
Poetic ( Formerly Faerie)
Musicals from the "Poetic/Faery" genre include:
Regina Spektor’s Beauty The Light Princess
Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812
Note that Faery is another term for POETIC, which is the term used on Musicnotes!
What are ‘Faeries’ in this context?
Great question! It is a way to describe artists who live in a world of ethereal magic, creative poetry, and personal, but oftentimes abstract or nonlinear storytelling. Great musicians that live in this world are Regina Spektor, Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell, Fiona Apple, Fleet Foxes, Rufus Wainwright, Lana Del Rey, Lily Allen, Lizz Wright, India Arie, Ani Difranco, Anais Mitchell, Feist, Damien Rice, Lianne La Havas, Jack Johnson and the band Hem (they wrote Amélie!) Some of the other pop terms that are relatable to this genre of musical theatre would be coffeehouse, singer-songwriter, alternative folk, and contemporary folk.
Picking a Faery Tune
Can you not make any sense of what they are saying, but love the music anyway? Does the music feel other-worldly? Then it is most likely a faery tune. Joni Mitchell is the grandmother faery. Her music is a poetic interpretation of the pain people were experiencing during the Vietnam War. Singers like Kate Bush kept the poetry flowing in the '80s. Sarah McLaughlin and the Lilith Fair Music Festivals, Tori Amos, and Rufus Wainwright continued to pave the way in the '90s. In the '00s, we have artists like Regina Spektor, Ingrid Michaelson, and Bon Iver. Their songs are poems and paintings. They stir up deep emotions and a vast, colorful imagination. Think about what you feel when you see Once or Spring Awakening. Now use all of that to sing on down to your faery woodland treehouse.
Here is a link to great faery tunes I arranged on Musicnotes! Listen to them right here on Spotify!
What musicals would you use this poem for? How can you find a song that will compel creative teams to feel the emotion you feel?
Faery Shaering!
Tori Amos is a major faery that is real, dark, and magical, and best of all, she wrote a musical that was a huge success on the West End. Here is the trailer for her musical The Light Princess. Antony is a gender non-conforming faery. They will break your heart with their voice and their vibrato. The ease and truth with which they tug at your heartstrings is exactly what I'm talking about. Grab a tissue!
Here's another one of my favorite faeries, Anaïs Mitchell. She wrote Hadestown as a concept album, and then New York Theatre Workshop put it on the stage with Rachel Chavkin as the brilliant director. Listen to her voice.
Sprinkle Your Faerie Dust Around!
Audition Recap
Vocals: Floaty, Airy, Expressive, Ethereal, Gentle
Movement: Storytelling = Priority! Don’t add unnecessary movement, Find comfort in Stillness
What you are doing in this song is interpreting a painting or a poem. What puts you there? It is not about making their words make sense to you or someone else, or about explaining it to me so I understand the poem.
Pick something that echoes the energy of the Musical and lets you tap into a feeling of sharing something private.
Let us experience the way you feel your feelings-- joy, pain, and everything in between.
Watch Faery Classes Below