Way Back to Paradise (from "Marie Christine"): Piano/Vocal/Chords

This collection gives singers and pianists access to LaChisua's distinctive musical voice across multiple shows and decades of his work. The songs themselves demonstrate remarkable range: some are intimate character moments, others are ensemble pieces, and many showcase the harmonic sophistication that defines his compositional style. For music theatre programs, this single volume eliminates the hunt across multiple published editions and introduces students to a composer whose work deserves far more classroom and recital presence.

These songs occupy territory between classical art song and contemporary musical theatre. They demand vocal maturity and harmonic sophistication from performers while remaining deeply theatrical and character-driven. Whether introspective or dramatic, each piece carries the weight of LaChisua's gift for merging psychological complexity with musical elegance.

This collection serves singers preparing for auditions, recitals, or concert programming who want material beyond the standard musical theatre canon. Music theatre directors building season repertoire will find songs suited to multiple casting needs and dramatic contexts. Piano teachers and accompanists will appreciate access to LaChisua's compositional techniques across a wide range of styles and emotional registers.

• Honor the lyrical phrases even in songs with complex harmonies. LaChisua writes words and music as a unified whole, so commit to clear diction and let the language shape your phrasing rather than fighting the accompaniment.
• Explore the harmonic tension in the piano part before deciding on your interpretation. Many of these songs gain their emotional power from dissonance or unexpected chord movement, and your singing should reflect the compositional architecture, not smooth it over.
• Pay attention to dynamics and register shifts within a single song. LaChisua often moves between sparse, exposed accompaniment and full, rich textures to signal emotional turning points.

Program individual songs as part of a musical theatre recital to showcase contemporary American composition alongside standard repertoire. A full concert drawn from this collection offers an opportunity to survey two decades of a single composer's evolution and introduce audiences to shows they may not have encountered. Educators can use selections as teaching pieces for advanced singers developing interpretation skills and harmonic awareness.

• Reading complex harmonic progressions and dissonance
• Sustaining emotional specificity across extended melodic lines
• Balancing lyrical clarity with sophisticated accompaniment textures
• Understanding character development through contemporary musical theatre composition