August 1st, 2008
So, after many months of being tired of my full-scale original Russian musical, Tell Me a Beautiful Lie, I’ve started thinking about it again, and I’ve got a couple of ideas for improving things.
I remain somewhat dissatisfied with the third quarter of Act I. This represents, story-wise, the gradual transition in Katya’s affections towards Oleksander. I’m still really pleased with the Act I finale, as well as the political discussion between Katya and Oleksander in the middle of Act I, but the items in between feel, well, not quite up to par.
“Harbor from the Storm” is one of the first songs I wrote for the musical, way back in my sophomore year at Harding, and it’s one that I’ve been doing my best to preserve from draft to draft, since I like it as much as I do. Nonetheless, pretty much any “how-to” guide on musical writing makes it pretty clear that the one song you have in there just because you like it is probably the song that most needs to go. (Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is fond of bringing up this rule for TV scripts, which often run long - the thing you need to cut is probably the one scene that gave you the reason for writing the script in the first place.)
So why is “Harbor from the Storm” vulnerable but not “Katya” or “Grace Abounding,” the other two “surviving” songs? Well, I managed to repurpose both of those songs in a way that pleases me, but “Harbor” remains largely the same - a love song with revolutionary overtones. Of course, it is not simply an “I love you” song, but the melody says “I love you” song, and rhythmically, it comes after “A Certainty Comes,” which is similar in tone and feeling. Therefore, if any part of the play is going to be the part where folks start going to the bathroom, I think “Harbor” is it.
“I love you” songs are usually the most boring parts of a musical. “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” and “Lion King” worked miracles by making the love songs actually UN-boring, but even early Disney movies had go-to-the-bathroom-worthy love songs (”So This is Love,” this means you). The conventional wisdom is that such songs bore because they don’t reveal anything you don’t already know, but in point of fact, most songs don’t, nor should they, since lyrics are harder to glean important information from. Love songs just tend to be slow, express cliches, and insofar as both lovers are singing simultaneously at each other, reek of unreal emotions.
On the other hand, folks seem to like “All I Ask of You” and “As Long As You’re Mine.” Neither of them are bad songs, although they are cliche ridden and the lovers are singing sentiments at each other, so maybe “Harbor” can survive somehow. On the other hand, I don’t think “Harbor” is as strong melodically as either of those two songs, and they both fall in the show after more exciting moments as a sort of release. “Harbor” doesn’t, and I’m not sure that it can.
It’s also just hugely awkward to have the song sung to a Katya who isn’t actually there. I think it doesn’t work, so I want to replace it.
There are a couple of interesting emotions or angles I want to play up with Roman, make him more of a real, live human being you can sympathize with. The path from idealist to murderer is not really all that difficult - “compassion turns to anger turns to hate” and all that. But I want to show that Roman still has at least some of the compassion left in him - he isn’t just all anger. But the paranoia that is at the root of Nationalism Socialism and Communism has already taken strong root, and he is at war with himself. Therefore, I think a darker, more rocking song illuminating Roman’s personal turmoil might just hit the spot, liven up the act, and make Katya’s choice between the two men more wrenching (hopefully).
I’ll let you know if I come up with anything.
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