'Only Murders in the Building' songwriters Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Marc Shaiman, and Scott Wittman take EW inside the making of the season 3 tongue-twister show tune, 'The Pickwick Triplets.'
"Look at me, I'm doing it," co-songwriter Marc Shaiman says of star Steve Martin's reaction while filming the tongue-twister of a musical number.with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies,, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books.
A patter song is a classic style of musical theater number, but it wasn't necessarily something that was in Pasek and Paul's more contemporary wheelhouse. "Getting to write something that felt like it was really from a classic musical theater genre and leaning into our musical theater nerd roots was so fun," says Pasek. "We were really aided and abetted by the writers. They set this song up to be dramatically woven throughout the season.
"We had the idea of the Pickwick Triplets, and 'Which one of the Pickwick triplets did it?' was suggested in some of the scripts," says Pasek. "We thought that could be a great hook phrase. Then, you begin to reverse engineer it, and you're basically putting together a crossword puzzle. The way that I would honestly describe it is four people in a room trying to figure out the Sunday crossword together.
From there, it became like building Legos, as Pasek describes it, putting one brick atop another, sometimes reviewing a few and reconstructing. "Some songs are really written to be a big, open, memorable chorus," reflects Paul. "But this one was really lyrically motivated. There's such a rhythm and a melody built into the DNA of the lyric. They came together in a way that wasn't intentional. But it just felt like this is how it should sound.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
How the 'Pickwick' patter performance was a pleasing payoff for Pasek and PaulAward-winning songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul crafted the tongue-twisting tune with Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman for the nimble Steve Martin to deliver in 'Only Murders in the Building.'
Read more »
San Antonio triplets will graduate together, then go their 3 waysZach, Tyler and Luke Zigmond might look alike, but each made a distinct mark at East Central High School.
Read more »
BREAKING: Texas Longhorns Land Commitments From Triplets in 2025 Recruiting ClassThe Texas Longhorns have added to their offensive and defensive line for the 2025 class.
Read more »
Couple Donates Embryos, Then Meets Triplets 20 Years LaterRachel Paula Abrahamson is a lifestyle reporter who writes for the parenting, health and shop verticals. Her bylines have appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, and elsewhere. Rachel lives in the Boston area with her husband and their two daughters. Follow her on Instagram.
Read more »
Where Are Packers’ Love-Jacobs-Watson in NFL ‘Triplets’ Rankings?The Green Bay Packers’ “Triplets” are 15th in Sports Illustrated’s rankings because they don’t have a No. 1 receiver. Does it matter?
Read more »
Utah mom puts off cancer treatments to do in vitro fertilization, delivers tripletsA Lindon woman diagnosed with two kinds of cancer delivered the first set of triplets born at Lone Peak Hospital.
Read more »