Creating a Scene - Musically

Last night at the exceptional "Broadway by the Year" salute to shows from 1947, Marc Kudisch delivered a sumptuous rendition of "A Fellow Needs a Girl" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Allegro. Also from that show during the concert at Town Hall last night, "The Gentleman is a Dope" and "So Far."

After the concert, I began thinking about a book that has been sitting on my shelf for a while: a relatively new release from Applause Theater & Cinema Books – "Musical Scene Study: The Musicals of Rodgers & Hammerstein." This tome, compiled and edited by Tom Briggs, contains the music for 29 R&H songs in addition to the dialogue that precedes each one. From Allegro, you find both "Fellow" and the musical's title song. Of course, these are rarities from the team. Not to worry – there are some of the most famous R&H songs and moments in "Study" as well. For instance, the scene between Curly and Jud that leads in to "Pore Jud is Dead" in Oklahoma!and the moment on the beach where Billy Bigelow and Julie Jordan sing "If I Loved You" in Carousel are both included.

It's really a very handsome cross-section of scene and song styles with varying tones – perfect for young performers who want to understand not only what it takes to sing these great songs, but also what is necessary to lead into them naturally when performing them in the context of the show itself.

For acting coaches and teachers, there is a table of contents that breaks down the character requirements for each of the selections, and before each scene, a brief paragraph of notes from Briggs helps to contextualize the dialogue that leads into the songs.

For years, scene study books have been available for plays – I really hope that Applause plans to continue this as a series. Scene study books for songs from writers like Kander and Ebb, Stephen Sondheim and Frank Loesser all seem natural choices for a niche that has long been overlooked.

QUICK LINK:

Applause Books: http://www.applausepub.com/