Adam Gwon: “It seems like there are shows that are redefining what a Broadway show can be”

They say his music is like a mixture of Stephen Sondheim, Jonathan Larson and Kurt Weill. Adam Gwon is one of the most promising young American composers of the current scene. A proof of this is the Fred Ebb Award for excellence in musical theater songwriting he received last November.

Adam Gwon has written musicals such as BERNICE BOBS HER HAIR (with librettist Julia Jordan), ETHAN FROME or ORDINARY DAYS. This Show premiered at Pennsylvania Centre Stage last summer, and made its UK premiere at the Finborought Theatre in London last November, in what was Gwon European debut.

Adam tells us about his work, his influences, his views on the current situation of young composers, and about his last year experiences.

LAST OCTOBER ‘ORDINARY DAYS’ PREMIERED IN EUROPE. THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT ONE OF YOUR SHOWS ARRIVED TO LONDON. WHAT DID IT MEAN TO YOU? HOW DID YOU LIVE ITS SUCCESS?
It was very exciting to make my European debut with ORDINARY DAYS. I think London sometimes seems, to young American writers, as a sort of distant, unreachable mecca where a lot of really exciting theater is going on—a place you’d love to be but are not sure how to get there. I think the internet is changing that now. It makes the world much more accessible. I wound up with a show in London thanks entirely to the internet – a director stumbled across my work online, and then a few emails later, I was having a premiere at a highly-regarded theater with a top-notch West End cast. It was also very exciting to be premiering a new musical over there, because, I learned, there is not as thriving a market for new, original musical musicals in London as there seems to be in New York —but in London, there is a burgeoning community that is incredibly passionate about changing the landscape by bringing new musicals to London stages. I felt very honored and fortunate to have been embraced by that community, even from across the pond.

THIS SHOW WAS ALSO PRESENTED IN THE NAMT FESTIVAL. HOW WAS THE EXPERIENCE? HOW DO YOU THINK THIS FESTIVAL HELP NEW MUSICALS?
The NAMT festival was an incredible experience, and one that I think speaks to the interest in fostering new musicals here in the States. The number of people that attend that showcase —from New York, from across the country, and even from around the world— is staggering, and they’re all there because they want to support new musicals in some way. It was so encouraging to see theaters big and small, far and wide, want to bring new work to their audiences, and want to help nurture young writers. The festival really puts new work in front of theaters and producers who can and want to give it a life. It brought a lot of great opportunities my way.

ALSO IN LONDON YOU MADE A CONCERT FEATURING EXTRACTS FROM ‘ORDINARY DAYS’ AND SELECTED MATERIAL FROM YOUR OTHER WORKS, ALL PERFORMED BY STARS FROM THE WEST END AND BROADWAY. WHAT DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU LISTEN YOUR SONGS IN THE VOICE OF OTHER ARTISTS?
This probably sounds stupidly obvious, but I write songs to be sung, so I love hearing them performed. I sing the songs myself as I’m writing them, but I never really have a sense of whether or not they fly until they’re in someone else’s hands. It’s always a thrill and an honor when someone performs my work, no matter who it is.

NEXT FEBRUARY 5ST YOUR MUSIC IS GOING TO BE PRESENTED IN A CONCERT AT KENNEDY CENTER (WASHINGTON DC). HOW WILL BE THAT NIGHT?
I’m quite excited about it! Particularly because I grew up in Baltimore, a stone’s throw from Washington, DC, so this is the closest thing to a hometown concert that I’ve had. And of course the fact that I’ve been invited to perform at the Kennedy Center – it’s such an amazing honor. Needless to say, my family and the horde of friends from Baltimore who are coming to see it are thrilled. I think it will be a fun evening.

YOU WON THE 2008 FRED EBB AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN MUSICAL THEATER SONGWRITING. HAS THIS AWARD OPENED MANY DOORS TO YOU?
Winning the Fred Ebb award was such a surreal thing. I got the phone call about it on the morning I was leaving for London, for the opening of ORDINARY DAYS, so I was in such a frazzled state that it took a really long time to sink in. I think the biggest thing about the award is the luxury it affords you to take time and write. The foundation said that the award is designed to encourage writers to create new works of musical theater, and it does exactly that, just by saying, “Hey, we think you’re doing something right, take this grant and go be a writer for awhile.” It’s the first time I’ve been able to be a writer full-time, and for as long as it lasts, I’m taking the foundation’s message to heart and am just writing, writing, writing.

HOW IS THE THEATRICAL SITUATION IN BROADWAY FOR NEW COMPOSERS AND LYRICISTS LIKE YOU? IS IT VERY DIFFICULT TO GET A SHOW IN BROADWAY?
I think it’s very difficult for a young/unknown writer to get a show on Broadway, but in the past couple years it seems like there have been some encouraging exceptions to that rule. It also seems like there are shows that are redefining what a Broadway show can be, which is opening doors for smaller, less conventional musicals to get a shot at Broadway. I’m certainly not an expert, but I know the economics of producing a show in New York —be it Broadway or otherwise— are mind-bogglingly stacked against you, so it can be incredibly hard for producers to take a risk on an untested writer. And while I think Broadway is almost always a goal for aspiring musical theater writers, there are so many other routes for getting your show produced, be it in regional theaters, at universities, or non-profit theaters. Though the financial rewards certainly make having a show on Broadway something to strive for, I think, at least for me, at this moment, having my work produced in front of any kind of audience is the most rewarding thing.

YOU HAVE BEEN COMPARED WITH COMPOSERS SUCH AS STEPHEN SONDHEIM, JONATHAN LARSON OR ADAM GUETTEL… DO YOU MIND THAT COMPARISONS?
Those are all great people, so I don’t mind the comparison! There is that struggle as a young writer to want to be recognized as your own voice, but I think comparisons are usually intended as a positive reference point with regard to what’s already out there. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t influenced in some way by the writers I’ve been compared to, so it’s also a testament to the people who’ve made me the writer I am today.

WHICH IS THE PROCESS YOU FOLLOW TO CREATE A SONG IN A MUSICAL?
I am usually a lyrics-first kind of guy. I rarely write a piece of music without words attached. In most cases, I feel like the music and the lyrics come at the same time, but I never sit down at the piano without at least a snippet of a lyric in my head. At the same time, I never think of lyrics without a melody attached to them, so… who knows. It goes both ways. I tend to ponder a song for a while before I start to write it as well. It helps me to have an idea of the structure of the song, and where it’s going to take us story-wise, before I actually start to write. Some songs I’ll know exactly what they are before I sit at the piano, and others I’ll discover along the way. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, really. Well, there is some rhyme. (Sorry, bad joke.)

IF YOU COULD CHOOSE AN ARTIST TO PERFORM ANY OF YOUR SONGS, WHO WOULD BE THIS PERFORMER AND WHY?
Yikes, there are so many. I’ll pick two really obvious ones: Audra McDonald and Kelli O’Hara. I just love to hear them sing.

THERE IS A SPECIFIC SHOW THAT DID YOU MAKE FALL IN LOVE WITH MUSICALS?
Growing up, my mom was a huge fan of WEST SIDE STORY, so I’ve always had a love affair with that show. The first show that really made me stop and go “Huh, musicals…” was SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. My high school actually did a production of SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, in which I performed. (It’s a very strange show for a high school to do, I know, but I went to a high school for the arts, and I suppose they were very ambitious!) I had a teacher in high school who was very much into Sondheim, and through him I got to know SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, ASSASSINS, and SWEENEY TODD, and was immediately hooked. My freshman year of college, I discovered Audra McDonald’s debut album, and that was a seminal experience for me. The work of the writers on that album —Michael John LaChiusa, Adam Guettel, Ricky Ian Gordon, Jason Robert Brown— really opened my eyes to a new breed of musicals that really excited me. Seeing the Off-Broadway production of Ricky Ian Gordon’s “DREAM TRUE” around that same time was a really defining experience for me as well.

WHICH OF YOUR MUSICALS DO YOU FEEL MOST PROUD OF?
That’s like asking which of your kids you like the best! I will say that I have a very personal connection to ORDINARY DAYS —I wrote a lot of that show in my head just walking through the streets of New York, so there’s something about it that conjures up, for me, a very specific period of my life here. But, you know, I like all the shows I’ve done!

HAVE YOU GOT ANY FAVOURITE COMPOSER? WHY DO YOU LIKE HIM/HER?
Those four composers I mentioned —LaChiusa, Guettel, Gordon and Brown— I just love them all. I love the richness of their songs, the spirit and the energy of them. They go freewheeling, they do musical and emotional cartwheels, but they’re impeccably crafted. Their writing is so theatrical, in the ways they use music and lyrics to tell stories. It sounds cliché to say, but hearing their work for the first time was a revelation. Sometimes I can’t say which came first: listening to their work or wanting to be a writer myself.

WHERE AND WHEN WILL AUDIENCES HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY OF WATCHING ONE OF YOUR SHOWS?
There will be a bunch of places to catch some of my shows here in the U.S. soon –I’m not sure I can divulge the details yet, but people should keep their eyes out for their local theater’s upcoming season announcements! I also have a few concert gigs scheduled, and the details for everything will be up on my website, www.adamgwon.com.

COULD YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROJECTS?
Well, in addition to ORDINARY DAYS, I’ve got two other musicals out there: BERNICE BOBS HER HAIR, an adaptation of an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, and ETHAN FROME, an adaptation of the Edith Wharton novella. BERNICE is a really fun, big musical comedy, and ETHAN FROME is a smaller chamber piece. Right now, I’m in the middle of writing three new shows, all of them commissions –two original musicals and one musical adaptation, for Signature Theatre in Virginia, South Coast Rep in California, and Broadway Across America in New York. They’re all still very much in the writing stage, but should be coming to fruition over the next year or so. So stay tuned!

Stanley Bahorek, Jordan Toronto, Jared Gertner and Leah Horowitz
in ORDINARY DAYS at Pennsylvania Centre Stage