Found this old article today from 2003 on The New York Times website about Adam Guettel. It's a fascinating look into a family that is easily considered musical theatre royalty and the complications of creating art with that kind of legacy looming over your head. Adam Guettel is quite accomplished in his own right with The Light in the Piazza and other shows like Floyd Collins under his belt. But this article is a great look at one artist's journey through creating those pieces and the possibilities and pitfalls of talent and privilege. I thought the article was a nice little gem to dig up. Happy reading!
"Envious souls, which is to say most everyone involved in the theater, might be glad to find this apparently superfortunate human reduced to weird marionette behaviors. And Guettel is a test of your tolerance: how talented, charming, wealthy and 'maddeningly good-looking' (as his mother puts it) is it fair for one person to be? Among all the young composers working so hard (and so much more prolifically) to make a moribund art form sing, why is it Guettel who is dubbed the musical theater's crown prince and savior? That he is the most accomplished composer among them -- the most interesting lyricist too -- only makes it worse. That 'Piazza' is such a brilliant property for musicalization is also galling. People are envious of Guettel not just because he gets the acclaim, but also because he deserves it." -- Jesse Green, The New York Times
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