Talk:Amazing Grace (musical)

Plot summary, songs and reception
The following was moved here from Softlavendar's Talk page:

Hey Softlavander, Christopher Smith here from Amazing Grace. Thanks for your excellent work on the Amazing Grace (musical) article. I want to ask for your help with something. The summary which currently appears in the article is based on an older summary which I wrote back in early 2015. Because the Playbill content was needed before we opened, the Broadway Playbill contained numerous things that were never actually seen on Broadway, not just events but whole songs. I'm sure you know this is quite common on Broadway (to have additions and subtractions occur right up until opening.) So for the purpose of accuracy I would like to amend the summary and song list on the article to conform with what audiences actually experienced. Out of courtesy I wanted to get your thoughts before altering your work. If you care to see it, I can actually share the opening night Broadway script with you. --Csmith18 (talk) 17:59, 2 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Hi Csmith18, I'm going to call in the assistance of Ssilvers, who actually wrote and added that plot summary to the wiki article, presumably based on the original Playbill summary or something derived from it. Ssilvers, can you look at the above comment and make what changes to Amazing Grace (musical) you deem appropriate? (An IP had made a lot of changes a few weeks ago and since there were no edit summaries or citations provided for most of the changes, I had reverted most of them.) Thanks very much Ssilvers for your assistance.... Softlavender (talk) 22:55, 3 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Thank you Softlavander and Ssilvers for your work on this. I can provide a redlined summary with proposed changes. Most of what is in there is still valid, just some time, place and action changes, and only two songs dropped (thank heavens, I have heard of shows that swapped out six songs or more.) I have the opening night script here for editors only. And sure, this can get copied over onto the article talk page. 100.34.70.25 (talk) 23:30, 3 December 2015 (UTC)


 * I don't mind the change to the Plot summary, if they cut the opening scene, and so I have reinstated it. Mr. Smith, have I made the change that you are suggesting to the Plot summary?  Any others? Softlavender, perhaps you should take him up on getting the marked copy of the script to review.  Sorry, but we cannot remove any songs that are listed in both the IBDB and Playbill Vault unless Mr. Smith can supply us with a definitive published WP:RS songlist.  Also, it would not be neutral to cite the Washington Post review without citing the bad reviews.  The bulk of the reviews were 5s and 6s, so if we were going to cite/quote one, it would probably be the NY Times review (of course, a balanced "Reception" section could be added).  Finally, I don't think that naming the album producer is of any encyclopedic value, but if, after the album is released, it charts on Billboard, we should come back and mention that. No need to "ping" me -- I am watching the page. -- Ssilvers (talk) 23:41, 3 December 2015 (UTC)


 * I don't personally have an interest in getting a marked copy of the script, as I didn't write the Synopsis in this article. I'll let Ssilvers sort out how the Synopsis should read with Smith, since he (Ssilvers) wrote that part of this article and has more experience writing musical-theater synopses on Wikipedia (whereas I have very little experience doing that). (Christopher, you should log in whenever you post or edit; using various IPs and accounts is considered sockpuppetry, so please avoid that, thanks.) Thanks again to both of you for helping to keep the article accurate and neutral and within Wikipedia guidelines. Softlavender (talk) 23:53, 3 December 2015 (UTC)


 * I think we're pretty much settled now. Csmith18, I thank you for your courteous approach. Since you are the author and composer of the musical, you do however have a conflict of interest, and as such per Wikipedia guidelines neither you nor your associates should edit the article directly, but rather request edits here on this talk page (with citations), and then experienced editors such as Ssilvers or myself will review and implement as appropriate. We have the article on our Watch Lists, so that won't be a problem; although if you find no one is responding after a while you can notify us on our talk pages. Thanks again. Softlavender (talk) 00:06, 4 December 2015 (UTC)

Additional sources
Here are some additional interesting sources. They would be useful particularly if an "Inception/Background" section were added to the article.


 * http://www.broadwayworld.com/connecticut/article/BWW-Interviews-Christopher-Smith--Musical-Makes-an-Amazing-Journey-to-Goodpseed-20120601
 * http://articles.philly.com/2015-07-14/news/64371353_1_hymn-police-officer-john-newton
 * http://ncronline.org/news/art-media/amazing-grace-hymn-writer-subject-new-musical
 * http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/theater/the-cast-of-amazing-grace-grapples-with-slavery.html
 * http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6634603/amazing-grace-writer-christopher-smith-story-behind-new-broadway-musical
 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpVhbs6k2cw (video/audio 6 minutes)
 * http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/STAGE-TUBE-Composer-Christopher-Smith-Talks-the-Inspiration-for-AMAZING-GRACE-20150722
 * http://onpoint.wbur.org/2015/08/06/amazing-grace-broadway-prodcution (audio, 49 minutes)
 * http://www.playbill.com/multimedia/video/amazing-grace-composers-unconventional-songwriting-process-amazing-in-itself-357438 (audio/video, 2 minutes)
 * http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lifelessonsnetwork/2015/07/10/christopher-smith-of-broadways-amazing-grace-shares-life-lessons (audio 14 minutes)
 * http://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-cop-brings-story-of-amazing-grace-to-broadway/ (audio/video; 2.5 minutes)
 * http://www.liberty.edu/news/index.cfm?PID=18495&MID=177358

-- Softlavender (talk) 05:36, 4 December 2015 (UTC)