Research Project

This is a blog for my final research project at University

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HI YOU 🖤👋🏻

Yes, you. 

I see you trying to skim read over this blog. 

Well, stop. Because this will be one of the best things, you will have the pleasure of reading today. 

But first, let me introduce myself. 

I am Karah, 21 years old, and my star sign is Aquarius. 

I am a final year Theatre and Drama student at university.

This blog goes towards my final project for university. In this blog, I get to explore two powerful passions of mine, and I hope you enjoy it.

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I am writing a blog about detailed research into a practitioner or company who has inspired me and whose work I can apply to my final project. 

In this blog, I will explain and explore how the work and inspiration of Stephen Sondheim will help me produce a musical based on the novel and film of Perks of being a Wallflower.

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An introduction to the work and working methods of the practitioner or company of my choice: 

Stephen Sondheim

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Sondheim was a New York-born and raised American composer and lyricist whose talent was able to redefine what we now know as musical theatre. 

Born on 22nd March 1930, Sondheim started his scriptwriting during the 50s for a Hollywood television series, Topper, while he lived in Los Angeles. He later wrote the music for the play The Girls of Summer (1956). 

However, it wasn’t until 1957 when his first significant impact on Broadway daubed - West Side Story. Making him just 27 years old when he created his first Broadway musical.

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Stephen Sondheim was one of the world's most renowned musical writers of our time. After Sondheim had contributed lyrics to "Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965).

 He went on to focus solely on shows that he wrote both the lyrics and music. Some of his more well-known shows are:

Saturday Night (1954)

Company (1970)

Sweeney Todd (1979)

Into The Woods (1987)

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When Sondheim returned to New York, he was put into contact with composer Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins. 

They just so happened to be looking for a lyricist for a contemporary musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. 

This would become one of Sondheim's most successful Broadway productions.

West Side Story

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In his life, Sondheim received eight Tony Awards, which is the current record for a composer and won eight Grammy Awards.

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In all of Sondheim’s productions, his characters were people on the margins with a fierce longing to be centre stage. All of their desires are profound, if not always straightforward. 

Before Sondheim was on the musical and Broadway scene, musicals were all very upfront and not very complex. All characters would wear their hearts on their sleeves, i.e. “singing in the rain”, “I hate men”. 

Sondheim was able to introduce this new genre to revolutionise subtext. In the mid 20th century, characters by innovation was not a boat everyone was ready to jump on. 

His work would often irritate or annoy audiences suggesting that his work would talk about his lack of “hummable” songs. In the case of John Lahr- accuse him of killing the animated, old-fashion musical. Many started to accuse Sondheim of his music being about himself and his sexuality. 

Sondheim insisted to his long-time friend Frank Rich his songs have “nothing to do” with him and are actually instead fully realised outpourings of fictional characters.

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Sondheim on technique

The use of technique is something that Sondheim is a big stickler for. “Sheepshearing: I want to know exactly how you take the wool off. I love the technique” – of art in particular, but anything of craftwork. 

He was fascinated by how people could just figure out how to do things. But the main point is that of any art, it is over a thousand little decisions you make. And that is called technique, “the principle behind the decisions.”

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When Sondheim is writing songs, there are processes that he goes through to create music or lyrics. 

“Where are songs Helpful?” “Where are they possible but unnecessary?

He would always try to write a necessary song. It is essential to keep the pace going because “I think an audience sense when songs are merely reiterating what you already know or when they’re ahead of you” (Sondheim). 

His methods would be to routine them and then try to do them chronologically. This was because you will often want to write something, then pick up the musical theme or even the lyrical theme and use it later on.

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I think any good musical starts with the book, the libretto, the idea, the story, the characters

Stephen Sondheim 

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“I can’t work on anything until I’ve discussed for weeks and sometimes months with my collaborator what the story is, why is music needed, why is music intrinsic as opposed to decorative, and what will music do to the story”

Stephen Sondheim 

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Unfortunately, we lost Stephen Sondheim on 26th November 2021. He passed away at the old age of 91. He was a Broadway history songwriting titan whose lyrics and music raised and reset the artistic standard for the American stage musical.

Sondheim was only 27 years old when he produced West Side Story, and it premiered on Broadway. 

This man has been one of my inspirations since I was young. His death shattered my heart, along with many others. He produced such fantastic work, and I am honoured to be using his working theory in my own work today.

Rest in peace Stephen Sondheim.

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My next post will be an explanation of how and why I plan to use the above as the basis for my own working process, and what I intend to achieve throughout this process. 

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For my practical one assessment, I will be working in a group to adapt a book into a musical. 

The book that we have decided to adopt is a book by Stephen Chbosky called the Perks of being a Wallflower. This book follows the story of a socially awkward teen, Charlie, who is a "wallflower"- always watching life from the sidelines. Until two charismatic students become his mentors and friends. Free-spirited Sam and her stepbrother Patrick help Charlie discover the joys of friendship, first love, music, etc. While a teacher sparks Charlie's dreams of becoming a writer. The new friends are all preparing to leave for college, leading to Charlie's inner sadness threatening to shatter his newfound confidence. This book is a coming-of-age story; however, it is one of the most open and honest comings of age stories in a long time. 

It deals with mental health, which many coming of age stories hide behind. This gives young people who could be feeling the same way an outlet. This book is something that everyone in my group has a connection with. Whether it be on the level of relating personally to the story or just simply loving the booking from a younger age. 

We all have a strong passion for musicals and creating musicals. Therefore, we knew that we wanted to use Sondheim's working methods and a practitioner to follow.

We want to be able to tell a story through the music and lyrics. We do not want it to stop-start music that cuts away from the narrative to put a song in a random spot. Sondheim reinvented the way we use music and lyrics in musicals. He used music and lyrics to continue a narrative and move the story along in a way that had not been done before. Therefore, making him perfect for us to use. 

We will take the instrumental music from the film adaptation as our music for our production. However, we will be creating our own lyrics. The use of this music should help us create much more of a natural flow within the musical. Making a much more natural start to a song and end to a piece. Sondheim liked to create a collection of songs that have some kind of unity, not just in tone but in both musically and lyrical ideas. Sondheim thinks it makes for a tighter, more absorbing evening.

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Sondheim's musical "Sweeny Todd" is a perfect example of this. The utilisation of themes repeatedly but developed, not repeating. 

For example, you hear the song Joanna when we first met her. You hear musical riffs. It is not until we have Anthony sing to Johanna that we hear the whole song musically develop. It is never repeating the music. It incorporates sections mixed in with scene and emotional settings, helping to show the audience what they should be feeling and who they should be thinking about.

This is how we want our piece to go. In Perks of being a Wallflower, the book starts each section with Charlie writing a letter entitled "Dear Friend". We want to write a song for "Dear Friend" and have reprises of the song throughout the show. This will show Charlie's battle with his inner self as the story develops and how Charlie's mental health starts to go downhill fast.

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My next post to follow, it will show a plan of work for my project. 

It will include a detailed plan for working and exercises or tasks that we will be completing throughout production. 

This is also our production schedule.