Musical theatre is one of the most demanding theatrical forms, requiring a careful balance of drama, humor, acting, dance, memorable songs, and a fine musical score.
This rich field is populated with multi-talented performers who often don several hats in order to entertain audiences and carry on with the show. Among them, actor, singer, composer and writer Joe Kinosian is a superb talent worth reckoning with.
Having started his career working as an art department assistant for TV shows, and performing as rehearsal accompanist for “The Color Purple” on Broadway, Joe has performed in the shows “Two Pianos, Four Hands”, “An Act of God”, “Dirty Blonde”, the Off-Broadway premiere of “Dear Edwina”, and the title role in “The Nerd”.
Joe is also the writer, composer, and performer of the successful musicals "Murder for Two", and "It Came from Outer Space".
Mixing equal parts talent, charisma, and entrepreneurship, Joe is the co-recipient of the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Musical for “Murder for Two”, and was also nominated for Best Leading Actor in the same show as ‘The Suspects’, a fun, multi-character role he has played over 700 times. In addition, Joe received the ASCAP Foundation Mary Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Award, and the prestigious Harrington Award from the BMI Workshop.
A show produced on international stages worldwide, the New York Production of “Murder for Two” was nominated for the prestigious Drama Desk, the Drama League, and the Outer Critics Circle Awards.
Among other important venues, the successful musicals of Joe Kinosian & Kellen Blair have been showcased at The Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Center, The York Theater, the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, TheatreSquared, and on Broadway at the Theatre World Awards.
In addition, Joe has also performed as musical director, and is the creator behind two children's musicals: "Dragons Love Tacos", and "Live & Let Spy".
Approachable and fun, Joe’s personal qualities shine on stage through his songs and performances. His broad experience across the performing arts spectrum makes him the ideal source to quench our curiosity about theatre, and we’re grateful and honoured that he’s agreed to take a few moments away from his busy schedule in order to share his expertise with us.
Join us for a conversation with Joe Kinosian to learn more about how musicals are made, the unsuspected backstage of theatre production, the role of the Marx brothers in his shows, and his advice on how to be successful in the competitive performing arts environment.
Joe in “Murder for Two”(Photo: Joan Marcus)
A Curious Culturalist - Joe, when did you know you wanted to become a performing artist?
Joe Kinosian - I was always interested in the arts, I just didn't know which of my interests would be the best way in! I originally thought I'd be a filmmaker, but that morphed over time into writing, composing, and performing musicals where I or other actors play multiple characters. I have friends who loved performing when we were young and have applied that background to their work as teachers, lawyers, medical professionals, etc. You never know where your love for the arts might take you!
ACC - Can you describe a typical day in the life of a writer/composer/singer/actor?
JK - Every day is wildly different. You might be in rehearsal from 10am to 6pm in a city where you don't normally live, or you might be in rehearsal in your own city from 5 to 10pm. You might be collaborating with your co-writers on Zoom all morning, and then have your afternoon completely free. You might be working completely alone all day, and find that you need to take yourself to the coffee shop or library to work, just so that you're around some people!
You might have lots of down time that you need to fill in productive and stimulating ways, or you might have moments with no down time at all, when it feels like you're falling behind on everything. It's a roller coaster! But in time, it's a roller coaster you learn to feel comfortable riding.
ACC - As an actor, what is the process of auditioning like?
JK - It can be scary, or it can be surprisingly fun, depending on how prepared you feel, how right you feel you are for the role, how desperate you are (or not) to get the role, and what the attitude of the people "behind the table" is. I have tried over the years to make peace with the fact that I can only do my best; the rest isn't up to me!
ACC - And, as a performer, how do you prepare before going on stage?
JK - I need to stretch for at least 10 minutes, no matter what kind of show it is. If the show is especially physical (for instance, the show I composed, co-scripted, and have performed in almost 800 times, “Murder for Two”, is incredibly demanding physically) I'll do yoga and stretches for a full half hour before every show, and sometimes afterward too.
If the show is a musical, I need to do vocal warm-ups for at least 15 minutes before the show, and be smart outside of my time in the theater too – for example, you can't go out and scream with your friends if you have to sing the next day!
Photo: The Laurel Creative Team
ACC - You are an actor but also a singer, a gifted composer, and a playwright, having created several outstanding musicals such as “Murder for Two” and “It Came from Outer Space”. What are the steps to create a musical?
JK - The first step is coming up with the idea, which is something my writing partner Kellen Blair and I do together. For “It Came from Outer Space”, we mapped out the story and wrote one song, which we used to start a conversation with the rightsholders at Universal Pictures (since it's a movie adaptation, we had to get permission to proceed).
We had been hoping to collaborate with Chicago Shakespeare Theater again (they produced the World Premiere of “Murder for Two”), and they jumped at the idea of ICFOS. From there, we had to finish writing the script and the songs.
To describe that enormous process in a short answer: you start with an outline of the story and then expand and fill in details in the outline to make it longer and longer, and decide where the songs are going to go, then write the songs and turn the scene outlines into dialogue and stage direction.
It's not easy and takes lots of dedication, but if you love your idea and stay focused, it can be done!
ACC - It does sound like a gargantuan organizational task! Now, you work in close collaboration with Kellen Blair in order to compose show's songs. Can you tell us about your process to compose the songs and the score for a musical?
JK - The first thing we do is discuss what the song needs to accomplish: who sings it, why, and what happens over the course of it. During that initial conversation about the song's purpose, we usually come up with a title or "hook" too. And then I compose a draft of the music, incorporating the song's title/hook into my melody, and then just singing "da da da" on all the other syllables.
I send the recording of this to Kellen, and he usually takes a week to fill in the "da da da"'s with lyrics, and then together we edit and fine tune until we're both satisfied with the results. Then, I create the full sheet music for the song, and at that point it's ready to share with others in rehearsal.
Kellen and I really love working together, and we're so lucky to have had so many opportunities to share our work with the audiences over the years and around the globe.
Joe Kinosian & Kellen Blair (Photo: Noah Powell)
ACC - It really is a collaborative effort, and a very demanding one at it. How long does it take to create a musical?
JK - A long, long time! Kellen and I can usually come up with a first draft in about six months, but it can take a long time for a producer or theater to get interested enough to do a reading (where the actors gather around a table or at music stands and read the full musical out loud for an audience), or a workshop (basically the same idea as a reading, but with some light staging and technical elements), and then it can be a long time after that before theaters/producers are interested in doing a full production.
“Murder for Two” went from first reading to first production in a year, which is really a jaw-droppingly short time. “It Came from Outer Space” went from first reading to World Premiere production in three years, which is also a relatively short time, though part of that was due to COVID-19 delays.
But we started working on “Outer Space” six whole years before the first performance, too, so the young writers out there should know that you should pick an idea you really like, since you'll be with it for a long time!
ACC - Indeed! But on the bright side, “Murder for Two” has had a phenomenal reception, and has even been performed on stages worldwide to raving audiences - can you tell us more about this experience?
JK - It's been amazing to travel the globe and see productions of “Murder for Two”. The first non-US production I saw was in Japan, which was especially amazing, since I've never been to Asia and had never seen it in a language I didn't understand. I loved the city of Tokyo and loved what the Japanese company did with the show.
My first post-lockdown production I attended was in February of 2022 at the Barn Theatre in England. That was also a very special experience – a newly interpreted production with extraordinary young actors under the remarkably clever direction of Bryan Hodgson.
ACC - Do you ever make changes to your original show idea as you advance in the production process?
JK - I don't think the core idea of the show should change; I think the core idea for the show is what should be thoroughly thought through before you're staging the show in a theater. If you're in production and changing your core idea, you might be in trouble! But absolutely every specific moment, every detail, every word, every note is subject to change, of course.
A moment that worked great on the page might look or sound terrible with human actors doing it on stage, so it's a lot of work, with every single detail requiring attention and thorough examination. That's the nature of a new musical or play: it hasn't been tested, it hasn't been "written in stone," and you have to consider every option for how to express the show's theme while you have the time in the space with your fellow creative team members. So, your original idea should be polished and refined on your own time and in development with a small group of other artists.
Make sure you feel awesome about what the purpose of this show is, and the staged version comes later. Some ideas prove -during the time of conception and development- unviable as full shows, and some reveal themselves very worthy of being on stage. You won't know till you try, and follow the instinct of whatever appealed to you about the idea in the first place.
Photo: Sharon Alagna
ACC - What is the typical rehearsing period for a show like “It Came from Outer Space”?
JK - For our production at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, we had four weeks of rehearsal and five days of technical preparation. As with most musicals, the first week of rehearsal was mostly spent learning the music and having conversations about the play and what the actors were thinking about the script and their characters. At the end of the first week, we got on our feet with choreography and staging, and then took it from there.
ACC - How do you run the castings/auditions for your shows?
JK - Because I'm also an actor, I aim to be present, patient, and kind as humanly possible when I'm "behind the table." I know how hard it is to come into a room of strangers and render yourself vulnerable, and I want the actors who come in for me to feel as safe as possible, and also feel that they have my full attention.
ACC - What are your sources of inspiration?
JK - I like taking the classic, "Golden Age" musical theater style and turning it on its ear. I like being reverential of that time period while also "thumbing my nose" at it. I draw inspiration from musical sources across the board, from classical composer Robert Schumann to indie-rocker Courtney Barnett, from ragtime composer Zez Confrey to hip-hop icon Missy Elliott. There is so much music out there to inspire you, I never want to stop exploring.
ACC - Rumor has it you’re into the humor of the Marx brothers - How does it inspire your own humor for your shows?
JK - I love the Marx Brothers! It's wild, but their nearly 100-year-old films still feel ahead of their time. Don't let the fact that they're in black and white keep you away: they're irreverent, anarchic, surreal, and very, very funny – like living, breathing, singing Looney Tunes – all elements I love and want to include in my own work.
The comedy of “Murder for Two” was very much inspired by the Marx Brothers' wacky antics, verbal and physical. My favorite of their films are “Duck Soup” and “A Night at the Opera”. Check them out if you're not familiar!
Joe performing at the 54 Below club, New York (Photo: Stephen Mosher)
ACC - You’ve created two musicals specifically for children, “Dragons Love Tacos”, and “Live & Let Spy”. Can you tell us more about these?
JK - These were both commissions from TheaterWorksUSA (a commission being a project you are hired to work on for a paycheck upfront), and they were both co-written with my friend and fellow writer-actor, Marcus Stevens.
“Dragons Love Tacos” was adapted from a hilarious children's book by Adam Rubin, and our short musical version toured the East coast for many years. “Live & Let Spy” was an original musical we wrote in the summer of 2020 specifically to be performed over Zoom.
ACC - Oh, wow! That’s a novelty!
JK - This musical will always have a very special place in my heart, since I directed the first production with an incredibly talented group of young folks during the peak of the pandemic. You can watch this version on YouTube! The spectacular editing work for that was done by Daniel Schloss.
ACC - You went to an arts high school and in addition you also went to college to study performing arts. Do you need a college degree to work on the stage?
JK - It really and truly depends on the individual. I think a college degree in the performing arts is helpful for professional connections, reassurance, and establishing of technique practices. So if you've finished high school and are feeling the need for further incubation and preparation (which is also totally valid, by the way), look for a training program that suits your needs and interests.
If, on the other hand, you're a young theater artist who is feeling the urgent need to get out there are start working (or you feel that your look/type is especially marketable for your age – a thing also worth considering), I say go for it and start working. You can always apply for school the next year, or the year after that.
One thing I will say, I think that it's 100% unhelpful to go directly from an undergraduate program into a graduate program. Take a year or a few years to work in your field as a professional, and then reconsider grad school if, at that time, you think it would be beneficial.
ACC - Do children who work on stage go to regular school?
JK - It depends on the demands of the show. For a Broadway show or film set, they usually have a tutor because they can't be in school during the usual hours. For a regional production or community theater, they usually are still able to attend school.
ACC - Are there performing schools for kids?
JK - There are performing schools and programs for every single age from womb to tomb!
ACC - What would you advise to young readers interested in pursuing performing arts as a career?
JK - Do it because you love it, because you just have to, because you love to collaborate, because you want to tell stories in your own unique way, and because it's part of a long and noble tradition.
Don't do it because you want to get famous quickly. Unrealistic expectations aside, theatre progress mostly happens at a glacial pace!
Have patience, have courage, rest your voice if it's hurting, and take care of your knees.
Joe performing at the Birdland Jazz Club,
New York (Photo: Kevin Alvey)
ACC - What's the most important thing you have learned in your career?
JK - Be kind to yourself and be patient. If you keep putting your best possible work out, you'll find your people and get noticed in time.
ACC - Do you have any upcoming projects?
JK - I've been working as a writer, performer, and composer for a new iHeart Originals historical podcast called "Let's Start a Coup!", which tells a fascinating story from the 1930s with a lot of quirky humor. It's been an absolute blast and a special challenge, composing full musical scores for 6 full episodes and voicing 15 very different historical characters. You can find it wherever you get podcasts!
Kellen and I have a workshop coming up of our new one-person musical, "Todd vs. the Titanic", with me as the sole performer! It was an incredible experience and I'm hoping we'll be moving to a production of that soon.
We're also collaborating with playwright Jon Tolins on a project that's been enormously fun to work on.
And of course, I'm always looking forward to the next one, whatever it may be...
ACC - We can’t wait to check them all out! We wish you all the best of luck with your projects, Joe. Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your significant theatre wisdom with us.
-Want to know more about “Murder for Two”? Then visit its official web site for more information about the show and performing dates: https://murdefortwomusical.com
-Want to learn more about how musicals are made? You’re in for a treat! Check out Kinosian and Blair’s videos on the subject on their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/KinosianAndBlair
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