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Answer Box By Jacob Coakley
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Composers and Curriculum
www.theatreface.com/drewcohen
Drew Cohen, President of Music Theatre
International, on adapting shows for
younger performers
A moment from the 2005 Seaside Music Theatre
production of MTI-licensed Beauty and the Beast.
Music Theatre International is one of the world’s
leading dramatic licensing agencies, with more
than 300 classic and contemporary show titles from
Broadway, Off-Broadway and London’s West End, including
such hits as Godspell, Annie and even Disney’s High School
Musical. They’re also dedicated to the idea of theatre in
education, and have created special collections for younger
audiences including 60-minute and 30-minute adaptations
of major musicals designed for middle school and elementary
school students, and “School Editions” of popular musicals
adapted and annotated for high school audiences (like RENT:
School Edition). The more I learned about Music Theatre
International’s dedication to helping out educators stage
their plays the more I wanted to learn about why they did it.
Drew Cohen, president of MTI, joined me in the TheatreFace.
com chat room and talked about that and the process of
adapting the originals for younger performers.
Jacob Coakley: MTI has several versions of
some of its shows—How do you work with
the writers and composers to make those
cuts and arrangements? How involved are
the artists in this process?
Drew Cohen: The authors are very involved...
Creating shows for the Broadway Junior (60
min.) or Kids (30 min.) collections is not as
easy as one might think. It starts with the
script, which we invite the authors (or their
estate) to abridge. Usually, we will provide
guidelines as to what works well with young
performers and what doesn’t. Once we have the shortened
draft we make changes to the score as well, in order to match
the new script.
Drew Cohen: At that point, we identify suitable
groups that we will use to pilot test
the material. The material inevitably
goes through more rounds of changes,
while we create the additional materials
for the show (such as Director's Guide,
Study Guide, etc.). Once the version is
“locked” we create Broadway quality reference recordings
with children singing the songs so the kids have
something to emulate (rather than trying to emulate
Broadway performers and their vocal range). It generally
takes 12-18 months to prepare the Showkit, from start
to finish.
Jacob Coakley: The Director’s Guide, the
Study Guide—there’s a lot more material
available for people now than when I was a
kid penciling in stage directions in my copy
of Godspell. Why is that?
Drew Cohen: With ever-growing budget
cuts, we heard from teachers that their
administrators needed more of a reason to
set aside money for the show. So we looked
at the shows and saw there is more than
might first meet the eye... Annie is about the
Great Depression, FDR, the New Deal, etc.
Fiddler on the Roof is about a culture’s traditions, struggles,
persecution, etc. With our help, teachers are finding ways to tie
their shows into their curriculum, so it isn’t just about putting
on a show, it is a teaching tool.
Tim McDonald. With
our Disney collection,
we have used
outside writers to
create the scripts
that often are more
than abridgements,
they are more
adapta-
extensive
tions.
MTI has also adapted Beauty and the Beast into a child-performer-friendly “Jr.” edition.
Kristi R-C AKA MissWisc: Does MTI hire people
to help write/arrange the Jr. and Kids
versions of the shows—or do you only use
the original author/composer? (I appreciate
the fact they are arranged for kids’ vocal
abilities!)
Drew Cohen: Initially, we had a team inhouse
that created the materials. As the
projects grew in number, so did the demand
for our experts, and they spun-off as a separate
entity which is called iTheatrics, led by
ONLINE BONUS
To read the entire interview
with Drew Cohen,
including his relationship to
the KGB, head over to
www.theatreface.com/
drewcohen
44 June 2010 • www.stage-directions.com