Traditionally, there are two key ways for high schools to find and select musicals to license for their drama programs. The first is to select a classic title from the musical theatre canon. These titles are tried and true, with vetted content and songs that have become part of the American songbook. The second way is to select a contemporary Broadway musical, await the completion of its national
tour, wait out market blackouts while professional regional theatres produce it, and then hope that content will be suitable for your community and approved by your school's administration. In 2013, The Pop Musicals Collection was developed to provide a third viable option to drama teachers around the world. A Pop Musical contains the following:
* Beloved songs from the pop-music songbook, arranged by musical theatre artists to fit seamlessly into the book. Songs are re-imagined as duets, patter songs, medleys/mashups, production numbers - all in service of telling and moving forward a story.
*Content that will pass muster with any school administration. These musicals come pre-vetted by drama teachers and administrators around the country.
*Large casts, with many parts for girls, few adult roles, and most expandable to suit the needs of any program.
*Classic tales are retold, yet set in a high school universe, featuring age-appropriate characters.
*Materials to assist in your production. Show logos, accompaniment tracks, vocal reference recordings, director notes and more to help make your production a success. Our goal is to complement the existing musical theatre canon by creating fresh and exciting new pieces to be produced alongside the classics. We also strive to make our titles universally available (no declined license requests) and to remove any other known barriers to a successful production. Our Development Process
The development process for Pop Musicals is about a yearlong endeavor. Once a draft book has been written and selected songs have been arranged, we produce a presentation at 54 Below in New York City for the theatrical industry to attend. This is a piano-driven workshop presentation with Broadway actors at music stands. This allows us to see what we have and to make adjustments prior to having the show read and sung by students. We then select one of our partner schools or community group to hold a workshop. Also piano-driven and also on-book, it allows us to make adjustments to the book, and transpose the songs into the correct keys for younger voices. From this workshop, we reach out to two or three of our school or community group partners to mount a pilot production at their schools. This is a fully realized production with draft orchestrations, which our creative team will attend to see the show up on its feet. After the pilots are completed, the creative team makes final adjustments to the book, the vocal score and the orchestrations and then locks the materials and allows the musical to be licensed to all interested schools around the world.
