Dramaturge
“Not brutal at all - thank you so much!! That's exactly the advice I needed to hear.
I think you nailed it!”
– David Mauk, lyricist/librettist of the musical “The Flapper”
“Your notes are super helpful and on point, and we can't thank you enough for your help!”
– Sam Popkin, co-writer with Andrew Weiss of the musical “The Man Who Built the Moon”
When a show — at any stage in its development — requires fixing, but the creative and/or production teams are having difficulties determining what exactly is needed, a dramaturge is called in. A dramaturge functions as a sort of diagnostician, examining the score, libretto, and other aspects of a musical to determine what needs to done to improve it. Dramaturges do not rewrite the shows; that is up to the creative and production teams.
Steven L. Rosenhaus comes to musical theater with a wealth of experience. He has written music and/or lyrics for several shows produced off-Broadway and in regional theaters (both credited and as an uncredited ghost writer), he taught the craft of writing for the musical stage for over 30 years, and he collaborated with Allen Cohen in writing the book on the subject, Writing Musical Theater. Since the book's publication in 2016 Rosenhaus has served as a dramaturge for musicals heading to Broadway, off-Broadway, and to regional theaters.
At last count, Steven Rosenhaus has consulted on some 30% of musicals produced on or off Broadway. The names of most of those shows cannot be named (or even hinted at!) due to Rosenhaus having to sign non-disclosure agreements. (One notable exception: Goethe's “Faust: Part Two” by composer Karsten Gundermann, did not require a NDA. The show utilized the poet Goethe's original poem-play in German as text, and was produced in Germany.)
If you are in need of a dramaturge for a musical you are writing, have written, or are producing,
please contact Steven L. Rosenhaus