Artist Profile: A Great Big World on the Fulfilling Process of Composing ‘Wonder,’ Their First Musical

When Ian Axel and Chad King first met at New York University almost two decades ago, they knew they wanted to help create a musical someday. Now, with “Wonder” set to premiere at the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) on Dec. 9, that dream is coming true.

The duo, who make up the pop band A Great Big World, has penned hits like “Say Something” and “This is the New Year.” Throughout their time in the industry, however, composing and writing the lyrics for a musical had always been in the back of their minds. So in 2019, when they got wind that producer Jill Furman was turning the popular children’s book “Wonder” into a musical and looking for composers, they jumped at the chance and submitted some pieces inspired by the story.

“We felt like it was the perfect story for the type of music that we write. It really spoke to us,” Axel said.

The book, written by R.J. Palacio, follows an astronomy-loving boy named Auggie who has Treacher Collins syndrome — a condition that affects facial development — on his journey through the hostile halls of fifth grade.

The touching New York Times bestseller won awards such as the Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Year and the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award and was adapted into a movie in 2017, but the A.R.T.’s production will be the first time the story is put to song. Though Axel and King’s songwriting process typically begins with a catchy melody, for “Wonder,” they were inspired by the poignant moments in the story as jumping off points for their compositions.

“I think we have a tendency to write a narrative in the first place. So it was really fitting to be able to get into this world. I also feel like we have a youthful quality about what we write about. So, it kind of all aligned when we had to write these songs,” King said.

Despite the ease with which they wrote the first few songs in “Wonder,” the duo said the process of writing and rewriting the rest of the musical was both the most difficult and most rewarding thing they had ever done. King said the biggest lesson they learned was to not be “so precious.” For Axel, this mindset meant not getting “married” to an idea and understanding that each song would have countless iterations before it was done.

King usually takes a step back for a few days before coming back to each composition, taking time to sharpen the lyrics and enabling him to understand “what the vision is” for the song. Even after six years of work, the duo feels like they’ll still tweak material until opening night.

After completing the entire soundtrack, Axel and King liken it to their first album, “Is There Anybody Out There?” complete with poppy anthems, quiet lullabies, and yearning love songs. “Wonder” has the same musical rollercoaster quality.

“It’s quirky, but really raw and emotional too. It’s fun but has its equal moments of tenderness,” Axel said.

The pair especially enjoyed the novelty of writing from characters’ perspectives rather than their own, as many of A Great Big World’s hits are inspired by their own lives. As a result, Axel usually worries about listeners jumping to conclusions about his life based on the lyrics. For “Wonder,” they could instead focus on representing the characters while still incorporating their individual perspectives.

“It’s just more freeing. There’s a little bit of each of us in all the characters that we wrote for in the show,” Axel said.

When it took the pair three weeks to end their writers’ block for one of their songs in “Wonder,” Axel joked that he began to question if they even knew how to write music at all. After years of composing “Wonder,” King and Axel are now accustomed to challenges and are even more in tune with one another as collaborators, as they are both learning how to write a musical together.

“We’re learning when things feel right and when they don’t. And trusting that if one of us doesn’t feel there yet, the other trusts the other person’s feelings on that,” King said.

Their favorite moments during the process have been hearing the actors’ voices bring their songs to life. Axel recounted how thrilled they were when the actors surprised them after rehearsing the opening number in private, so when the duo walked into the room, they heard it sung aloud for the first time.

“It’s so much fun to hear people sing the songs, and it’s so much fun to hear the harmonies. I can’t even imagine what it’s gonna feel like when we head up to Boston and we’re in tech and we’re in rehearsals, and when we see the costumes and the set design and we hear the band with the sound. It’s very overwhelming in the best of ways,” Axel said.

The duo is both nervous and excited to see how audiences respond to their work. In what King called “the ultimate exercise of letting go,” the duo hopes that theatergoers love their creation as much as they loved creating it.

“I describe it as a rocket ship that’s about to take off, and it no longer belongs to us,” Axel said.

The pair said their longtime dream of writing a musical only came true because they seized the opportunity despite feeling unprepared. They encouraged fellow artists to channel their inner Auggies and shoot for the stars, as it could be the beginning of a life-changing journey like that of Axel and King’s.

“If your dream is to write a musical, I would just say go for it. Because it’s like, no one knows how to do anything. We didn’t know how to write a musical. We just figure it out along the way. I think that’s the hardest part, is committing to it, but I think once you do, you’ll figure it out. I’m such an advocate for just going for it and going for that dream,” King said.

In the future, the duo wants to continue writing musicals as well as go on more tours. But, for now, most of their energy is focused on “Wonder,” which will be showing at the A.R.T. until Feb. 8, 2026. The pair looks forward to sharing the story’s timely message to audiences.

“This is a show about kindness, and the fact that kindness, in a weird way, feels like a radical idea during these times, more than ever,” Axel said.

Wonder runs from Dec. 9 to Feb. 8 at the Loeb Drama Center.