He’s one of many largest title in present enterprise — and it’s doable you’ve by no means heard of him. At 54, Swedish songwriter and file producer Max Martin has written extra No. 1 singles than any artist, other than Paul McCartney. He counts Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande and the Weeknd amongst his collaborators, however he’s so low-key and humble that he refers to his music profession as his “day job.”
That may make musical theater Martin’s ardour venture. Particularly the creation of a jukebox musical referred to as “& Juliet,” which strings collectively a few of his largest hits in service of an uproarious, feel-good plot that reimagines the heroine of Shakespeare’s well-known teenage tragedy as her personal girl — one who doesn’t resolve to stab herself within the coronary heart when her foremost squeeze drinks poison.
Success was essential to the present, primarily as a result of Martin wished to do proper by his A-list collaborators, all of whom gladly agreed to permit their songs to be included within the rating. That includes a libretto by playwright and TV author David West Learn, choreography by Jennifer Weber and practically 30 hits by Martin, the stakes felt very excessive entering into.
Max Martin made his total music catalog out there for “& Juliet.”
(Jenny Anderson)
“I’ve written numerous these songs with different individuals, so I felt an enormous duty in direction of the artists and the co-writers, that this wanted to be one thing actually extraordinary,” Martin stated.
Martin had not too long ago flown in from Japan, simply in time to catch “& Juliet’s” L.A. premiere on Friday on the Ahmanson Theatre. It felt like a homecoming for the present as a result of a lot of its most memorable songs had been recorded in L.A.
Because of earworms together with Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Woman,” Backstreet Boys’ “I Need It That Means” and Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Cease the Feeling!,” “& Juliet” has a confirmed monitor file. It has survived and thrived for nearly seven years, scoring 9 Olivier nominations — and three wins — throughout its preliminary run on London’s West Finish; and incomes 9 Tony Award nominations throughout its 2022 Broadway debut. It recouped its value final yr and is the one present from the 2022-23 Broadway season that’s nonetheless enjoying.
Within the dangerous world of musical growth, the place practically 80% of Broadway producers fail to get again their investments, that is thought of a serious win.
Martin was unassuming as he and Learn broke down how the venture got here to life in a dialog that highlighted Martin’s deep dedication to the musical and his need to share the limelight with each single actor, producer, creator and crew member who helped convey it to life alongside the best way.
Martin’s spouse, Jenny, got here up with the idea of a musical that includes Martin’s catalog.
“And I used to be like, ‘Positive, how laborious can it’s?’” he stated with a wry smile. “We had been very naive entering into.”
Just a few years handed throughout which period they took some conferences and spitballed concepts. Nothing caught till 2013 after they had a four-hour dinner with producers Theresa Steele Web page and Tim Headington. Web page was an government at a music administration firm and Headington had produced movies that included “Argo” and “World Warfare Z.”
“This busy man spent hours of his time hanging out with us within the rehearsal room, giving us his authentic concepts for a few of these songs and telling us among the meanings behind them,” Rachel Simone Webb stated of Max Martin.
(Matthew Murphy)
The pair had determined to attempt their hand at a jukebox musical, Headington defined in an interview, and after they put collectively an inventory of songs they wished to incorporate, they realized nearly the complete checklist had been written or co-written by Martin. Web page arrange a gathering with Martin’s supervisor, Martin Dodd, who initially instructed them there was no means Martin’s music may very well be licensed for a musical — that modified after their dinner on the Peninsula lodge in Hollywood.
“Max was so beneficiant. He stated, ‘Hey, you possibly can have my catalog. You’ll be able to change phrases if you’d like. You’ll be able to change context, however let’s make this nice,” stated Headington. “So now now we have the perfect pop musical catalog on this planet and we’ve received no story.”
Web page started working on the lookout for a author, a course of that concerned many dead-ends and much too many pitches about, “a neighborhood popping out of Louisiana and now she’s a star,” Web page stated. “Or it was an entire retelling of ‘NSync or Backstreet Boys, and we stated we don’t need something that’s near what we labored on, as a result of we’re nonetheless associates with all these guys and we wish to have that separation.”
Enter Learn. The younger author was about to get a gig on the hit comedy “Schitt’s Creek,” for which he went on to win an Emmy. He was recovering from a concussion and had been suggested by medical doctors to remain in a darkish room so he may heal, Web page recalled. Throughout that point he listened to Martin’s catalog on repeat and finally introduced the utterly left-field idea for “& Juliet.”
Web page referred to as Headington instantly and stated, “We discovered it.”
Then they flew Learn to L.A. to pitch Martin in his studio, and Martin agreed. From the start it was essential to Martin that the story stood by itself — with out the music.
“We didn’t wish to shoehorn the songs into the story,” he stated, nodding in appreciation at Learn. “I don’t perceive how you probably did it, David. The way you made it really feel as if these songs originated from the story.”
Learn stated the perfect half for him was being given free reign to make use of no matter music he noticed match from Martin’s catalog with none calls for about how he did it.
“There are a few of Max’s most well-known songs,” he stated, noting that there was no means he wasn’t going to make use of Spears’ chart-topper “… Child One Extra Time.” “However then there are additionally these lesser-known, however nonetheless unimaginable songs, and a part of what works is that steadiness.”
Rachel Simone Webb and Mateus Leite Cardoso within the North American Tour of “& Juliet.”
(Matthew Murphy)
Martin invested himself and his time wholly within the endeavor from the leap, together with collaborating on the orchestrations.
“This busy man spent hours of his time hanging out with us within the rehearsal room, giving us his authentic concepts for a few of these songs and telling us among the meanings behind them,” stated Rachel Simone Webb, who performs Juliet within the North American tour and served as an understudy for a similar position within the 2022 Toronto manufacturing. “And each time he began talking, it was lifeless silent within the room, in order that we may pay attention and simply perceive his thoughts and glean concepts from this icon within the rehearsal room.”
Webb stated she has heard individuals name Martin the “Shakespeare” of pop music.
Webb additionally sang the a part of certainly one of Romeo’s exes for the official solid recording and recalled that Martin was there giving notes and collaborating with the solid.
Martin even recorded one album with the British solid and one other with the American solid, Learn stated.
“Max handled this like his new album,” he stated. “And for the solid to be within the studio with him and have the expertise that so many of those world-famous artists have had, that was unimaginable and that was a shock to all of us.”
Will Martin write one other musical from scratch now that he’s established himself within the theater world? He smiles demurely. Not simply but. He’s nonetheless received his day job.
