With the West End buzzing about their new show YOUR LIE IN APRIL, lyricists Tracy Miller and Carly Robyn Green – Miller & Green – chatted with us about their work on this highly anticipated manga musical, opening July 5th at the Harold Pinter Theatre.
West End theatre critics called the YOUR LIE IN APRIL concert “a gorgeous new musical which feels destined to become a classic.” What brought you to this project? Green: Frank Wildhorn, the show’s composer who’s written hits like DEATH NOTE and JEKYLL & HYDE, invited us to collaborate on this in 2018. We’d each written with him for various projects, and when he told us to check out the Netflix anime, we both instantly fell in love with the story and said, we’re in!
Miller: Yes, we immediately loved the idea that a score could weave classical music with contemporary pop, and the themes of love, loss, grief, and hope particularly resonated. It’s a beautiful story we knew audiences would relate to.
What inspired Wildhorn to pair you? Green: Frank knew that Tracy’s background as a Broadway actress starring in HAIRSPRAY made her a lyricist who writes from a character-driven perspective – and he knew that my background as a BMG songwriter for multi-platinum K-pop and J-pop artists, plus a ton of film and TV, gave me dexterity to write for artists and characters in multiple voices. He just knew we’d complement each other!
Miller: Honestly, he put us together because I’m poetic and whacky and Carly is classic and brilliant!
How is writing as a duo? Miller: Since I come from the stage and Carly from the music business, we’ve established a system to maximize each other’s strengths – discussing a song’s theme – adding some poetry – laying an outline – and ending up with a full-fledged lyric.
Have any musical theatre stars recorded your songs? Miller: Oh my gosh, yes! I’m out of mind for the way Jeremy Jordan recorded our demos for HOUDINI.
Green: Centuries could be an amazing Olympics theme song!
I like that you both think big. Green: Anything is Possible!
Miller: [Chuckling] That’s another song from HOUDINI! I also love how Christopher Jackson sang Fly from FIRENZE 1504.
Green: Yes!!! We’re working on that project with Frank, Rinne Groff, and Christopher Gattelli about Leonardo and Michelangelo.
What’s next after the West End? Green: YOUR LIE IN APRIL also opens this summer in Seoul - starring some major stars. They actually just recorded a gorgeous single from the show, Perfect.
Miller: It’s crazy, but we also just celebrated the 100th performance of NO LONGER HUMAN in China!
Green: We’ve got six shows on deck! One is THE BOY WHO FELL FROM EARTH starring K-pop star Xia. We’re also excited about MAC & BETH.
Thanks for giving us a peek into your partnership! Where can audiences purchase YOUR LIE IN APRIL tickets? Green: Visit the show’s website
here.
Follow Miller & Green @millerandgreenlyrics for updates!
