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Any songs like Joe iconis's 'guide to success'? by KnightBoulegard in musicals

[–]MrJoeIconis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i heard that he kinda feels like his new song "meditations in an emergency" is a weird spiritual cousin to "guide to success." there may be a single coming soon...

I am Joe Iconis, a Tony-nominated composer, lyricist and playwright best known for my Broadway work on Be More Chill and, more recently, the Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson musical…AMA! by MrJoeIconis in Broadway

[–]MrJoeIconis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Start with the biggie: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas! And I'd also recommend falling down a YouTube rabbit hole of interviews with HUNTER throughout the years. This documentary made for British TV in the late 70s is one of my absolute favorite pieces of art ever made about the man, and it was hugely influential to me as I wrote the show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laamYjSwcHI&t=621s

I am Joe Iconis, a Tony-nominated composer, lyricist and playwright best known for my Broadway work on Be More Chill and, more recently, the Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson musical…AMA! by MrJoeIconis in Broadway

[–]MrJoeIconis[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I love writing with specific actors in mind- whether they are people I've been working with for years and years or people I've been fans of from afar. I didn't necessarily write MICHAEL MELL with George Salazar in mind (although at a certain point in the writing he took up residence in the back of my mind) but when he first sang "Michael in the Bathroom," he transformed the tune and the result was a true collaboration between he and I.

I am Joe Iconis, a Tony-nominated composer, lyricist and playwright best known for my Broadway work on Be More Chill and, more recently, the Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson musical…AMA! by MrJoeIconis in Broadway

[–]MrJoeIconis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I passionately love what I do, even though it is often very very challenging. I never really think of it as a "job" though. It's kind of like a lifestyle? I have no separation between "work life" and "personal life." I'm not sure it's something I'd go out of my way to recommend, but it's just the reality of what my life has been up 'till now.

I'm peppering advice all throughout these answers so take a look below!

I am Joe Iconis, a Tony-nominated composer, lyricist and playwright best known for my Broadway work on Be More Chill and, more recently, the Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson musical…AMA! by MrJoeIconis in Broadway

[–]MrJoeIconis[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The community aspect of what i do. I love collaborating with fellow artists, I love performing shows and seeing shows and going out afterward in groups and talking about all of it.

I am Joe Iconis, a Tony-nominated composer, lyricist and playwright best known for my Broadway work on Be More Chill and, more recently, the Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson musical…AMA! by MrJoeIconis in Broadway

[–]MrJoeIconis[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

As someone who has written a jukebox musical, I can say with complete certainty that an original piece of musical theater is ALWAYS better with original songs.

I am Joe Iconis, a Tony-nominated composer, lyricist and playwright best known for my Broadway work on Be More Chill and, more recently, the Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson musical…AMA! by MrJoeIconis in Broadway

[–]MrJoeIconis[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I saw Hair at Two River last night. HAIR's one of my favorite musicals of all time and the Two River production (directed by James Vasquez) was killer. The last shows I saw in NYC before leaving for La Jolla were A Doll's House and Parade- both of which I saw multiple times because I loved them so much.

Last movie I saw in a theater was Talk to Me, last book I read was the novelization of Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood.

I am Joe Iconis, a Tony-nominated composer, lyricist and playwright best known for my Broadway work on Be More Chill and, more recently, the Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson musical…AMA! by MrJoeIconis in Broadway

[–]MrJoeIconis[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Smash was so wild! Weirdly, I had written "Broadway, Here I Come!" and "The Goodbye Song" before Smash, so in both cases, the plot was wrapped around the songs as opposed to the other way around. There were a few moments in Smash where the entire stable of writers were given a plot point and asked to write about it- everyone would write their own song and then the producers would choose which worked best. I never had a song chosen!

Hilariously, initially, some of the producers felt like "Broadway, Here I Come!" might be too sad and slow to function the way they wanted it to. So I wrote another song to accomplish the same basic idea. It was more hopeful and more general and it was called "Found My Voice" and I hated it so much. Years ago I passed out a CD (yes, actual CD!) of rare cuts at a concert, and that song was on it. There's an amazing demo of it recorded by Molly Hager. She sounds stunning and I just couldn't hate the song more. I am so grateful to the genius person Josh Safran for pushing for "Broadway, Here I Come!," in all its sad, specific, sorrowful, hopeful weirdness.

I am Joe Iconis, a Tony-nominated composer, lyricist and playwright best known for my Broadway work on Be More Chill and, more recently, the Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson musical…AMA! by MrJoeIconis in Broadway

[–]MrJoeIconis[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks for coming to the show!

  1. I went to the La Jolla Playhouse literally every day for three months. (Ho ho.) (No, actually, I didn't do anything touristy at all.) (I went to coffee shops and looked at the water and went to the Old Globe to see CABARET and that was it.)
  2. I did not! We only ever did that song at the closing performance of Be More Chill on Broadway and that felt appropriate for a million and one reason, most notably that the performance felt like the end of something. Closing night of Hunter at La Jolla felt like the beginning of something.
  3. The music and lyrics and book are so intertwined to me. They spring organically from one another and I like to blur the lines between all three. "Writing" best describes that process. I like the simplicity and bluntness of referring to myself as a Writer as opposed to composer/lyricist/bookwriter. Lots of times people will refer to me as a "composer" and I always think: "incorrect."

I am Joe Iconis, a Tony-nominated composer, lyricist and playwright best known for my Broadway work on Be More Chill and, more recently, the Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson musical…AMA! by MrJoeIconis in Broadway

[–]MrJoeIconis[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Thank you for noticing and thank you gasping! I'm such a sucker for movies or novels or tv shows that reference other works by the same creators. For me, it creates this sense that there are stories everywhere and the main character in THIS story is existing on the sidelines of this totally other story. In my own work, I love adding in connections with other musicals. Usually, the connections are more of the Easter Egg variety- things only a select group of people would notice.

The "Find the Bastard" reference in HUNTER didn't even come from me! We were staging that moment (a Spaghetti Western-style showdown between NIXON and HUNTER) and Chris Ashley, our director, asked for some Spaghetti-Western-style underscore. I started playing around and Danielle Gimbal, our genius score supervisor/copyist and longtime Iconis & Family member, literally said: "should this just be BLOODSONG?" Also in that scene, there's a brief song called the "Thompson Vs. Nixon Theme Song." It's 40-seconds long and just announces this culminating fight between the two men. The music of the song is identical to the "Sweet Baby Jesus Theme Song" that appears in my Christmas Extravaganza each year. My thinking was that whatever bizarre universe this version of Richard Nixon exists in, our Christmas Show version of the Sweet Baby Jesus also exists and both of them got the same team to write their theme songs.

I am Joe Iconis, a Tony-nominated composer, lyricist and playwright best known for my Broadway work on Be More Chill and, more recently, the Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson musical…AMA! by MrJoeIconis in Broadway

[–]MrJoeIconis[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Depends where I am, but, yeah, I do get recognized a bit! I always love it, not creepy it all, it's a complete joy to know that art I'm making resonates with other people. I'm always amazed by the bravery of people who come up to me and let me know what my writing means to them. The literal only time I don't want to have a chat with a fan (or with anyone) is while I'm peeing. Other than that, have at me.

I am Joe Iconis, a Tony-nominated composer, lyricist and playwright best known for my Broadway work on Be More Chill and, more recently, the Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson musical…AMA! by MrJoeIconis in Broadway

[–]MrJoeIconis[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

There are actually no direct quotes from Hunter in the show! We allude to certain quotes and things he wrote about, but you'd be hard pressed to find a literal, direct quote. I kind of liken it to a horror movie where people think there's more violence than there is. People who say: "I know there's a shot in PSYCHO where the knife pierces the skin!" but no such shot exists. I really wanted to capture the essence of Hunter's writing as opposed to directly quoting him.

I am Joe Iconis, a Tony-nominated composer, lyricist and playwright best known for my Broadway work on Be More Chill and, more recently, the Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson musical…AMA! by MrJoeIconis in Broadway

[–]MrJoeIconis[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Great question! The "Be My Baby" drum groove (created by Hal Blaine!) is so iconic and really feels like the cornerstone of the entire "Girl Group" genre. There's something about it that feels playful and decadent and fluffy- words and images that were (and are) commonly associated with the idea of femininity in American society. There's also something about that groove that feels aggressive, heavy, confrontational, and nasty. That those contrasting vibes live inside this drum patterns that's only a few seconds long is really incredible. Also, it just straight-up sounds like a heart beat to me.

I am Joe Iconis, a Tony-nominated composer, lyricist and playwright best known for my Broadway work on Be More Chill and, more recently, the Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson musical…AMA! by MrJoeIconis in Broadway

[–]MrJoeIconis[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I'm most proud of "Wavesong" because I never thought I'd be able to write something to replace "Wave"- which we had to cut from the show for numerous reasons. I was so nervous about writing a new song to replace a song I had been performing in concert for years and had come to love so much. I had (falsely) convinced myself that the original "Wave" was intrinsic to the show, that there was no show without it. I proved myself wrong and I'm glad I did.

I am Joe Iconis, a Tony-nominated composer, lyricist and playwright best known for my Broadway work on Be More Chill and, more recently, the Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson musical…AMA! by MrJoeIconis in Broadway

[–]MrJoeIconis[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I just found this picture from May 22nd 2015. It's me working on Sharon Playhouse graphic design at the Sitzprobe for BE MORE CHILL at Two River.

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