Larry recorded local theater folks to replace my scratch track and I wrote sheet music for the actors. Our cast locked, we wanted to prepare materials for our actors to look at ahead of time. This back and forth happened until I narrowed down the insanely large list of actors down to three.Īs my wife also has a background in musical theater and opera, I played her all three auditions and asked which one had the best technical chops in the song, and she made the final call… little did either of us realize that we just cast Kate Reinders… who played Glinda from Wicked on Broadway. Then I would listen to the singing portion and make cuts.
Saints row 3 songs series#
We needed someone who could nail the singing as she has the most heavy lifting, but she also needed to be a great Disney princess as well - someone with strength and vulnerability in equal parts.įor the Jezebel auditions we had actresses act out a scene from the game as well as sing either “castle on a cloud” or “part of your world.” After the auditions came in, I started doing eliminations in a series of rounds: first I would only listen to the acting portion and make cuts. Jezebel however, was a little more complicated. While they were working on the music, I was working on casting the right Satan and Jezebel.įinding Satan was easy: Travis Willingham is the voice of King Roland on Sophia the First (which is adorable by the way, if you have young kids watch it!) so having him play a darker, more menacing version of a father figure was perfect and right in his wheelhouse. Larry and Ariel took my vocals and began writing music to go along with the melody (Larry did sections 1-3, Ariel did the piano for section 4). Section 4: Jezebel takes action - here’s the big reprise of Jezebel’s first number: a lot of times in Disney the reprise is used when things go bad (see “Prince Ali: Reprise” in Aladdin, or “Mother Knows Best: Reprise” in Tangled) but as this is Hell and things are a little backwards, here was where she finds confidence and resolve (Also: Little Mermaid has a similar “come to Jesus” moment with “A Part of Your World”).Īs soon as I got back to Volition from my trip the first thing I did was sing the song to Larry Gates and Ariel Gross.
Section 3: Kinzie and Johnny have self-doubt - this was a nod to musical theater: lots of over-acting while a piano vamps, the singing dialogue rather than speaking it: think “Into The Woods (Prologue)” from Into The Woods, “My Friends” from Sweeny Todd.Section 2: Jezebel expresses her wants - this movement was inspired by Disney princess songs: “Reflection” from Mulan, “A Part of Your World” from Little Mermaid, “When Will My Life Begin” from Tangled, “Almost There” from Princess and the Frog.Section 1: Satan disciplines his daughter - this movement was inspired by great badguy songs: “Mother Knows Best: Reprise” from Tangled, “Be Prepared” from Lion King, “Confrontation” from Jekyel and Hyde.By the time I came back from the expo I had a musical number that had four distinct sections. Then each night I would listen to what I sang and write lyrics, tweak the melody, etc. Over the course of the con, in between panels and running a tabletop game for some Saints Row fans, inspiration would strike and I would run to various corners of the convention hall and sing a melody into my cell phone.
The melody came to me while I was speaking at the Escapist Expo. And second: as a lifelong fan of Disney movies and musical theater (fun fact: we had an impromptu sing along to “Any Dream Will Do” while recording Robin Atkin Downes) writing an original song for Saints Row was a dream come true. This was exciting to me for two reasons: First, the introduction of a musical number wasn’t going to be just some gag, it (like all musicals) was going to convey central plot points and character motivation just like any cutscene.
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