The music supervision of Prime Video is a true cornerstone of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. For a show as ambitious, accomplished, and detailed as Amy Sherman-Palladino’s, hearing music from the correct time period helps us connect to the emotional beats of Midge’s rise to stardom. Music supervisor superstar, Robin Urdang, has rightfully earned three Primetime Emmys for her work on the show, and Maisel‘s final chapter should be considered again for how it musically brings this legendary comedy to a close.
The team behind the music department of Maisel should not go unnoticed. At the top of our conversation, Urdang gave me a rundown of the immense talent in the music department.
“Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino are very musical, and over these seasons, I have gotten to know their taste more and more,” Urdang said. “They script music, and we record a lot of music. Matt Shapiro is one of our producers, and he oversees everything–he’s my rock in New York. Stewart Lerman is our music producer who is a dream. David Chase arranges music for us, and Tom Mizer and Curtis Moore are our songwriters. They are the best, and they make everything so easy. They are just magnificent to work with. We have an incredible music editor in Annette Kudrak who can take a lip sync, and you’d never know that [the actor who plays] Shy Baldwin isn’t a singer. There was a scene in season four where Shy was on stage, and our singer, Darius de Haas was backstage since Amy wanted it to be recorded live. It’s things like that that are so different with us.”
Approaching every season and every episode was different, especially as the world of Maisel grew. We spend a lot of time in nightclubs where Midge is doing a gig and Joel’s club becomes a fixture in the later seasons. Anticipation is key for Urdang’s job, because as the scenes and production develop, she has to be ready for anything.
“I’ve learned my process every season with every episode,” she says. “We get the outlines for every season, and after I read them, for instance, we find a scene where we spend some time in Joel’s club. Sometimes it’s not written in the script, but we might want to consider that there is a band playing that night. We will notate questions and figure out what we need for set and what we need for pre-production. The outline may only say, “music plays,” or sometimes it doesn’t say that. We have to read between the lines. For the season where Joel gets his club, we had to figure out what kind of band we wanted to piece together. We had demos recorded the night before Memorial Day off, and then Amy decided to use them all. So we had to find three more musicians on the Thursday before a holiday weekend, and we knew we had to get back on set on Tuesday. We’ve gotten pretty good at trying to predict what might happen.”
Urdang noted that because this period world is so specific, the casting department also gets involved when it comes to bringing a musician or band in for a brief appearance.
“If you’re looking for a band, they also have to look like they physically fit in the world of the late 1950’s,” she says. “Casting will have to ask if people are willing to cut their hair or shave their faces. Someone could be the best musician and they can’t do it right away, we can’t use them. That’s just one of the things that’s different than hiring a band from a contemporary show.”
Does the pressure for finding something perfect for an outro ever go away? Even though Maisel takes place over the course of a very specific time, she can use her ear to listen to a modern track to find something that fits this world. She has to hone in on theme, lyrics, and tone in order to give Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino options for consideration.
“There’s so much music out there,” Urdang reinforced. “At one point, we were drawing from the forties. I remember once that Amy emailed me looking for music for the telethon scenes, and she included a song that inspired her from the early 2000s. I came up with five songs and one of them was “Pink Shoelaces.” It was difficult sometimes to the mindset of taking something contemporary and picking out how it relates to a song from decades prior. Is it the bass line? Is it the tempo? When Amy and Dan have something in mind, it’s going to work out. It’s about finding the right music for each character. I would never suggest Barbra Streisand in a million years if it wasn’t scripted, because I know Barbra doesn’t clear. It was a huge ordeal, and Barbra wrote an article explaining why she gave her blessing.”
For Maisel obsessives, intent is one of the show’s greatest assets, and that is truly exciting to watch. We know that a musical cue is in there for a reason–nothing is superfluous. For five seasons, Urdang has delighted, tickled, and entertained us with how music brings out the best in the characters and the story.
“I think differently for Dan than I do for Amy. Simple scenes can sometimes be the hardest scenes to provide music for. When I am used to working and there is a background cue and there is, say, a Christmas tree lot, you can throw library music in there. You can’t do that with Maisel. There is a scene in the 1980’s where Midge goes to Israel. I had to find a real pop hit and clear it in two days, and I only had time to give it to the editor. One of my favorites is in the airport when Lenny and Midge meet up in the tunnel. We use the Muzak version of “Til There Was You” and that’s a call back from the sequence between Midge and Lenny in Miami.
Amy and Dan never put anything into the show without a good reason. If there is not a reason to have music, they won’t put it in there, and when music is included, it’s very intentional. It’s very authentic of the time and period. I’ve done this for so many years, and I’ve truly had the time of my life. I’ve learned so much.”
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is streaming now on Prime Video. The soundtrack to this fifth season is available to purchase and stream now.
