Daniel J. Watts
Appearances
Freakonomics Radio
629. How Is Live Theater Still Alive?
He was like, hey, there's this project I'm working on and I need a co-lyricist. I recognize that I cannot speak for a lot of these people. I'm wondering if you would be interested. And that is Daniel Watts. I am a co-lyricist and co-choreographer for Three Summers of Lincoln.
Freakonomics Radio
629. How Is Live Theater Still Alive?
Oh, Lord, that just sounds silly. Like, oh, no, Joe, why is this the thing you're calling about? You know, I've been waiting for years for you to call me and like this is the thing. But only because how I'm used to seeing Lincoln depicted is what I was, you know, coming from. But the other thing is that time period of how America broke and then came back together is really fascinating to me.
Freakonomics Radio
629. How Is Live Theater Still Alive?
He'd written Act I, I think, an outline of Act II. We read through it first, and whatever jumped out at us personally, we kind of just made our own little notes. It was like, let's maybe try to write two or three songs while we're here.
Freakonomics Radio
629. How Is Live Theater Still Alive?
Scarlet the harlot that got cut quickly and then found its way back in in the last six months. Why did it get cut? We just didn't know where it went. You know, the story tells you what it is as you keep developing it. So how Scarlet ended up back was that we realized we didn't have any time with Abraham and the soldiers, which we felt was very, very important. I haven't heard Scarlet yet.
Freakonomics Radio
629. How Is Live Theater Still Alive?
Can you sing me a little bit right now? Scarlet the harlot, the poor soldier's whore, open her legs as wide as a door. That's all I can give you right now. It's bawdy. It's a very bawdy song that, you know, hopefully it stays. You just never know. You never know.
Freakonomics Radio
629. How Is Live Theater Still Alive?
No. Well, not for me. I don't want to speak for anybody else. Or I want to say for Joe and I, the poetry comes first, right? Now my musical theater nerd is going off. In musical theater, first you say it, and then once the emotion overcomes you, you sing it. And if it's too much to sing, then you dance it. So it kind of goes the same way.
Freakonomics Radio
629. How Is Live Theater Still Alive?
Once you have lyrics, then you seek out composers that you think might both have music pouring out of them, but also would understand this story and want to apply their artistry to it.
Freakonomics Radio
629. How Is Live Theater Still Alive?
Like, I literally flew in yesterday morning from Chicago because I'm on a TV show called The Chi. I was like, hey, guys, I got to go fly back here to jump right into a workshop of a musical that I'm the co-lyricist and co-choreographer of. Little me is like, yeah.
Freakonomics Radio
629. How Is Live Theater Still Alive?
Oh, it's night and day. It's just different economics. You know, when it comes to theater, there is a fixed amount of tickets that can be sold. There's only so much money that can come in. Also in theater, you can only get paid if you're there. So if you miss a show, you lose pay. You get docked. That's just the economics of it versus TV film.
Freakonomics Radio
629. How Is Live Theater Still Alive?
I can show up and hit it and then I don't have to remember anything. I can leave it. I shot my whole episode in two days. That was two days of shooting. And I make a lot more money doing that. And there's also a residual check on the other side once it airs.