I think I saw Brain's auditions listed as July 17. I don't see Such Good Friends' auditions listed anywhere, and this makes me nervous.
The massive revisions continue apace. And, it seems, I need to take a moment to say goodbye to a few songs:
"A Song That Shows Range" was the funniest song in the show, but it was always kind of shoe-horned in there. Can't give the leading lady three big solos in a row. And the song is a lie. She's good reason to lie, but one can't be certain the audience will understand it's a lie. R.I.P.
"My Dad" was the catchiest song in the show, and, rare for me, related to a childhood experience of mine. It was a duet for two twelve-year-old boys, but, it seems, the story is better served without two boys, so they and their duet are gone.
"A Cat May Look at a King" was the shortest song in the show. And yet, not worth the time it took to sing it.
"Magic Time" was the prettiest song in the show. Twinkly, like Twilight Time, with Ellington-esque jazz harmonies and a very specific lyric about the love of performing. Show, don't tell. It and its reprise, vamoose.
"The Day That You Return" was the period (WW2) love song the audience might have remembered fondly. If they'd heard it. I was going to have a newsreel announcer speak over it. He's still in; the song ain't.
"Grown-Ups," the most moving song in the show, I rewrote about five times. Never got it right. A father singing to his son seemed a potent idea, but it makes the son static, and plot changes have removed the reason for singing it in the first place. A swing and a miss.
The "My Dad" reprise, sung by the heel, is going to be replaced with a title song reprise, sung by the hero.
"A Lovely Day for a Stroll" may be re-tooled into a male duet. It involved a wronged man, his family, and the community at large. We no longer have his family, and the cast size is too small to present that community. I always worried that going from a Cmaj7 to an F7 didn't sound 1950s enough. Have to pull the plug on this one.
"Jolly Little Song" was the tune no one could get out of their head. But they wanted to. Boy, did they want to.
"Things That Danny Did" was a legitimate comedy song coming in the midst of a tragic situation. Writing this, last fall, was like making that last reach that leads you to the top of the mountain. Helped me finish the draft that so many people have flipped over. I'll miss it.
And, finally, the "Finale" was always too explicit and didactic. I obviously stole the final image from Camelot, but without those boys, I'll have to come up with something different.
Goodbye, good songs. At moments like these, it's helpful to remember that Jones & Schmidt wrote over 100 songs for 110 in the Shade. And they're good: We know this because BK recorded a lot of them for the Lost In Boston series.
