Far From the Home I Love: An Analysis

Peter Hilliard analyzes Far From the Home I Love from Fiddler on the Roof. Some great insights here that both singers and coaches can utilize.




Peter's blog Music Directing the School Musical has a lot of info about what you need to know when taking the reins as music director.

Infographic: The Costs and Returns of the World's Theater Business

Have you ever wondered just how much a successful Broadway show can make in a given week? This infographic lays out the stakes for the global theater business in places such as New York, Las Vegas, and London. Risky, but with lots of potential and plenty of jobs for those in the arts when a show hits its stride.


Infographic by: bestshowticketslasvegas.com

Stealing from Jason Robert Brown

Earlier this summer, musical theater composer Jason Robert Brown discovered that people were illegally offering his sheet music for downloads, so he engaged one of the downloaders in conversation via email and posted it on his blog. He wraps up his main argument most eloquently:

I'm sorry if you still think I'm a jerk, but what I'm talking about here is not "insignificant." The entire record business is in free-fall because people no longer feel the moral responsibility to buy music; they just download it for free from the Internet, from YouTube, from their friends. When I make a cast album or a CD of my own, I do it knowing that it will never earn its money back, that I'm essentially throwing that money away so that I can put those songs out in the world. That shouldn't be the case, and I suspect in your heart you believe that too. All of us who write music for the theater are very much concerned that the sheet music business will eventually go the same way as the record business. I'm doing my little part to keep that from happening.

The wild free-for-all in the comments is also worth a look. Congrats to Jason Robert Brown for standing up for his right to make an honest buck selling his first-rate music. I've always been a fan of JRB's music, especially Songs for a New World, The Last Five Years, 13: The Musical, and Parade (BTW those are links to legal copies of his music).

(Via Piano Addict)

Musical Theater vs. Opera

Patricia Causey's Musical Theater Talk on BlogTalkRadio looks at current issues relevant to the musical theater world. Her April 16 episode, Musical Theater vs. Opera - Double-dipping Between the Two is particularly interesting, with differing views on whether opera and musical theater styles are converging or moving apart. Running time is around 1 hour 30 minutes.

[Update: I've deleted the embedded BlogTalkRadio widget, which is set to play automatically and might end up becoming irritating after a while. Click on the link above for the program.]

Follow-up Regarding Musical Theater CP Programs and Training

I've been receiving a few requests for information about musical theater programs for collaborative pianists. In the comments of my Degree Programs posting, I received the following from an anonymous reader:

someone asked about a musical theater accompanying degree program... i am very interested in musical theater accompanying as well and wanted to share how i've gotten my fill of it in school. i got my mm at university of michigan and am now getting my dma... they have a big MT department and i was able to work with some of the pianists in it. i took a year long seminar on problems one might encounter in the MT world (arranging, transposing, realizing better accompaniments than the printed ones, and a repertoire study) with a pianist on the faculty, then later played for one of their shows with another pianist/conductor. they also offered to let me accompany dance classes and rehearsals for that experience. if someone is interested in that line of work, i suggest that you look for a school with a good MT department like michigan, cincinnati, etc, and just make yourself available to the department. often, MT departments are hurting for good pianists... although, i've found keeping up my classical studies as well keeps me enriched. later in my life, i would be interested in teaching the MT side of collaborative piano.

Thanks for your story, anonymous commenter. The opera and musical theater sides of the coaching/repetiteur career track can often seem to be mutually exclusive, and I don't presume to know the ins and outs of building a career in musical theater. I'm glad there are programs and apprenticeships at places like Michigan and Cinncinnati that can help develop the next wave of musical theater pianists.