Less of a Disaster, Thanks to Seth Rudetsky

The company with Seth Rudetsky and Tony nominee Dick Scanlan. 

No one loves Broadway like Seth Rudetsky loves Broadway. He is one of those icons who just live and breathe the Great White Way. And we love him for it. We were lucky enough two summers back to have him lead a workshop for us so we can  capitalize on the Broadway in Broadway's Next. 

We're happy to say now that he is appearing on Broadway with the show that he co-created Disaster. It opened this week and is getting great reviews. 

Know Your Genre

One of the reasons reviews have been so good is that the creative team behind the show truly understand the genre of disaster movies. That theme of knowing your genre was clear when he sat in our rehearsal. If the show is about Broadway then it's vital to know musical theatre. Seth constantly dropped references to musicals, big players in the industry, and theatre terms when he watched us work. Sure, some of us are huge Broadway nerds and  already knew those references, but many of us come from more of an improv background. We didn't have that kind of theatre knowledge. Having him in the workshop showed us we had some catching up to do, and specifically where the holes were. 

Since then we've had workshops centered around musical theatre composers, listened to many Original Cast Recordings, and worked on projects like the #CutSongsFromTonyNoms to keep us in the know. 

Disaster Musical

Understanding genre has clearly worked for Seth Rudetsky's newest project. On Tuesday night Disaster opened on Broadway. Seth is a performer and co-creator of the show which combines disco music with disaster movies. There are singing nuns, Farrah Fawcett-inspired 'dos, earthquakes, and people stuck inside very cramped spaces. When we asked him how he knew so much about the disaster movie genre he tweeted to us, "I grew up in the 70s!" Charles Ishwerwood of the NY Times said that it provides "a rush of giddy nostalgia." The clothes, the music, the hair: if those elements aren't right then the show falls flat. The show straddles knowing disco songs (it's a jukebox musical) and getting inside that inescapable movie trend of the 70's. 

Getting It Is Irrelevant

What if we throw out references and the audiences don't know them? Do people in Auburn, WA have any idea who Susan Stroman is? Do they know the term eleven o'clock number?  What if Disaster's audiences haven't seen The Towering Inferno. Will it still work?

We insist that, yes, it will. Audiences can tell when someone has a command over something and when they're just shouting out the buzzwords - even in comedy. It reads. 

When the show has theatricality to it, when the references are grounded in authenticity the audience feels it. If they get the joke, great! If not, it's still fun to watch people onstage clearly committing to the subject. They know that what they're seeing is the real deal and that makes for a richer experience.

It's a win/win.  

Tweet Us More

Find out more about  Disaster here. Have you seen it? Tweet at us and tell us how knowing (or not) the references made for a better show. 

 

Successful Tag Line Songs

When we are writing songs on the spot, it is helpful to know song structures. It's sort of like knowing different plays in sports - you may not know how it's going to play out exactly, but you have a framework to follow.

Annie Schiffmann onstage with Bway's NHM

One of the song structures that we work within is a tag line song. Tag line songs bring to mind classic musical theatre songs, songs from the American Songbook, and even blues songs. This structure has worked for over a hundred years and can work when you only have miliseconds to formulate your song. 

The "tag line" or "tag" of a song is a lyric that is repeated in the same place every verse. A tag line song usually has two sections - a verse and a bridge. Often times used in a verse-verse-bridge-verse order. But not always. We'll get to that.

Tag Line Technique #1: Set Up Your Tag Line like a Punch line.

In Broadway's Next we ask the audience to make up titles of songs. Knowing your song title definitely comes in handy since traditionally the tag line is usually the title of the song. Tag lines can happen anywhere in the verse; for the example we're going to use, it will be at the end of the verse. Our example is from a show we did in New York City a few years back. Rob Schiffmann was given the song title "The Day Lindsay Lohan and Winona Ryder Went Shopping."

Think of your verse as four lines (it can be more, but we're keeping it simple). And we know our last line already - that's the tag line. While singing your verse you want your third line to set up a rhyme for the tag line. It's like setting up a punch line for a joke. And, since we do improve comedy most of the time that's exactly what we're doing.

We can see a very clear tag line structure  in the song Rob Schiffmann improvised "The Day Winona Ryder and Lindsay Lohan Went Shopping." Let's take a look at the verse.

Verse 1

Line 1 (sets up a rhyme)

Back in the days so many years AGO. 

Line 2 (answers the rhyme with a joke)

There was a girl who liked to steal things, and another girl who did BLOW.

Line 3 (b - which will rhyme with the tag)

But the law came in and those things the law was STOPPING

Line 4 (b - tag line becomes the punch line to the joke.)

One the day Winona Ryder and Lindsay Lohan went SHOPPING.

You can hear from the audience's reaction that it's satisfying and funny to land the joke there. Your second verse will have the same structure - and since it's a Tag Line, you know what your last line will be and that the preceding line will rhyme with it.

Verse 2

Now a little year later 'Nona tried to see

the life she lied before then in 1983

her career'd gone down the toilet it ahd all just taken a WHOPPING

because of the day Winona Ryder and Lindsay Lohan went SHOPPING

Note: It is possible to do a first line tag (think "Somewhere Over the Rainbow").

Tag Line Technique #2: Make distinct changes in the bridge of the song

After you've done two verses, in a traditional tag line song it's time for a bridge. This is where the melody will change - if your rhythm was faster and more stoccato, now it's time to extend your words out more logato. You can change up your rhyme scheme. You can show a different side of the character, or of the story that is being told. It's a nice diversion, music-wise and preps the audience for the return of the melody they are expecting when the verse comes back around.

This is also an EXCELLENT opportunity for a turn of phrase to occur. If your song title is "Never Together" and in your verses you sing about how you and a lover are never together, the bridge can be the moment when you discover that you were never together - like never in sync with one another - in the first place.

Bridges are GREAT places for experimentation!

Tag Line Technique #3: Use a Melodic Hook to make your song Brain Dead Proof

Sure, rhyme is great and all, but what if your brain is going blank? What if you can't possibly rhyme your tag line? The answer is melody.  A melodic hook happens when the tune has something repeatable and memorable.  When we talk about tag lines, we are talking about lyrical hooks - the words that are consistently repeated at the end of the verse. When we talk about melodic hooks it's the tune that is consistently repeated. By creating a melodic hook in your song, you make it "brain dead proof." If your brain goes dead and you don't have a rhyme, you can hook into the melody that you've created and the audience will still be satisfied because their ears will know what to expect musically.

In Verse 3 of our example Rob Schiffmann doesn't even USE the tag line, but he's established the pattern enough melodically that it's not jarring.

It should be noted that often a tag line song will end after the third verse. "The Day Winona Ryder and Lindsay Lohan Went Shopping" doesn't. If the song were to end here, it would be anticlimactic. Rob knows that the story of the song isn't over, and he continues on until the story is told properly.

Once the story has found it's ending, it's easy to wrap up with the melodic hook and the tag line - and really sell the ending as well.

Check out some more examples

We created a playlist on SoundCloud to give you some more examples of tag line songs that we created on the spot onstage.

Travelogue: Clinton Township and East Lansing, MI

Editor's Note: Once a month we  have a company member sharing experiences of life on the road. This month it's Katie Hammond talking about our recent tours to her home state.]

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I love being from Michigan.  I love calling myself a Michigander, and I love the expression on my New York friends’ faces when I tell them that is what we call ourselves.    

I was so excited to see that we had not one, not two, but THREE shows in Michigan this winter, and was thrilled to be cast on all of them.  I have a really large extended family, and they have always been so supportive of my career path, and have sat thru some of the worst theatrical productions (possibly ever), so being able to invite them to a show I know they’ll love, I know they’ll enjoy AND I know they won’t give me grief over having to sit thru it ten years from now (I’m looking at you Uncle Jake and that God awful “Robert Mitchum…” show I did in Chicago), then I am one happy girl.

I also was excited to do my first Twitter take-over for the Wharton Center.  Social media is a world that confounds me; I don’t understand why some things go viral or why some tweets are or are not considered worthy.  It surprised me though, how stressful it was to tweet as someone else while representing yet another someone else.  If I tweet on my own feed and say something stupid, the 300 people who follow me a) won’t notice and b) won’t be surprised.  If I tweeted something boring from the Wharton Center – so much more was on the line.  Overall I’d give my take-over a B.  Next time I’ll aim for a B+ at least.

Moving on!

My sister is an MSU alumna.  My cousin and his lovely wife now work there, so getting to perform for an East Lansing crowd was awesome.  I have only a handful of memories of the MSU campus – from visiting my sister her freshman year; staying in the dorm, going to see Shakespeare in Love in the student center and eating in the cafeteria – so I was surprised, driving around campus, that I recognized the scenery. That buildings looked familiar.  They say you can’t go home again, but I love doing a show for a town that feels like home.  Getting to perform for family and friends who have never had the opportunity to see what I do – who have for the last ten years listened to me ramble on about improv and musical improv but never seen it, was fantastic. They loved it.

On top of the two delightful shows in East Lansing and Clinton Township, the weekend was filled with lots of Michigan charm. On Friday, Deb and Daniel and I ate a really delicious brunch and had a server who called himself Captain Underpants. That was a choice he made, and another choice to tell us that he prefers to be called that. Only. In. Michigan. On Saturday I went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch and ate so much cheese dip I had trouble zipping my dress on Saturday night.  We went to a Dave and Buster’s and I was reminded how terrible I am at skee ball. 

I already have half a dozen friends and family planning to see our next Michigan show in Flint.  I’m so excited to wear my mitten shirt and delight in overeating and letting my Michigan accent come out loud and proud.

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Follow all of our adventures throughout the country on Instagram! 

In case you were curious how improvisers pass time during layovers at the airport… @pat.swearingen.6 gives us a great example. #broadwaysnexthitmusical #comedy #improvisation #improvcomedy #riverstyx

We loved performing in Augusta, GA a few weeks ago! Did you see this show? #broadwaysnexthitmusical #musicalimprov #improvcomedy #improv #augusta #cheese

@heidsg and @pat.swearingen.6 play a girl scout and boy scout running a covert cookie operation in this improv scene at @54below. Sometimes, you just can’t find the words…

Here’s a little clip from our show in Augusta, GA. @robschiffmann improvised this song on the spot from the song title “Is This Cheese?” Rob’s character is a food critic who forgets what food is after a traumatic head injury. #improv #improvisation #cheese #charcuterie #musicaltheatre #broadwaysnexthitmusical #musicalimprov

Check out #NYT article on our friend #cabaret #legend Marilyn Mae. Coming soon to #carnagiehall! #NYC #improv #phonyawards

#Repost @ky2stl2oh: “Excited to see @broadwaysnexthitmusical at the legendary @54below”

Did you know? Sunday's special BNHM guest, @aneesafolds, is part of the Special Tony Award-winning cast of @freestylelovesupreme! ...Should we break it to her that we are also award winners? Phony Award winners? 📸: The New York Times

This Sunday’s special BNHM guest, @aneesafolds, is no stranger to the stage! You’ve likely seen her in @freestylelovesupreme on Broadway and beyond, as she has performed alongside the likes of @tarikrdavis, @lin_manuel, and @jmiglehart. We’re honored to take the stage with the unforgettable Aneesa Folds on Sunday! Don’t miss this unique, once-in-a-lifetime, fully improvised night at @54below. 📸: @joanmarcus

Producer Spotlight: Time To Listen

[Editor's Note: Once a month we have a producer or artistic director take you behind the scenes, into the rehearsal process, and backstage to illuminate more the of Broadway's Next Hit Musical process. This month it's co-artistic director, co-producer, and cast member Rob Schiffmann]

Rob Schiffmann leading rehearsal for Broadway's Next

There is a moment when your scene has achieved its narrative goal: the musician has begun to underscore with music that supports the current tone of the scene, the dialogue ceases and we are all aware that it is time to sing. This moment is a pivotal one in which you must make deep and profound choices as an improviser that will effect the success of your song, your narrative, your show and perhaps, your entire life! (Okay, maybe not that last bit.)

It is so tempting in that moment to start the process of idea generation. You ask yourself what is this song about, what shall I sing about, what structure of song should I attempt? All of these questions - and many more like them - are natural questions to ask. You are in a situation that seemingly demands creativity. People have (most likely) paid to see your show and there is a feeling that they have come with the expectation that you are going to entertain them and make them laugh. I do not agree with this.

In fact, they have come to see you - whether you know it or not - to see if you are really willing to put yourself on the tight rope. And for how long are you willing to stay up there.

And so, the questions you are asking yourself are the wrong ones. These questions beg for a safety net.

If I know what my song is about, I can easily sing it. If I know what my first line is going to be, I can easily follow it up. If I know what structure to fit into, I can easily adapt to that.

The problem with all of these statements is that they take away the essence of improvisation: discovery. You MUST be in a place where you are discovering choices AS THEY HAPPEN and then realizing the ramifications of those choices in the moments they happen as well. It's a moment to moment thing. You use your technique NOT to preselect these choices but to see them as they are happening. Then to recognize them for what they are. Then, potentially nudge them into whatever structure, story, or lyric they suggest.

So, the next time that you find yourself in that moment when your scene has achieved its narrative goal, the musician has begun to underscore with music that supports the current tone of the scene, the dialogue ceases and you are well aware that it is time to sing - quiet your mind.  Instead of making choices, quiet your mind.

Do what we were all designed to do in this tricky little moment: TRULY LISTEN!

Rob in Broadway's Next Hit Musical