Suggestions

[janus13]

hama--

From what I've seen of your musical so far I am WAY impressed. That's a huge project to take on, but you have a flair and artistry that makes me think you could do it. It's so cool that you're doing your own lyrics and music, because it seems like a lot of musicals these days are just old pop songs recycled and somehow fitted into the storyline. Best, best, best of luck getting it produced.

Now I'm not a professional or anything, but I'm really into musicals and I have a few minor suggestions which you can take seriously or not.

First, make a BIG FAT, PROMINENTLY PLACED LINK in this forum to the home page of the musical. Then those of us who access it right from the Entmoot board don't have to wander around in confusion going, "So hey, where is this musical they're talking about?"

Second, consider the pacing of the story you're telling. Most musicals and plays have a rising action throughout most of the plot, to the eleven o'clock number, and then a sharp falling action at the Finale. I wish I could draw it for you, the diagrams my playwriting teacher used were very helpful in planning scene sequence and rise of action. I know you have a lot of material in the trilogy to get through in a short amount of time, but be careful of having too much happen too early. I mean, Gandalf "dies" in the 2nd or 3rd scene, doesn't he? That's a pretty major climax, and it would be best to give the audience time to adjust to the world you've put them in before killing off a major character. Deaths and/or disappearances early in a musical usually are the catalysts for the rest of the action.

Third, Boromir needs to sing a song before he dies. Characters in musicals ALWAYS sing before they die, otherwise it's a sure sign that they're not really dead. Think about it. Take Les Mis, for instance. Fantine sings "Come to me", she's dead. Eponine sings "A little fall of rain," she's dead. Marius DOESN'T sing at the barricades, he recovers. Javert sings "Who is this man?", he's dead. And Valjean sings the finale, he's dead. Likewise in your musical, Gandalf doesn't sing so he's not really dead. Boromir, on the other hand, is really dead. He seemed to take an abnormally long time to die, anyway, certainly enough time to sing a final song.

Thanks for listening to my suggestions. This is an awesome idea you're putting into motion, keep up the great work!

Oh, and if other people want to continue this thread for their suggestions that would be cool. I wasn't quite sure where to put them, because it seemed like ya didn't have a general suggestions thread already.