From the very start, playwright and screenwriter Peter Duchan throws down a gauntlet: “In case you were feeling like this show was getting ‘too cool,’ I came here to change everything!” Barbra Streisand’s “Putting It Together,” from The Broadway Album, really sets the tone as Peter takes us on a driving tour of a lifetime in musical theater. We begin with childhood trips in the family minivan listening to his mother’s favorites (Streisand, various and sundry ’70s-era sex comedies, the Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack) but soon segue into his period of teenage rebellion, when his insistence on Michael John LaChiusa and Adam Guettel musicals resulted in a full revocation of tape-playing privileges in the car. As Peter grows up, his love and dedication to the musical as a form only deepens, in large part because of his attraction to music that is rooted in storytelling and drama.
In discussing his award-winning musical Dogfight, for which he wrote the book, Duchan talks in depth about his process, how he came to adapt the 1991 film for the stage, and his collaboration with songwriters and lyricists Justin Paul and Benj Pasek. We discuss adaptation and interpretation and what it’s like to watch and listen to your show as it’s performed in languages you don’t understand.
But this episode isn’t just a deep discussion of process and some delightful samples from lesser-known musicals. It also courts controversy: Best rock-and-roll album of all time? Odyssey and Oracle by the Zombies. Most authentic folk singer? Karen Dalton over Bob Dylan. Britney Spears’ vocal fry coach? Child voice actor Peter Duchan.
“I gotta give my life some sparkle and fizz…!”—from “Wherever He Ain’t”
Peter Duchan wrote the book of the musical Dogfight, which premiered at Second Stage (director, Joe Mantello). Dogfight won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical and was nominated for five Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Off-Broadway Musical and Book of a Musical. The subsequent London production was nominated for two Evening Standard Awards, including Best Musical. Dogfight has since been performed in Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Amsterdam, and all over the world. Other theater credits include writing books for the musicals The Illusionist (Nissay Theatre, Tokyo) and Stu for Silverton (Intiman, Seattle), as well as co-creating (with Warren Carlyle) the revue Carefree: Dancing with Fred and Ginger. He served as Script Consultant for the long-running Broadway musical Waitress and the Broadway bound musical Lempicka. Film credits include co-writing the screenplays for the feature Breaking Upwards (IFC Films) and the short Unlocked (Tribeca Film Festival). Honors: Richard Rodgers Award (for Dogfight), Robert Chesley Playwriting Award (for his play Lavender Scare), Dramatists Guild Fellowship. Graduate, Northwestern University. |
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