Hi All,

A friend of mine asked me the other day (on a hike, WHILE we were going uphill, so this was clearly a calculated question) why I started writing librettos for musicals. As someone who has worked really hard to climb to the top of the publishing world — and through effort and luck has been very successful — why on earth would I throw myself into a different medium in which I have no credentials, no experience, and no clout?

It was a good question.  

About eight years ago when I switched publishing companies and started producing a novel every two years instead of every year, I remember wondering what I’d do to fill ALL THAT TIME. I had visions of sitting on a beach with a lovely cocktail. Instead (to my husband’s chagrin), I started working to adapt Between the Lines from a novel into a Broadway-bound show. What I discovered was that although I was still writing — it felt different. When I write a novel, it’s sitting up in my office alone with piles of research. When I write for theatre, I have a whole bunch of other brains to use. The collaborative nature of creating for theatre — not just my co-librettist-writing partner but also the songwriters and the director and everyone else involved in a show — is what makes it so addictive. If writing a novel is a marathon, then writing a musical is a relay. You are constantly passing a torch to someone else, who contributes something magical to the product, and who passes it back to you to work YOUR magic. It is like nothing I’ve ever done before on this scale, and once I had a taste, I couldn’t get enough.  

One thing I learned very quickly was that gender discrimination isn’t just something for the publishing world. It’s worse in the theatre. (Let me put it to you this way — there are two all-female songwriting duos writing for Broadway, and I’ve worked with both of them). Queer writers, writers of color, disabled writers — they’re also underrepresented on Broadway. There are lots of reasons for this, but a big one is that the gatekeepers of theatre are a small group that like to see certain stories reflected back at them, which is why you get a lot of coming of age stories about white boys — but very few about girls, or people of color. It’s why you rarely see honest, messy mother/daughter relationships in musicals (other than Mamma Mia and Gypsy, what can you think of?!) And — well — I have never backed down from a challenge. It’s why I am so PROUD to be bringing Between the Lines into NYC this June — because the people who buy tickets to shows should get to see their own stories reflected on a stage — especially if they are young women, mothers, queer/non-binary folks, BIPOC people. Because there’s room for Dear Evan Hansen and Be More Chill…but also for Chicken and Biscuits and A Strange Loop and Between the Lines.

Broadway is a very tightly-knit circle. I’m bringing a crowbar, in the form of stories by and about women of all ages. Come join me.

XO,

Jodi

P.S. Half price front row tickets available through April 1, or as long as they last! See below...