I chat with the composer, lyricist, and librettist Douglas J. Cohen about his book, How to Survive a Killer Musical: Agony and Ecstasy on the Road to Broadway.
Here’s what Amazon.com says: “The book chronicles Cohen’s decade-long quest to bring his musical No Way to Treat a Lady to the stage—writing, re-writing, and shepherding it across the US and Europe amidst all manner of adversity and plain rotten luck. It’s a fascinating portrait of passion, persistence, and resilience—a coming-of-age story populated with famous mentors and formidable adversaries, told with refreshing honesty and humor.”
FROM AMAZON.COM:
When the young composer-lyricist Douglas Cohen first secured the musical rights to the novel No Way to Treat a Lady by William Goldman—the acclaimed author of The Princess Bride and Marathon Man—he hoped it would be his big break, the first step on a gilt path to artistic triumph and commercial success in the form of a hit Broadway musical.
What happened after that, while memorable, was anything but.
How to Survive a Killer Musical chronicles Cohen’s decade-long quest to bring that musical to the stage—writing, re-writing, and shepherding it across the US and Europe amidst all manner of adversity and plain rotten luck. It’s a fascinating portrait of passion, persistence, and resilience—a coming-of-age story populated with famous mentors and formidable adversaries, told with refreshing honesty and humor.
On Cohen’s journey, we meet an unforgettable, vividly rendered cast of characters, including: an Oscar-winning screenwriter who invites Cohen to his personal screening room for a marathon midnight writing session; a Tony Award-winning director making his comeback after a horrific accident renders him a quadriplegic; and a celebrated, volatile British director who inspires a fruitful collaboration in London, only to later leave carnage in his wake. Catastrophes abound, including the near-fatal stabbing of a female lead in rehearsal and an onstage accident incapacitating another leading lady—leaving only the author to go on in her place!
Whether you’re a fan of musicals or just someone who’s trying to bring a passion project into the world, this tale of fortitude in the face of obstacles, personalities, and egos will make for an eye-opening and frequently hilarious journey.
photographer, Laura Marie Duncan
ABOUT DOUGLAS J. COHEN:
Doug received the 2010 Fred Ebb Award for Musical Theatre Songwriting and won two Richard Rodgers Awards for writing book, music, and lyrics for NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY (produced twice off-Broadway resulting in over 100 productions worldwide; an upcoming NY commercial production in-the-works through producer Larry Hirschhorn) and THE GIG (O’Neill National Music Theatre Conference, Manhattan Theatre Club Stage II, Goodspeed, York Theatre Company concert on CD and reading in conjunction with the Noël Coward Prize, and Sacramento Music Circus). Doug is the composer/lyricist of THE BIG TIME (book by Douglas Carter Beane) which debuted at the NYMF Festival; plans are underway for a Broadway-bound production. Nominated for a 2005 Drama Desk Award (Outstanding Lyrics, CHILDREN’S LETTERS TO GOD), he penned co-book, music, and lyrics for THE OPPOSITE OF SEX (Williamstown Theatre Festival) and received a Jonathan Larson Grant for composing BARNSTORMER, which has recently been optioned for New York by producer Lawrence Poster. Doug is the composer of GLIMMERGLASS (NAMT Conference 2000, readings through the Village Theatre and Melting Pot, productions at Goodspeed at Chester, Spirit of Broadway – Best Production of 2008) and A CHARLES DICKENS CHRISTMAS (produced by Theatreworks/USA and licensed through MTI). He also penned book and lyrics to VALENTINO’S TANGO (with music by Howard Marren, choreographed/directed by Chet Walker) and contributed original songs to JACKIE COLLINS’ HOLLYWOOD LIES, and BOOZY (Robert Moses), the latter produced by Les Freres Corbusier and directed by Tony nominee Alex Timbers, which enjoyed runs at both the Ohio Theatre and Culture Project.
His latest musicals are NINE WIVES with collaborator Dan Elish (which has been optioned by producers Larry Hirschhorn and Jayson Raitt and selected for the 2013 Goodspeed Festival of New Artists) HELEN OF TROY written with future West End lyricist/ playwright Zoe Samuel and workshopped at Coastal Carolina University, and BRIDGES, commissioned by The Berkeley Playhouse written with BARNSTORMER collaborator, Cheryl L. Davis. His new play, LOVELY SEND ANYWHERE, a finalist for the Laurents-Hatcher Award, has been developed at the Lark Play Development Center and received a reading in October 2012 starring Santino Fontana and Condola Rashad.
A graduate of Amherst College, Doug recently joined the faculty of the Neighborhood Playhouse where he teaches the 2nd year students in song interpretation. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, ASCAP, and the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop.
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