Justin Hurwitz on Bringing the Magic of ‘La La Land’ to the Stage

At a time when the world seemed to teeter on the edge of collapse, a feel-good movie musical with a bittersweet aftertaste came along like a love letter to the dreamers whose hopes soared even with their wings clipped. La La Land made us feel like we could live life as we dreamed it. The Damien Chazelle-directed feature struck a chord with the global audience—it raked in half a billion dollars at the box office—carving its own space in the upper echelon of pop culture.

One of the driving forces behind the film was composer Justin Hurwitz. Painting the storyline in sound, Hurwitz delivered a score that was as dramatic as it was emotional, bursting with colours and textures. His tapestry of musical notes bore the imprint of scenes from the movie. One couldn’t possibly catch the first few notes of the gentle piano melody of ‘City of Stars’ without being transported back to the Hermosa Beach Pier. A deep, velvety blue sky in the backdrop.

Now, nearly a decade since the Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling’s star vehicle hit the big screen, the soundtrack from the musical masterpiece is set to echo through Singapore’s Esplanade Theatre. Taking the stage from 17 until 19 March 2025, Hurwitz will lead the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra and a live jazz band for an extraordinary live concert experience. We sat down with the composer ahead of the special showcase to talk about the magic of La La Land.

Can you share what it was like collaborating with Damien Chazelle in the early stages of La La Land?

Damien and I had been working on the project for a few years. I already had the melodies when Benj Pasek and Justin Paul joined us in late 2014. They started writing the lyrics to my melodies, which is incredibly hard, fitting in words perfectly to melodies that are basically fixed, and we went back and forth over email. But the real work began when they made trips to Los Angeles and we made trips to New York. Those work sessions were exhilarating as the words fell into place and the songs were finished. We loved what we were working on, but I don’t think any of us imagined that La La Land would become what it has.

Nearly a decade after the film’s release, do you still manage to find new nuances in La La Land?

I’m always noticing new things whenever I watch the film on the conductor’s podium. I would discover aspects in Damien’s filmmaking and the actors’ performances that I haven’t noticed before. It speaks to how layered the film is. When it comes to the score, it’s in my personality to wish I could go back and make things better. That is why the concerts are fun. I can keep tweaking the score and making it the best it can be.

What has been the most notable change from the movie score so far?

They are mostly minor changes that the average person wouldn’t notice. Things like having musicians play louder or quieter than written at different spots. The way the show differs the most from the film score is in the jazz parts because jazz players improvise within a roadmap. So the parts with the jazz band at The Lighthouse, or even the jazz-based elements within the songs, like the piano, bass, and drums in ‘Another Day of Sun’, are never the same twice. That makes the music feel fresh and exciting.

What’s your favourite part about bringing the film to life with a live orchestra?

I love feeling that connection with the audience. When I hear people applaud after a song, laugh at the jokes, or sniffle at the sad parts. It reminds me of how much this movie affects other people. I also love showing them what goes into the score; how many elements there are in the orchestration and how much dialogue there is between every instrument.

What’s the worst mishap that you’ve experienced on stage?

A conductor’s nightmare for this kind of concert is getting off with the film. It’s happened a couple of times over the years. Your heart sinks when you realise it, but you have to try to adjust the orchestra. You have to get back to where you’re supposed to be. The piano part is also very difficult, playing the fast jazz in sync with Sebastian’s hands on screen. Some pianists are better than others, but we work on it in rehearsals and hope that it goes well in the show!

La La Land is such an iconic piece of work. Do you feel pressure to reach the same high or surpass it?

Yes, I feel a ton of pressure to do something that reaches the same place in the culture. I have two movies that are pretty iconic, Whiplash and La La Land, but you can’t hit a home run every time. I hope I’ll have at least a couple more movies that everybody knows. Ones that are as loved and hold that kind of spot in the culture.

Have there been talks about a potential sequel?

I always joke that we should catch up with those characters many years down the road, as Richard Linklater did with his Before trilogy, after Mia has divorced the boring husband and Sebastian is doing who knows what. I doubt it’ll happen. But if Damien ever wants to tell that story, and Emma and Ryan are game, I’d be excited to write the music.

What do you have in the pipeline?

Damien has written the script for the next movie and I think it’ll shoot later this year. So I’m excited to score a new film. I have also been working with Pasek and Paul for the stage adaptation of La La Land. It takes more work than people realise to translate something like this on Broadway. There will be a few new songs and some adaptations of the existing ones. I hope the piece will feel special and unique on stage.

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