At San Diego Comic-Con 2023, following the 9th Musical Anatomy of a Superhero Panel, we and other members of the press had the privilege of sitting down with the immensely talented Christopher Lennetz. With a storied career spanning TV, movies, and impressive theatrical works, Lennetz has been excellent in making audiences feel a wide range of emotions through his music. As we delve into the conversation, he shares his aspirations for taking a superhero musical to Broadway, and his excitement about the possibilities of live stage shows in the Vought Cinematic Universe. Let’s explore Lennetz’s unique approach to music composition and how he manages to strike the perfect balance between drama and comedy in shows like The Boys.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
BUT WHY THO: For such a long-storied career with so many things from TV, movies, and now all of the great plays, what do you think is the next progression in making fans feel something through the music since you’ve had such a wide gambit of ways that you’ve already done it?
Christopher Lennetz: Definitely am not going to beat around the bush that I want to take a superhero musical to Broadway. Whether it’s a Marvel musical or a musical, or DC wants to call me I’ll do it. I think that there is enough emotion in the world where you can do a superhero musical on Broadway easily, and really make it work so people want to keep coming back.
And then I do think it’s really fun to watch what the, what we’re calling VCU, the Vought Cinematic Universe, spreading out into different characters and how things are crisscrossing and there’s also a lot of music that’s crisscrossing. So I can absolutely see a world where there’s a live stage show. Maybe it’s Vegas, maybe it’s and it’s not necessarily a musical, but it’s a live stage show with members of the VCU. I love what they’ve done with like Nightmare Before Christmas live or some of those things where they do live-in-picture. I could see a thing where, because it’s a whole series, instead of doing an episode, live-in-picture. We actually create a two-hour show of the whole story of up to maybe you do the first two seasons. And you could actually edit it down so you can sort of do shorter versions of the whole show, but maybe do that like the Microsoft Theater or like I said in Vegas. I would certainly love to see a bunch of exploding heads on a theater stage. It would be awesomely hilarious to see that.
So I’m gonna put that out in the universe and see if maybe people think it’s a good idea. But I think that’s the kind of thing I would love to be sitting in the audience and watching people react to you know, there’s gotta be there’s got to be a scene where a huge thing of milk pours from the ceiling down on Homelander. that kind of thing. There’s so much to be done. So I think that can be really cool.
NERDS AND BEYOND: The Boys has a lot of drama, but there’s a lot of comedy as well. How do you differentiate when composing music between like the lighter scenes and the darker scenes?
Christopher Lennetz: The Boys is really one of those shows that does such a good job of breaking up what is quite violent, and quite intense, and also pretty serious social commentary, with a really silly idea. The fact that you can go from a scene where someone either really explodes inside out, and then two seconds later, you’re with The Deep having him flirting with an octopus, I love that stuff.
One of the things we do with that show, which kind of came from Supernatural, was the idea that we never play the comedy as just silly. It’s always got a little bit of a wink to it. And we always know what’s tongue in cheek and what’s not, especially when it comes to the songs for The Boys. So when we do things like “Chimps Don’t Cry” and the boyband songs for Supersonic, we did them super serious to the point where it could have been a Backstreet Boys or NSYNC song. But then when you listen, when you really look at the lyrics, you’re like, “Oh, my God! This is so over-the-top ridiculous.” We really try to overshoot so both the violence but also the comedy has done in a very serious way to play the comedy. That keeps the show from ever feeling too heavy and keeps it light in the right spots.
You need a place to breathe after someone gets their head popped. If it was just that, the show wouldn’t have the same feel it’d be too dark. I would say that Gen V, I can’t talk about it yet, but I would say that you, you will agree it has a very similar sensibility coming from the Vought world to be that kind of a show.
THE FANGIRL ZONE: When you’re starting to compose, and you have some characters that you’ve never dealt with before, how much information do you get on the character’s background so you know where to take the music?
Christopher Lennetz: I ask a lot of questions to whoever created the characters. Gen V is a really good example this year because it’s a first-year show and there are all these characters that we don’t know yet. I scored that show with Matt Belen and the two of us sat down with Eric and we would really sit there. We brought in some examples of ideas we have, and then we sat down and we said, “Well, who is Maria? Why are they in college? What brought them here? What backstory do I need to know do we need to know as composers to make sure that their music feels like it’s the music playing in their head?” Sometimes has to do with their family, sometimes it has to do with what part of the world or country they came from, sometimes both. Sometimes it has to do with what kind of music they listen to in their dorm room.
The other thing we also asked a lot of them is, “Where are these characters gonna go?” What we don’t want to do is end up in season two, or three and realize that there’s this big moment that we need to pay off and we didn’t set it up right. So a lot of times, we’ll sit there with our creators and showrunners and ask, “Is there is there something that’s going to happen?” Even in future years, I need to know that I’m you can make sure we draw the line too late. We do try to do that as much as possible.
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LAUGHING PLACE: What the difference is like going from working on TV or movies to working on a project with Disney parks. How different is your process?
Christopher Lennetz: The idea of writing music that makes people feel emotions is not different at all, quite honestly. But the thing that’s really been amazing what I’ve said to everybody about working on both Wondrous Journeys and on Rogers, is it’s a very different experience, to be able to sit there on Main Street, or sit in the Hyperion and watch people’s faces. As a creator, to watch people’s faces change and watch tears come down evil, but it’s really gratifying. As a composer, we always want to do that. When somebody’s watching The Boys in their bedroom or watching Supernatural on screen, I can only hope they like it, but I’m not there. So the really amazing thing about theater and live theater parks, spectaculars, everything like that is because you have such an immediate, fan and a family reaction. It’s priceless.
We did a week of dress rehearsals for cast members, with Rogers that last week, and we were changing things between Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday because we saw what worked and what didn’t. We did really do adjustments even after we had shown it to cast members who love our characters and they love they’re familiar with the story. To be able to get real people’s reactions, you can’t do that when you’re in a show and you’re editing and, you then drop it on Amazon. I feel like you can really tailor things to emotions, even more precisely, with a show at a theater or park.
ChillyBoy Productions: When working in television what is the process like writing and viewing the actual material: the previewing process versus seeing it first and working from there?
Christopher Lennetz: As far as the score is concerned, we usually have what they call “spot” an episode. I sit with Eric and decide where the music needs to be, where it starts and stops, and what it needs to do. Does it need to make you feel sad, tense, or whatever? That particular part of the show, we usually do, once the show is shot, and edited, not finished being edited, but is our place where you can really watch the show from start to finish, and tell the whole story.
Whenever we’re doing songs, I usually start those when the script is written because we need to actually record those before the characters are shot on screen. So a lot of times I’ll get early shots at the script. But then because both Gen V and The Boys are not like network shows that are doing 23 episodes a year, we do get a little bit more time. It’s not every single week and we’re able to record at the end and create it’s almost like a mini-series. So I will be sometimes working on episode five at the same time, it’s episode two, if there’s thematic material that needs to come through. If I know that Homelander is going to have such and such a confrontation with Soldier Boy at the end of episode nine, but I know that it’s because of what happens in episode three, I will very similarly work on those next to each other. In the old days of weekly television that wasn’t really possible because that later episode wasn’t ready yet. So it’s a little bit better that things are ready. I think it allows us as composers to tell our story and to be able to tie the material together better.
Christopher Lennetz’s creativity and passion for music have certainly left a mark on various mediums, including television, movies, and even Disney parks. Throughout the interview, Lennetz revealed the thoughtfulness and meticulousness that goes into crafting music that resonates deeply with audiences. From exploring uncharted characters in Gen V to striking the perfect tonal balance in The Boys, Lennetz’s ability to evoke emotions and tailor his compositions to live theatrical experiences truly sets him apart. As we eagerly anticipate the realization of his vision for a superhero musical on Broadway, it’s evident that Lennetz’s contributions will continue to enrich the entertainment landscape, bringing joy and heartfelt reactions to audiences around the world even in shows like The Boys.
