Beating Broadway: How to Create Stories for Musicals That Get Standing Ovations

by Steve Cuden

As the hero moves beyond the threshold, he immediately begins to confront new frustrations and conflicts in his way. These will be more in reaction to two things: 1) the now solid superobjective that he seeks, and 2) a more pervasive opposition by the antagonist. Though the hero now more than ever knows what he wants, there will be more pitfalls and roadblocks in the way, each looming larger, or more dangerous, or more difficult, or more important—or all those. No matter how thorny these are, or how many of them are in his path, he must meet each one head-on and find a way to move forward. There can be no stopping at this point. The hero knows that he must complete the mission to reach his goal. As he goes over, under, around, and through one obstacle after another, he will eventually have seen enough and will have had his fill. He will have learned a few things, and this will cause the hero to recalculate what has happened to him. He has to plan further for whatever it is that he must do to carry on. He will reach a moment in which he won’t put up with being kicked around anymore. He comes to a point of realization that he must be more responsible for his own actions and less at the mercy of circumstances or the whims of others. This is the perfect moment to take stock and maybe switch gears again. This is a moment of inspiration…