I Want song Archives | MusicalWriters.com

How Musicals Make the Most of Time: Montage, Backstory, Memories, and Ticking Clocks

Today’s musicals journey through time with concentrated stories and employ devices like montages, backstory, and ticking clocks to keep audiences engaged.

How Musicals Make the Most of Time – A Conversation with Stephen Schwartz

Carol de Giere and Stephen Schwartz explore how musicals convey time through backstory, memories, and compressed action.

The Wizard and I – The “I Want” Song

The “I Want” song, usually the second number in a show, tells us who the story is about and the thing they’re willing to risk everything to pursue.

Story Design: The 7 Plot Points

The 7 Plot Points are often used in creating narrative structure for novels, films and musicals. Use them to evaluate, refine and polish your script.

Five I Want Songs That Work

As every musical theater writer knows, the “I want” song is central to our craft. The stage may be full of people singing and dancing, but the I Want song tells the audience, “Watch this one. This is the important one. This is the one with the superhuman passion.”

Helping Characters Land Through Song

Audiences need to discover a unique protagonist to whom they can attach themselves and follow as he pursues a powerful goal. The goal is the hook. Pursuing it is what keeps the audience invested in the protagonist and his story.

I Want Songs in Context

One way writers can avoid musical muddle is to write a good I Want piece. The audience needs to know the longings of the central character by having him or her sing about what’s missing in their life. Since we tend to root for a character to get what they want, we become engaged.