Silly Wants: An Interview with Shoshana Greenberg

Shoshana Greenberg is a graduate of the NYU Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program and a talented writer/lyricist/bookwriter. In addition to her own writing endeavors, she is also a fellow Thursday blogger for RSO's Crazytown blog, where she curates pieces for the weekly Rough and Ready, a regular feature that debuts a fresh new musical theatre piece created within the last 2 weeks. Shoshana took some time to answer questions about her experiences organizing Rough and Ready, the inspiration for her own work, and putting her projects out there.

("Purple House" with music by Julia Meinwald, lyrics by Kirsten Guenther and Shoshana Greenberg, sung by Manoel Felciano and Lauren Worsham)

Me: How did the idea for Rough and Ready come about?

Shoshana Greenberg: Ryan Scott Oliver, the visionary behind Crazytown, emailed me at the end of December and said he was expanding his blog and would I be interested in doing a weekly post featuring new work written in the last two weeks. Ryan and I were in the same class at NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program, so he knew of my love for new work and writers. The idea of sharing the exciting work coming out of the musical theater writing community on the Blog was very intriguing. I immediately said yes.

Me: What is the process of curating these songs every week?

Shoshana: Sometimes people will submit work and sometimes I solicit people. It depends on what I have ready to go and what might be good for that week. I’m looking to partner with more places as I did with Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA) last month and also to feature work that corresponds more with what’s going on in the theater community at the moment. For example, people who have just had a production announced or a concert or have one coming up.

Me: Have you found anything surprising about being able to feature work that is still relatively new to the world? Do you have any particular favorite featured songs since you started doing the column?

Shoshana: I think what I’ve found surprising, in a good way, is how willing people are to put themselves and their work out there. Everyone is so brave about it, especially with work that is so new. I guess we’re now living in an era with YouTube and our own websites where it’s not a big deal to put new work up all the time, but I’m still surprised and inspired by people’s courage to just put their work out there, to say, “I like my work. It’s good. Check it out.”

It’s really hard to pick a favorite song. I’ve really loved everything I’ve featured. Alex Beech and Karl Michael Johnson’s “Great New England Pumpkin Shoot” was cool because I read that lyric and was very taken with it, but when I heard the recording later, the music just made the lyric sing so beautifully. The songs from Gaby Alter and Itamar Moses’s show Nobody Loves You have been fun to feature as well -- I’m really excited that that piece is getting a production.

Me: You are also a writer/lyricist/bookwriter yourself! What projects are you currently working on, and will any of your work be featured on Rough and Ready in the future?

Shoshana: I just finished the first draft of my first play! I’d written musicals and wanted to expand into playwriting and I finally found the means and courage to do so by taking playwriting classes at Primary Stages ESPA. I’m going to rewrite that first draft in another ESPA class this summer. In the musical theater realm, I am getting ready to rewrite one of my thesis musicals from NYU with my collaborators. We are planning to do a reading at Primary Stages in the fall. Other than that, I have some musical projects in the very early stages with a couple collaborators. I hope something of mine can be featured on Rough and Ready soon!

Channel Surfing

I'm pretty sure that if I went to every new musical theatre show/concert coming up in the next couple of months, I would not only be exhausted but incredibly poor. Not that it wouldn't be worth it -- because there are a ton of great shows coming up (like this one and this one... also, this one... and this one). But while I've been seeing a lot of live theater lately, I also thought it would make for good conversation to point out some other sources for experiencing some new music, whether or not you're in the city.

Many writers have their own Youtube channel, and it's one of the best ways to keep up on their latest works and hear new songs. But there are also a lot of other Youtube channels out there that feature new musical theatre songs sung by incredibly talented people with new interpretations. I thought for this post, I would just share a few of my favorites:

Contemporary Classics is a theatre company that develops and produces contemporary musical theatre. They also post videos on their Youtube channel from their New Voices concerts, which are full of fantastic performers going to town on songs from a slew of new writers. I've posted a few videos on here before, but here are some other great performances:

Keely Avery singing Jonathan Reid Gealt's "No Reason At All":


Christian Duhamel & Jenny Shotwell singing Michael Mahler's "Couldn't You Stay":



Aside from Contemporary Classics, I easily lose all track of time watching videos from New York Theatre Barn, whose videos are the hugest treat if you're looking for fresh new songs. Their Youtube channel is regularly updated with their monthly shows from their D-Lounge. A few worth checking out (though if you want to get sucked in, check out their channel and watch them all):

Alex Brightman singing Kirsten Guenther and Gaby Alter's "Hit Song":


Amy Linden singing Eric March's "Weekend Away":



I've also been a longtime fan of the Urintown Youtube channel, which features performances from UMich's Musical Theatre program. While now there's a lot of varying content on the channel from Andrew Keenan Bolger's blog to episodes of The Battery's Down (which are also worth taking a look at), there are still some great gems from many benefits/concerts, especially The Girly Shows. Oldies but goodies:

Ricki Foss singing Marc Smollin and Kelly Dupuis' "Eduardo":


Cortney Wolfson singing Miller & Tysen's "I Could Go Back":



My last Youtube channel to check out is a recent discovery, but one that's been putting a smile on my face for the past couple of weeks. Alex Newkirk lends his effortless voice to showtune staples, as well as a bunch of newer composers on his Youtube channel.

Here's Alex singing Michael Arden's "Not Afraid":


And here is him singing Sean Grennan and Leah Okimoto's "The Lucky One":



There are, of course, tons of other resources out there. I'll continue to try to blog about them and post them here, but always feel free to share your sources for new music! It's always great to see new talent tackling new material!