So You Wanna Write A Musical?

WITH
PETER MELNICK

MODERATED BY ADRYAN RUSS
SCL SongArts LA Committee Chair

THURSDAY, MARCH 18

5:00-6:30pm PT // YouTube Live Stream

Join the SCL for a SongArts program on what it takes to create and bring to life a stage musical. This will be an informative overview from two composers/lyricists who have forged careers in both live musical theater and film.

Peter Melnick received a Drama Desk nomination for his first Off-Broadway musical, Adrift in Macao (book & lyrics by Christopher Durang), in a field that included John Kander, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Duncan Sheik. His other theater collaborations include the Off-Broadway musical, The Last Smoker in America, with Bill Russell, and a musical adaptation of Steve Martin’s one-act play, Patter for the Floating Lady, as well as the Twyla Tharp dance work, Sextet.

Outside the theater milieu, Melnick has written dozens of songs on his own and in collaboration with lyricists including Seidah Garrett, Allee Willis, and Norman Gimbel. He has also contributed scores to more than three dozen film and television projects, including L.A. Story with Steve Martin, The Only Thrill with Diane Keaton and Sam Shepard, Horton Foote’s Convicts, the HBO mini-series Grand Avenue, and the feature-length PBS documentary, Cinema’s Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood.

Melnick grew up in New York City, the product of an extraordinary entertainment family. His father was Daniel Melnick, the film producer responsible for All That Jazz, Altered States, Footloose, Roxanne, and the iconic sit-com, Get Smart. His grandfather was the legendary theater composer Richard Rodgers.

Adryan Russ writes for musical theater, film, TV, and recordings. Her off-Broadway musical Inside Out, for which she wrote the music and co-wrote lyrics with Doug Haverty, played The Cherry Lane in NY, theaters across the U.S. and Europe, and currently runs in Belgrade, Serbia. Other musicals include iGhost, inspired by Oscar Wilde’s legendary tale about the Canterville Ghost; Love Again, a trilogy co-written with Haverty, and a new version of The Ugly Duckling, co-written with Lloyd Schwartz.

Her CD Everyone Has A Story showcases theater/cabaret songs; Changing My Tune features jazz-based new standards co-written with Joel Evans, some of which appear in the films Doubt, Holidate and TV show WandaVision. Australian Discovery Orchestra has selected one of their songs for Broadway Records’ Emerging Musicals of 2021. Luara singing her song “Fire In Me,” and Barry White’s “The Better Love Is, The Worse It Is When It’s Over,” are both generating lots of YouTube views. Adryan is a member of ASCAP, The Dramatists Guild, the Recording Academy, and serves as LA SongArts Chair on the Board of the SCL.

*** IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ ***

– FREE for current SCL members (click HERE to check membership status).

– Registered Attendees will be emailed a YouTube Live Stream link approximately 10 minutes before Seminar starts. The link will be emailed via Eventbrite.

– Attendees may ask questions using the YouTube Livestream chat function. 

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