As we go through life, we get a pretty clear picture of the things we like to do, things we have to do and will do, and the things we really dislike doing and put them off as long as possible.

          I have hit that stage.  It has become as clear as crystal that I enjoy writing musicals.  I can stick to it for hours on end developing the ideas and bringing them to life.  But after they have been launched, I really have a hard time going back to edit and re-edit and re-read and then go through with a fine-toothed comb and re-edit again.  Even when I had grown to love the characters and their worlds, revisiting them for long stretches, cleaning up and refining the scripts and scores is tedious and meticulous work.  No wonder I have put off this job for so long!!!

          I have been redoing my web pages so that all of my music and Musical plays' Scripts and Piano/Vocal Scores and recordings can be had for immediate digital download at SMP Press.  (They even gave me my own Composer Landing Page with a Biography and everything.) That online catalogue has a very broad, worldwide audience so this move just makes sense.  But it also means going through every show to structure the Director's Scripts and Piano/Vocal Scores and Production Kits in a way that would be user friendly.  One show in particular has been a big job.  I had written the music for this show at the computer and away from the piano.  So, it had no Piano/Vocal Score.  Most shows I make sketches for at the piano, but this score called for exotic sounds that did not translate well to piano, so I just wrote it using the host of interesting instrumental sounds available on my notation software.  For those of us that do not have access to a "pocket orchestra" this is the next best thing.

          Working with older files that have to be converted and brought up to date with new software is also a pain.  You end up with multiple copies of everything and have to remember how you relabeled the latest version so that you don't waste time trying to find the file you were last working on.  Gotta love technology --- but it can be so frustrating!!!!!!!  And talk about the learning curve just to keep up with the latest software updates!  (%#*%#^*%^##!)  And just when you think you have the final edits just right, you go back through and find that you have miss-numbered the pages!  Aaaaagh!!!!!!!!

          Last week I simply had to take a break.  I turned on a murder mystery movie and sat and crocheted an afghan.   Yeah.  I needed that.

        The first time I went to see Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" - the animated film - I was so disappointed.  Not that the film was not beautifully drawn or that the characters were not engaging or that the music was not wonderful.  I was disappointed because the main character did not get her own solo song.  I wanted Belle to have a solo like Ariel got to sing in "The Little Mermaid."  Every other Disney princess had their own song, why not Belle?  My own voice students plus every girl that I accompanied for at auditions, it seemed, wanted to sing the latest Disney princess song.  That's what made the animated movie a bit of a disappointment.

             Well, apparently, that was not the original vision from the composers Alan Menken  and Howard Ashman, either. As I heard them say in an interview once, they said that at the time (1991) that Animation was the last best place to write Musical Theater.  In fact, they wrote "stage musicals for film."  As a team, Menken and Ashman were based on Broadway.  Yet they were tapped by Disney to write for the animated movies.  But still, their concepts and ideas were firmly rooted in stage theatricals. A cardinal rule for stage musicals is to give the main character a solo song at a point in the first act where the audience gets to hear the character's thoughts and emotions. This allows the audience a chance to learn to care for that character.  And that was exactly what was missing in the movie!  But animated Disney films had to stick to a finite, short length, so no solo song for Belle.

               Gladly, the stage show was later produced on Broadway and opened with more songs that explored the characters in depth and explained a lot of things.  All in all, it is a much more satisfying bit of storytelling.  The expanded version of "Beauty and the Beast" has solo songs for Belle, Beast and Gaston that give motivation and development to those characters.  And the servant's song "Human Again" explains a lot about the enchanted knick-knack characters that is never explained in the movie version.  Much, much improved storytelling!

                I recently saw Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" performed in theater-in-the-round.  This was done in an extremely tiny theater with a very small cast, but oh, how imaginatively produced.  It was exceptional!  So colorful and delightful!  I was worried that I would miss the lavishness of seeing a full Broadway show done on a large stage with that special Disney "magic."  Well, I am happy to say that the show is so well-written, that I did not miss the hugeness of other productions.  This show was done in an intimate style and relied on the few actor's superb characterizations and wonderful use of imaginative costuming instead of large sets, pyrotechnics and overwhelming numbers of cast members.  All in all, it was back to basics, but great use of those essentials.  I loved that show!  The stage production of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast"  (in most any production) is by far a more satisfying experience in storytelling than the animated movie.