Musical Theatre History 101

If you are studying voice for Musical Theatre, it helps to have a little composer history under your "belt."

The reason being that the Musical Theatre world is not that large and if you're out there continually auditioning and improving your skills, then eventually you will run in to or, even better, work with a composer...who was influenced by this guy:

Frank Loesser was the composer of revered works such as Guys and Dolls, The Most Happy Fella, How To Succeed..., Hans Christian Andersen, Where's Charley?, and many popular songs of his time.

Loesser was a monster musician, tortured soul and hitmaker. There are some great books and, thanks principally to his daughter Susan, a remarkably honest documentary on him, but for a little background, check out this link. It's from The Johnny Mercer Foundation and was meant for kids, but it's a quick and cool little read -- http://www.johnnymercerfoundation.org/FrankLoesserLyricNotes.pdf

You can also go to:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/loesser_f.html

And if you really want to take some time:

http://www.frankloesser.com/

What's Your "When....and Then....?"

Ever heard a "Whenandthen-er"?

"Whenandthen-ers" sound like this:

"When I lose 20 pounds, THEN I'll get headshots."

"When I have every song in the universe memorized and perfected, THEN I'll go on auditions."

"When I quit smoking, THEN I'll take voice lessons."

"When I get my teeth fixed..."

"When Pilot Season starts..."

The best "THEN" is the "THEN I'll be happy..."

"When I get that series, THEN I'll be happy."

"When I make my first million, THEN I'll be happy."

"When I get a boyfriend/girlfriend, tour, new car, house, apartment, THEN I'll be happy."

There's no law against being happy right now. There's no credit card for happiness. Happiness is a bill we owe ourselves everyday. It can't be saved up for later. So, practice happiness every minute, every hour, every day. Sometimes you won't be so good at it, but if you practice it constantly, you're bound to get better.

Artistic careers are fluid things.

Artistic growth is like water in a river; it continually flows from the source.

"Whenandthen-ing" dams up the river and puts everything on hold. It's up to us to knock down our own dams and let the river roar.

Be the Mississippi River.

Forget "whenandthen-ing."

Happiness is within this very moment.

Start.