MD Notes: Freaky Friday

Thoughts On The Show

The music doesn’t break any ground, but it is well-written and fun to play.

Usually, I’m drawn to stories that explore a character’s choices and the consequences that follow. This show is more like a vehicle for comedy, and if you don’t think too much about the setup, the payoffs are enjoyable. Many of the songs don’t advance the plot or character, but again, it doesn’t really matter because the plot and the character aren’t really the point here; the sketches are. And the songs serve this purpose just fine.

Casting

Much of the show pivots on Ellie and Katherine's ability to be each other. Vocally, there are a few moments where their voices blend, and having singers with timbrally similar voices will help this effect.

Adam sings a lot of high stuff, needs an easy G4,

The ensemble has tight pop harmonies. Singers, especially the students, need a good deal of musicianship and autonomy to hold their own harmonies.

Prep

The orchestration, in descending importance tiers:

• Piano, Drums, Bass

• Guitar, Key 2

• Reed, Trumpet

• Cello, and Violin.

I’d hate to do it but the strings would be the easiest to cut, the violin first, then the cello.

Conducting from the piano is very doable.

The piano book itself is technically challenging but not harmonically so. There are a lot of repeated eighth note riffs.

Tricky Spots

• Just One Day

  • There are some syncopations, and they aren’t all the same pattern

• Busted

  • The parent/kid bits could be tricky to time. Each group should know when theirs starts regardless of the timing of the lines leading up to it.

• Just One Day Reprise

  • Torrie’s entrance, “I featured the hydrangeas” at bar 58 ais a bit tricky to hit, I added a vamp in bar 57.

  • Grandma’s pickup to bar 33. I ended up adding high hats to help with this pickup.