30-Day Musical Theater Challenge, Day Two: A song from your latest musical obsession.

Say the Word - The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown

Why I love this song: This gem of a ballad by the brilliant young composer+lyricist duo Kerrigan and Lowdermilk is proof that sometimes, less is more. It’s the essence of simplicity - a single voice, bare against an arrangement of guitar, strings, and piano - yet it’s deeply affecting and poignant. The first time I listened to this, I could hardly bear the loveliness and the intimacy of it. It was as though Meghann Fahy’s voice had crawled inside my ribcage and curled around my heart. Though I’ve never been in the same situation as the character who sings this is in, I could identify deeply with the feeling of being so besotted with someone that you’d let down your guard, just a little, if they were to just say the word. (I’m sure we all can, to some degree.) The lyrics aren’t Kait Kerrigan’s best work, but they’re beautiful all the same, simple and piercing. They’ve got her trademark combination of youthful vernacular and somber meditativeness. What I like best about them is that they’re pervaded by a very clear sense of Sam’s personality. They aren’t just the words to any old love song; they’re the words to Sam’s love song, of a single declaration to a single boy at a single point in time. Like all great musical theater ballads, it tells a beautiful story in very few words.

Why I love this musical: I actually haven’t seen Samantha Brown. It’s having a limited run at a theater somewhere in the midwest, I believe, but it’s very much an obscure musical that I doubt will ever make it to Broadway. The story and the score have captivated me, though. One girl’s musical meditations on her life and relationships as she prepares to leave for college and the unknown - it’s not hard to see how deeply this relates to me. In many ways, I’m still in the same place Sam is at the beginning of the show: caught between the past and the future, no longer a child, but not yet ready to enter the adult world. And the score is just heartbreakingly gorgeous. Kerrigan and Lowdermilk’s work is consistently impressive.