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Meet the Nomine: Tom Kitt Talks FLYING OVER SUNSET Collaboration & More!
May 17, 2024
The countdown to the Tony Awards has a officially begun! On June 12, the brightest stars of the 2021-22 season will shine even brighter as they gather at the iconic Radio City Music Hall to celebrate Broadway's biggest night. Leading up to the 75th Annual Tony Awards, BroadwayWorld is getting up close and personal with the nominees. Today we're studying up on Tom Kitt!
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0:00
My name is Tom Kitt and I am nominated along with Michael Kory for Best Original Score
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It's Tony Day! It is, yes, yes, in person, thankfully. Is it all surreal, like, this whole thing
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It is surreal, absolutely. It always is. It's always overwhelming. You can't believe it
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You wake up out of a dream that you hope is not a dream. We've had those, everybody
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So, yeah, it's a wonderful feeling. Let's talk about Flying Over Sunset. Such a gorgeous musical done at Lincoln Center
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I mean, what was it like putting it together and writing it
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It's unlike anything I've ever done, and especially to be working with James Lapine
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who is a hero of mine and whose work has meant everything and made me want to write for the theater in the first place
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And to be writing with Michael Kory for the first time, we just had a wonderful collaboration
0:51
It felt easy. Not that musicals are ever easy, but it was always a pleasure and I was always discovering new things
0:58
And it's a challenging story to tell for the theater, and that's always what I want to be doing
1:02
I want to be trying to be as ambitious as I can, finding things that someone might say
1:06
really? It's a musical? And then they see it and they say, oh, oh, now I get it
1:10
So I think that's what Flying Over Sunset was. Because that's what I love about what you do. Nothing you do is the same
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That's how you grow, I think. You keep trying to find new gestures, and it's good to be scared
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I was scared to write this show, and that felt wonderful because it felt like I was doing something new
1:27
OK, people have fallen in love with this musical. Even since it closed, everyone is like, I wish I had seen Flying Over Sunset or I had seen Flying Over Sunset
1:36
I mean, they love the score to this. It's been recorded. Yes, it's beautiful recording on Sony Masterworks
1:42
So I know a lot of people, I ran into someone yesterday and said, oh my God, I sang three songs from that
1:47
Just sitting in the car from that show. So that must make you feel so great
1:51
Yes, I think getting into this to create songs that matter to people
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and any time you hear someone say, I want to audition with that, I want to perform that in my show
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or just to express their admiration for it, it never gets old. OK, and having it done at Lincoln Center Theater, because they take chances
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The production was so beautiful. So what it meant having it done at Lincoln Center
2:14
Oh, it meant everything. As a kid, I went to many a show at the Beaumont
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and dreamed one day that I might have a show there. It's a beautiful place to work
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And what Lincoln Center Theater did to steer the show through the pandemic, their commitment to it
2:30
I just can't say enough about how they believed in it and how they made us feel
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And I would just, I hope that I'm lucky enough to go back. What was the first song you wrote for the show? What was the last song you wrote for the show
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That's a really good question. I think that the very first song that we wrote for the show
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might have been cut, but I think Flying Over Sunset. Either Flying Over Sunset or the Italian aria in the beginning, which is called Belladonna
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And then the last thing I remember writing, there was a big contrapuntal moment that we created
3:03
for the finale of Act One. But I think fully realized new songs, it might have been How
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I love that. And you got a Tony pin! I got a Tony pin, yes, yes. I love my Tony pin and I feel really honored
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