Listen to the vocal demo, since that's the full piece as it will be heard on stage. If you have time to listen to more, the instrumental is also included. But if you have time for just one MP3, please listen to the vocal demo. Thanks.
TOM SAWYER - a new musical
(click picture for the opening number MP3s and libretto)
EDIT: To avoid confusion, please listen to the vocal demo first. The instrumental has several "vamp" sections which won't make musical sense if you don't hear how they're meant to underscore dialogue.
This is the first time I've been to The Listening Room in many moons. Glad to see lots of music posted!
I thought it'd be fun to share some of my newest project with the Garritan Gang, so I'm here with the opening number from my new musical based on "Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain.
The show was written for a specific theatre group. They have a very particular taste for big, pop-rock oriented shows, so I catered to their tastes in writing this. It's a happy, modern, musically anachronistic "Sawyer," but I paid homage to several appropriate musical genres, while keeping that pop rhythm section prominent.
The show is aimed at a family audience, middle school young folk and their parents, but it's written to be performed by young adults in their '20's. So don't try to picture children singing this. Tom is a Lyric Baritone, for instance. It's for a young troupe to perform for families, not for grade school kids really - but people of all ages over 10 with young hearts.
Most of the instruments in the tracks are from the Garritan Libraries, as with all my recordings. The usual suspects are there - Strings, with the Garritan Strad in the lead, Sam Brass, Woodwinds, Piano, Harp, Choir, Orchestral Percussion and others.
But there are also some instruments probably not heard as often, like the Banjo, Mandolin, Jaw Harp, and Washboard from the World Library, and both the Harmonica and the Accordion from JABB.
In the Box folder (linked on the picture above) there's a PDF of the lyrics and stage directions for this opening number. Take a look so you can understand who's who in the number, and what's going on.
There are also 2 MP3s in the folder. One is a vocal demo (me doing all the voices-hehe), and I hope you listen to the other one too which is the instrumental backing track produced for this theatre to use in their production.
It's a musical theatre kind of opening, then most of the show's other numbers are a bit less traditionally theatrical. They're fun pop songs that we want the audience to get to know easily.
Hope you take a listen and look. It's fun to have something posted in The Listening Room again.
NOTE: If you listen to only the instrumental version, there are several sections which are "vamp" underscoring for dialogue. Without knowing that, those repeating measures could seem like an odd choice.
Randy
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