When musical theatre characters break into song, do they know that they're singing?

It Started Out Like A Song takes a tour of musicals past and present, from Oklahoma! and Kiss Me, Kate to Hamilton and A Strange Loop, exploring the moments where characters are aware of their own music-making.

The first-book length exploration of diegetic song in the musical theatre form, this lively and analytical study introduces the concept of self-awareness in the musical form and frames it for students trying to understand how musicals are written as well as for those approaching the writing and creation of their own shows.

Combining sustained narrative analysis with historical perspective, the book includes original interviews and conversations with featured writers and composers from Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Will Aronson and Hue Park, Adam Guettel, Charles Hart, Rupert Holmes, Michael R. Jackson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Stephen Schwartz and Maury Yeston to shed a light on how diegetic music shapes the creation. It also brings together conversations with directors such as Scott Ellis, Daniel Fish, Rebecca Frecknall, Maria Friedman, and Jerry Zaks and performers Jonathan Groff, Jennifer Holliday, Andrea McArdle, Jessie Mueller, Kelli O'Hara and Adam Pascal to shed light on how moments of conscious music-making are staged and performed in the broader context of their characters.

By exploring the ways in which musical theatre characters acknowledge and celebrate their own music - from crooning cowhands serenading their crushes to haunted sopranos at the Paris Opera - this book re-centres the story of singing itself at the heart of the art form.