Talk about a career switch.
David Weinstein went from producing a children's album called Schoolhouse Rock Live to composing music for The Joys of Sex, the erotic hit of the 2002 New York Fringe Festival.
An orchestrator, composer, producer and classically-trained musician, Weinstein visited Penn on Friday afternoon to speak about musical theater to an audience of eight students.
His musical repertoire included songs ranging from the clumsiness of a virgin's first time to the intricacies of achieving the perfect orgasm.
But before taking to the keyboard, Weinstein spent over an hour discussing his life and career.
"I was raised a musician," he told the small gathering. "I can answer any questions about musical theater and the business, especially if it's about New York City."
Born and raised in Spring Valley, N.Y., Weinstein wrote his first song at age 14. He graduated from the University of Miami, where he studied the bass. While in college, he also composed and orchestrated a full-length symphony.
Upon graduation, Weinstein found himself at a musical crossroad.
"I realized that I couldn't sit in an orchestra pit my whole life," he said. "I had to go be a hippie somewhere."
The decision brought him to New York City, where he was promptly hired at Musical Theatre International, a theatrical licensing company.
After working there for two years in creative development and following an unsuccessful attempt at composing a pilot for the Fox Family Channel, Weinstein and a friend, lyricist Melissa Levis, decided to write a musical about sex.
"It's more a business thing than an artistic thing," Weinstein said. "We decided sex will sell. So we wrote The Joys of Sex, and we did a reading of it where people in the business came and producers gave their opinions."
After a short run at New York University in 2001, The Joys of Sex played at the New York Fringe Festival this past August.
"The press loved it," Weinstein said. "We are a very commercial show. It's not all weird and artistic."
The Joys of Sex tentatively is scheduled to play off-Broadway this spring. At present, Weinstein is working on writing his latest musical endeavor, The Odyssey Rock.
"It's The Iliad and The Odyssey told through rock," Weinstein said.
Offering advice to the audience's aspiring actors, directors, technicians and musicians, Weinstein summed up his work ethic by saying, "The secret to any business is you really have to be personable. You better be damn charming and damn convincing. My two things are confidence and competence."
Ultimately, Weinstein hopes to write a full-length film score.
"I love film music more than life itself," he said. "Being a composer is my real calling."
Audience response to Weinstein's talk was enthusiastic.
"It is good to have so much information provided in an informal setting and such great resources provided to students in the performing arts," College senior Elizabeth Corey said.
