SYLVIA
Music by Lawrence Goldberg
Book & lyrics by Jack Lechner
Based on the play by A.R. Gurney
I met Jack Lechner in the BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop in 2001. We were mutually attracted to each other's work during the year, and chose to write our year-end project together, a 15-minute version of A.R. Gurney's popular play Sylvia, about a husband who brings home a stray dog who communicates rather articulately. It's tough to boil a full-length play down to only 15 minutes, but I think we managed to keep the spirit and essence of the play, freely borrowing Gurney's language and telescoping events madly. The result is a musical love-letter to dog-ownership, one that resonates deeply for me in that I adopted my own dog Gunther the same year we wrote the piece. Fantastic performances from Melissa Bell Chait (Sylvia), Don Richard (Greg), Alice Lynn (Kate) and Charlie Marcus (Tom). (WARNING: Contains strong language!)
(All material © 2002 by Lawrence Goldberg & Jack Lechner)
Music by Lawrence Goldberg
Book & lyrics by Jack Lechner
Based on the play by A.R. Gurney
I met Jack Lechner in the BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop in 2001. We were mutually attracted to each other's work during the year, and chose to write our year-end project together, a 15-minute version of A.R. Gurney's popular play Sylvia, about a husband who brings home a stray dog who communicates rather articulately. It's tough to boil a full-length play down to only 15 minutes, but I think we managed to keep the spirit and essence of the play, freely borrowing Gurney's language and telescoping events madly. The result is a musical love-letter to dog-ownership, one that resonates deeply for me in that I adopted my own dog Gunther the same year we wrote the piece. Fantastic performances from Melissa Bell Chait (Sylvia), Don Richard (Greg), Alice Lynn (Kate) and Charlie Marcus (Tom). (WARNING: Contains strong language!)
(All material © 2002 by Lawrence Goldberg & Jack Lechner)
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Opening (Look at Her) D. Richard, M. Chait, A. Lynn
Our version of Sylvia is rather self-explanatory, as 15 minutes leaves very little time for book scenes. In the Opening, Greg brings Sylvia home to an unsuspecting Kate. |
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That Dog D. Richard, C. Marcus, M. Chait, A. Lynn
Fun at the dog park, while Kate complains to a friend on the phone. (Contains strong language!) |
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I've Got to Let You Go D. Richard, M. Chait
Kate has given Greg an ultimatum: it's her or the dog. Sylvia doesn't like the consequences. After we agreed on a title, I wrote the whole melody without lyrics. Practically the entire tune is built out of 6-note phrases that would comfortably match the title syllables, so Jack had to figure out where the title would fall. (He chose the obvious place-- the end of each stanza!) Jack did a brilliant job with a surprisingly intricate rhyme scheme while still making very compact sense of the moment. I also like the way we control the sentimentality with a comedy chaser. This is one of my favorite pieces of music that I've written, and I've recycled the tune in my "Elegy for Cello and Piano". Also, both Jack and I have written alternate lyrics that make the song play more generally outside the context of the story. |
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Otherwise/Epilogue M.Chait, D. Richard, A. Lynn
Sylvia argues her case and Kate gives in, because dogs have a way of winning you over. In the Epilogue, I manage to bring back the themes from all three prior songs, tying the whole thing into a nice cohesive package. (Contains strong language!) |