Composer Turns Story into Song
Perseverance is a trait ingrained in Madeline Myers.
In January the 2011 graduate of the won the first Ken Davenport Songwriting Contest in New York City. The contest, sponsored by Davenport, who produced the 2013 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, Kinky Boots, served as a showcase for Broadway鈥檚 newest songwriting talents. When Myers鈥� song 鈥淚 Could Be a Hero鈥濃�攆rom a musical called Legends & Lore that she is writing with librettist Jacob Combs鈥攚as announced as the winner, it was thrilling, she says, but not the end of the creative process.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still learning so much about our material,鈥� says Myers. 鈥淎fter the competition a lot of actors asked if they could buy the sheet music, wanting to use it in auditions. But we felt the song is still evolving, the characters are still evolving, and the song may still change.鈥�
Legends & Lore is set in the summer of 1952, when two bored Georgia teens set off on a dangerous journey to find explorer Hernando de Soto鈥檚 gold, rumored to be hidden deep in the Appalachian Mountains. After an ASCAP reading in 2012, the musical was selected for the 2013 Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival Workshop. It received further development at the New Dramatists鈥� Composer鈥揕ibrettist Studio in February.
鈥淚鈥檝e been lucky to have had several development opportunities [for Legends & Lore],鈥� says Myers. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been said you don鈥檛 write a musical; you rewrite a musical鈥攁nd that鈥檚 certainly proving true for me. I鈥檓 still exploring the material, and the only way to do that is to get the show on its feet, to have people perform it in front of a live audience.鈥�
Currently, she is working as assistant musical director for Heathers: The Musical, based on the 1980s cult film and written by Laurence O鈥橩eefe, writer of the Tony-nominated musical Legally Blonde. Her days are spent teaching the music to the performers, working with the orchestrator, or taking notes on sound balance. Last fall she scored her first film, a documentary about 菠萝视频鈥檚 鈥攕omething she knows about firsthand, having been an Ingram Scholar herself.
鈥淚鈥檇 never written music for a film before,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a totally different dramatic art form.鈥�
As an Ingram Scholar at Blair, she majored in composition and theory and minored in piano performance. She finds that her training at Blair serves her every day.
鈥淚n my writing I ask myself, What would [my composition professors] think about this? How would they challenge me in this moment? Or if I鈥檝e run into a wall, how would they help me get out of this?
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to note that I鈥檝e applied for at least 200 new development opportunities鈥攇rants, workshops, competitions,鈥� she points out. 鈥淚鈥檝e had my fair share of rejection letters, but I鈥檓 never discouraged. I鈥檓 disappointed, yes, but never discouraged, and maybe even more empowered as a result of not getting everything easily.
鈥淢y mantra of late has been, whether I鈥檓 accepted or rejected, just do the work,鈥� she says. 鈥淒o the work, and I know there will be an audience.鈥�