New York on a panel next week in front of a bunch of attorneys and tax practitioners.
Book, TV, film, or Theater Recommendation: I've been thinking a lot about how more people need to discuss Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd (1957) because it's still so relevant today. Really hoping the Elvis Costello/Sarah Ruhl musical version, which had a short premiere in London last year, makes its way overseas eventually so I can see more than snippets online!
Where can we find you online/social media: Much of my recent work can be found by searching my name at SABR.org. My Instagram @tmk2130 is private, but if you've met me (digitally or in person), feel free to reach out!
Musical of the Month
A New Brain by William Finn and James Lapine
I don’t believe I have talked about William Finn here, so I’ll do so this month, as his musical A New Brain, with co-book by James Lapine, opened off-Broadway on June 18, 1998. I love A New Brain. I’m so glad I got to see the production at City Center Encores! Off-Center in June of 2015. I can’t believe that was already 10 years ago now! There are so many great songs in this show, my favorite being “And They’re Off,” which is such a good story song while also being energetic and fun. I feel like I’m watching a horse race while listening to it.
William Finn passed away on April 7th of this year. The last time I saw him was at the off-Broadway opening of A Strange Loop in June of 2019, at the after-party at the West Bank Cafe. Bill was my teacher in grad school in 2005-2006. Before starting at the Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program, I went to a 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee cast recording signing at Barnes and Noble because I knew he was going to be my teacher soon and I wanted one experience with him just as a fan before that relationship changed. Bill Finn is my mom’s favorite musical theater writer, and she introduced me to his musical Falsettos at a young age. I loved that show, songs from Elegies, A New Brain, and at that point most recently The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
I think many who had him as a teacher had similar experiences, but I had a rocky time in his class. I think there was one day he said, “I guess young people don’t have anything to write about” in response to one of my lyrics. Each week, we had a lyric writing assignment, and we’d bring it into class, read it, and Bill would react. Then if he deemed it worthy of music, a composer would go to a practice room and set it. I didn’t have any lyrics set the entire first semester. Finally, at the beginning of the second semester, my lyric about my New Year’s Eve experience was set. But it still needed work, and Bill pushed me to figure out a better ending for the lyric. I originally had something about the theme of the song there, but Bill said it wasn’t right. I went home and thought about it. The lyric went through my experience that New Year’s evening, and a question came to me: okay, you got to this part in the evening–well then what happened next? The question was so obvious, and now I use that when writing so many of my lyrics. I came back to class with an updated lyric about how the evening had ended, and Bill said it was great. I really think he was surprised how much I had improved it, given my track record so far in the class. Because I only had two lyrics set the entire year, that song was picked to be in the final class presentations. It wasn’t done though, and after graduation I did another rewrite on it, making it even better, and now it’s one of my favorite things I’ve written. Even the great Sierra Boggess has performed it.
As it happens with some teachers, my relationship with them is better after I am in class with them. I loved seeing Bill in the hall the second year and when I would visit the building after graduation. One time I saw him on the street on the Upper West Side and I hugged him mid-crossing. I saw him occasionally at other cabaret shows, and then finally, at the off-Broadway opening of A Strange Loop. Others had closer relationships with him, but despite him thinking I had nothing much to say at the age of 23 (I can assure you, I did, though maybe not the means to say it yet) I am so grateful to have had him as a teacher. He made me a better lyricist. He made me ask, “well, what happened next?” I found my old class assignments, including the very first assignment Bill gave us to write three lyrics. It says, “Spend a lot of time on them please.”
And after much thought and listening, here are my top 10 William Finn songs. These are not in any order of importance, just the 10 that I love listening to the most.
1. “The Music Still Plays On” from A New Brain (all versions)
2. “And They’re Off” from A New Brain (partial to the version on Infinite Joy)
3. “When the Earth Stopped Turning” from Elegies (prefer the version on Infinite Joy)
4. “Anytime (I Am There)” from Elegies
5. “Father to Son” from March of the Falsettos/Falsettos
6. “What More Can I Say” from Falsettoland/Falsettos
7. “Unlikely Lovers” from Falsettoland/Falsttos
8. “The I Love You Song” from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
9. “Sailing” from A New Brain (partial to Liz Callaway’s version on Infinite Joy)
10. “Holding to the Ground” from Falsettoland/Falsettos
Runner Up: “Infinite Joy” from Elegies (partial to version on Infinite Joy)
Also in June…
June 2: Happy Birthday, composer Marvin Hamlisch (1944)! Celebrate his work by listening to episode 75 on Marvin Hamlisch, David Zippel, and Neil Simon’s The Goodbye Girl
June 3: John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Bob Fosse’s Chicago opens on Broadway. Celebrate by listening to episode 48 in which we discuss the song “Class.”
June 7: Happy Birthday, composer Charles Strouse (1928) and Grease (1972) opens on Broadway! Celebrate Strouse’s work by listening to episode 56 on Adaptations of Comics in Musical Theater and listen to a discussion on Grease in episode 6 on Outsider Characters in Musical Theater.
June 9: Happy Birthday, composer/lyricist Cole Porter (1891)! Celebrate by listening to episode 40 on The Songs of Cole Porter: Two Things Can Be True at Once.
June 10: Happy Birthday, composer Frederick Loewe (1904)! Celebrate his work by listening to episode 15 on The Musical My Fair Lady.
June 12: Happy Birthday, composer/lyricist Richard M. Sherman (1928)! Celebrate by listening to his work on episode 72 on Disney Parks Music as Musical Theater and episode 118 on The Sherman Brothers' Movie Musicals for Disney.
June 14: Happy Birthday, composer Cy Coleman (1929)! Celebrate by listening to episode 61 on The Musicals of Cy Coleman.
June 20: Happy Birthday, composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown! Celebrate by listening to episode 47 on Jason Robert Brown and Marsha Norman’s The Bridges of Madison County.
June 28: Happy Birthday, Richard Rodgers (1902)! Celebrate by listening to discussions on his musicals in episode 35 on The Great White Way and Whiteness and White Identity in Musical Theater and episode 18 on The Women of Rodgers and Hammerstein.
June 29: Happy Birthday, Frank Loesser (1910)! Celebrate by listening to episode 12 on “Musical Worlds” in Musical Theater, Featuring Frank Loesser.
June 30: Oliver! opens in London (1960) and Happy Birthday, composer/lyricist Micki Grant (1929)! Listen to a discussion on the character Bill Sykes in episode 73 on Evil Characters in Musical Theater and celebrate Micki Grant with episode 71 on Black Women in Musical Theater History.
Find more musical theater history for June at musicals101.com.
New Musicals!
While Scene to Song mainly looks at musicals already part of the canon, I definitely want to highlight new musicals and musicals in development.
Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical
This new musical is about to have its world premiere at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in Palo Alto, California through July 13th.
Creative Team: Book by Ashley Robinson, Music by Dan Gillespie Sells, Lyrics by Shakina
Synopsis: Set in the 1970s in a ramshackle Texas town, Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical follows a group of friends as they celebrate the 20th reunion of their fan club “The Disciples of James Dean.” As the women look back fondly at their younger days, the arrival of a familiar stranger threatens to uncover deep-seated truths and unexpected connections. Based on the cult classic Broadway play and feature film, this rockin’ country musical is a story about choosing your family, creating your community, and finding your way.
Development History: TheatreWorks New Works Festival, 2024.
Read an interview with Shakina about Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.
Something Wonderful
Some additional recommendations for June:
Show: Real Women Have Curves on Broadway. This new musical is closing June 29th, and I recommend seeing it before it closes if you can. Ana García dreams of flying away, but when her family’s East Los Angeles garment business receives a make-or-break order for 200 dresses, Ana finds herself juggling her own ambitions, her mother Carmen’s expectations, and a community of women all trying to make it work against the odds.
Hosted by writer Shoshana Greenberg, Scene to Song brings on a guest to talk about a musical, musical theater writer, or a topic or trend in musical theater. The theme music is by Julia Meinwald.
You can write to scenetosong@gmail.com with a comment or question about an episode or about musical theater, or if you’d like to be a podcast guest. Follow on Instagram at @ScenetoSong and on Facebook at “Scene to Song with Shoshana Greenberg Podcast.”
Shoshana Greenberg is a lyricist, librettist, singer, and theater journalist. Her musicals include Days of Rage with Hyeyoung Kim and Lightning Man with Jeffrey Dennis Smith. She has also written the opera “The Community” with Kevin Cummines. Her songs have been heard at venues from Lincoln Center to the Duplex, where she performed her one-woman show Not Coming Back. She’s written for American Theatre Magazine, is a contributing editor for the publication Musical Theater Today, and created and hosts the musical theater podcast Scene to Song. She holds an M.F.A. from the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU and a B.A. from Barnard College.