'If Those Stockings Had a Sound, What Would It Be?'

"Congratulations on your first Tony nomination. Had you ever written incidental music for a play before?I helped out with a National Theatre production of The Crucible, and we adapted for the girls onstage, but I didn't write anything new. And then I wrote music for an onstage pianist to perform in a production of Hedda Gabler at the Old Globe in San Diego. But Salesman is very different."

"How did you grapple with the demands of producing recorded music for live theater?I started back in December, responding intuitively to the play and coming up with various textures and harmonic sequences. I wound up writing a three-minute piece I called Requiem, which was my musical gift to Willy Loman."

"Did you know at that point how it was going to fit into the production?No. I knew I'd be working with Suzana Peric, a legendary music editor who's worked on so many films, so I felt like I was in good hands. She had the wide-scope view of the play and knew where things could be placed. I had instincts about what the sounds of those moments would be, but she really helped shape the score."

Caroline Shaw, a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy-winning composer, received a Tony nomination for the score she composed, performed, and recorded for the revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. She previously contributed music to theater productions but had not written new incidental music for plays until this project. The score required translating musical ideas into recorded material that supports live performance, illustrating characters and situations. Shaw began in December by responding intuitively to the play and developing textures and harmonic sequences. She wrote a three-minute piece called Requiem as a musical gift to Willy Loman. She worked with Suzana Peric, who helped place music throughout the production and shaped the overall score.

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