Does It Sing? With David Goldsmith And Friends

Wicked, The Schwartz & I. Stephen Schwartz was one of the best teachers I ever had. Now let’s talk “Wicked.”Why is Wicked both a masterpiece and a minefield? In the Season 1 finale of Does It Sing?, I break down “The Wizard and I” — the genius, the chaos, the craft, and the lyrical gymnastics that have baffled me for 22 years. Season finale is out now on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify.🎧📺 Search...

In the Season 1 finale of Does It Sing? with David Goldsmith , we do something we haven't done since Episode 1: no guest, just a solo deep dive into the craft of musical theatre — through one very famous song. In this episode: A recap of Season 1 and its guests: Alexandra Silber and her revelatory new book for the upcoming BRIGADOON at Pasadena Playhouse Dick Scanlan and the reimagined THOROUGHLY...

🎹 Zina Goldrich breaks it all down for you. In this episode, Zina takes us inside the writing of “Who Needs Love?” — the Cinderella “I Want” song for the Broadway-bound Ever After — and shows how it transformed into a completely different Act 2 number with a brand-new dramatic job. From there, she sits at the piano to premiere the Prince’s counterpoint , putting the whole puzzle together in real...

In this episode of Does It Sing? , award-winning composer Zina Goldrich returns for Part 2 of our in-depth conversation on the evolution of "Ever After" —the new musical based on the beloved 1998 film, currently headed toward a 2027 Broadway debut via Phoenix Theatre. David and Zina revisit the very first “I Want” song from the show’s earliest days—and how the journey through 100+ rewrit...

Broadway composer Zina Goldrich joins David for a deliciously deep dive into the origin of Taylor the Latte Boy — how a one-off song inspired by a real barista turned into a musical theatre phenomenon, a publishing deal, and an enduring songwriting partnership with Marcy Heisler. David and Zina explore early gems like Oh, How I Loved You , the Does It Sing? segment breakdowns, and the surprising b...

In Episode 7 of Does It Sing? , David Goldsmith and Tony-winning composer Stephen Flaherty ( Ragtime, Once On This Island, Anastasia, Seussical ) dive deep into the Prologue of Ragtime — one of the greatest opening numbers in Broadway history. 🎭 This episode covers: • How Flaherty & Ahrens constructed a 10-minute overture of characters, ideas, and themes • Writing four spec songs to “audition...

In Episode 6 of Does It Sing? , David Goldsmith sits down with Tony-winning composer Stephen Flaherty ( Ragtime, Once On This Island, Anastasia, Seussical ). 🎭 This episode covers: How Flaherty & Ahrens created and then cut a 10-minute mini-opera of The Lorax from Seussical Why the lost number resurfaced at David’s CCM / Carnegie Hall tribute 30 Years of Stephen How Doug Besterman expanded th...

📄 DescriptionIn Episode 5 of Does It Sing?, David Goldsmith continues his conversation with Tony-winning lyricist and bookwriter Dick Scanlan (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Motown the Musical, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Everyday Rapture).🎭 This episode covers:• How “Forget About the Boy” replaced a cut Act II opener (“Picture Perfect”)• The brainstorm with Jeanine Tesori that produced the hook — on...

📄 DescriptionIn Episode 4 of Does It Sing? with David Goldsmith & Friends, David kicks off a brand-new feature — “Best 25 Songs of the First 25 Years of the 21st Century” — with a deep dive into Jeff Blumenkrantz, Annie Kessler & Libby Saines’s devastating ballad “I Won’t Mind” (originally from The Other Franklin, recorded by Audra McDonald on How Glory Goes).🎭 In this episode:• Why “I W...

📄 Welcome back to Does It Sing? with David Goldsmith & Friends — Part 2 of David’s in-depth conversation with actor, writer, and now book-adaptor Alexandra Silber.🎭 This episode covers:• The nuts and bolts of how Alexandra wrote her Brigadoon adaptation “on spec” before any deal existed• Navigating handshake agreements, drafts, and MTI licensing• What really makes an adaptation “licensable”...

Under Silber Skies: Alexandra Silber on Brigadoon’s New Book | Does It Sing? In Episode 2 of Does It Sing?, David Goldsmith sits down with Broadway and West End actress, novelist, memoirist, and now musical-theatre bookwriter Alexandra Silber. From The Woman in White and Carousel to Arlington and Fiddler on the Roof, Alexandra has embodied some of the most iconic roles on stage — and now she’s mak...

What makes a musical theatre song actually work? In Ep. 1 of Does It Sing?, David Goldsmith breaks down the little-known demo of “Some People” (sung by Ethel Merman with Jule Styne at the piano) from Gypsy — and reverse-engineers the crucial book/lyric fix that turned a good idea into a classic I Want number. We dig into Sondheim’s early draft lyrics, the narrative problem (solving the scene too s...