ABSTRACT
This chapter uses Gary Barlow’s comments as impetus to explore the various reasons why artists from the popular music sphere may be attracted to writing for the Broadway stage, thereby embracing an art form largely dismissed as “uncool” earlier in their careers. Elizabeth L. Wollman identifies two reasons why nontraditional artists may transition from chart-topper to showstopper: either their original career has lost momentum, or they are so well established that the shift will have little effect on their reputation. It also addresses the difficulties pop artists face when venturing into an unfamiliar genre: typically, an extended narrative form with dramaturgical concerns they may not have previously encountered, including scoring the evocation of period and place, and the sonic explication of character and plot. The chapter explores, nontraditional writers also confront the tension between maintaining their own distinctive voice and meeting the demands and aesthetics of the new form.
