As part of the Fantasy Musical Production final project, I have chosen the attached image, a painting by Irena Sliwinksi, which portrays the tragic occurrences of 9/11, as my property. This practically abstract image combines words, structure, and transcendental images to depict the very concrete and real terror faced by the United States of America nearly 15 years ago. I chose this image because I have close ties to 9/11 and because I am fascinated with the study and dissection of historical events, especially national and international disasters. In addition, I am a student pilot and this tragic day holds a special place in my heart. I think this property will make a good musical because many other history-based musicals have achieved success …show more content…
Going back to the idea of surrealism, Stephen Sondheim would be the perfect candidate to compose and lyricize such musical. His own surrealistic views are portrayed in his works including Into the Woods (1987), Follies (1971), and A Little Night Music (1973). Emotion also plays a large role in the success of a Broadway production, specifically regarding the content of a show like TWINS. This proves Sondheim as a viable composer because, in the words of Ben Brantley, journalist and theatre critic for the New York Times, “...Mr. Sondheim may be the most emotional composer in the history of musicals” (Brantley 1). This, too, would not be Sondheim’s first musical based on a painting. He wrote Sunday in the Park With George in 1984, based on Georges Seurat’s 1884 painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande …show more content…
After all, Sondheim states in his writing Finishing the Hat that “The most valuable asset a theater songwriter can have, apart from talent, is a good book writer” (Sondheim 28). James Lapine wrote the book for both Into the Woods and Sunday… alongside Stephen Sondheim, as well as a few others. Considering they both lived through 9/11, residing in New York City, the Sondheim/Lapine duo would hit the nail on the head with writing and composing this show. The director of TWINS would be Harold Prince. Hal Prince has an endless list of Broadway directing credits, with a majority of his 1970s works being Sondheim shows. Although Prince and Sondheim split up after the weeklong 1981 production of Merrily We Roll Along, they are back together to present an outstanding production. Hal Prince resided in Manhattan during the 9/11 attacks as well so he also experienced the terror
The live theatrical production I chose to see was 9 to 5 The Musical. The production was performed by Fayetteville Technical Community College’s very own Fine Arts Department. The musical is based on the film released by Fox in 1980. Collin Higgins adapted the film from the book 9 to 5 written by Patricia Resnick. It wasn’t until 2008 that the film was adapted to a theatrical production. The production was originally brought to broadway by Robert Greenbait and Dolly Parton wrote the lyrics and the music for the Musical. The run on broadway was very short but the production later toured in other countries around the around the world.
However, the most fitting work with the concert theme may be Philip Glass’s String Quartet No. 2. This work is often entitled Company and was originally intended for an adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s prose poem entitled Company. This cross-disciplinary collaboration resulted in Glass extracting material from the theatre score and making it a four movement concert work that could stand alone. This 1983 minimalist work is clearly characteristic of Glass’s style in the repeating arpeggios, harmonic language, and his recognizable rhythmic structure. However, the most important aspect of the work in relationship to the other music on the concert may be its inspiration. While Beckett’s work was the inspiration for the Glass’s music, Beckett was also a collaborator in the creation of the staged work. Like the works of The Brooklyn Rider Almanac, Der Blaue Reiter Almanach, and The Onomatopoetic Project, Philip Glass’s String Quartet No. 2 provides a unique prospective on art through a different medium. This concert is a wonderful example of how music, the visual arts, theatre, and literature can all be used to comment on and inspire one another by simply looking at art through the prospective of all forms of
The Wiz is a musical/movie released in 1978 that was an adaptation of the popular film “Wizard of Oz”. It included several very popular stars of the time, which were Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and Nipsey Russell. The movie set place in New York City where the main character, Dorothy, suddenly is swept by a tornado in the middle of a snowstorm. She later then found herself lost in a city she had no clue about and curious as to how she could return home. After meeting 3 other characters during her journey that share similarities, they all embarked on a trip to OZ to fix each of their problems. Throughout the movie characters apply their own soundtrack through singing songs in harmony that compliment the mood of each scene.
It is curious to see the great star of the musical Wicked on Broadway, Indina Menzel, giving her voice to a character in Disney’s Movie, Frozen. This movie, that is an example of success, has won many awards, among them the Oscar for the best animation movie and music. However, does a musical produced in a theater such as Les Miserables or Chicago have the same success and prestige as the movie version? The advance of technology in the field of cinema that has been possible to adapt and improve the stories of books, real facts, and of course, musical theater presentations, makes everyone think the answer is no. Hence, even though the musicals produced in theater and for movies are very similar in the presentations, they have certain differences, such as audience and production that make one more successful than the other.
Stempel, Larry. Showtime: A History of the Broadway Musical Theater. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2010.
Composer-lyricist-librettist of RENT, a rock opera inspired by "La Bohème", Jonathan Larson was born in Mt. Vernon, New York, and raised in suburban White Plains, the second child of Allan and Nanette Larson. Both Jonathan's parents loved music and theatre, and show tunes and folk music were always playing in their home. Jon and his sister Julie took piano lessons during elementary school. He could play by ear, and his teacher encouraged him to experiment with rhythm, harmony, and setting words. By high school, he was called the "Piano Man" after the enormously popular song of that title by Billy Joel; he also played tuba in the school marching band. Active in school and community theatre, Jonathan had major roles in several musicals.
... John, Fred Ebb, and Greg Lawrence. "Chicago on Broadway." Colored Lights: Forty Years of Words and Music, Show Biz, Collaboration, and All That Jazz. New York: Faber and Faber, 2003. 119-40. Google Books. Web. 1 May 2014.
In conclusion, the poem “Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine” by Charles Alan Sylvestri can be set to music in wildly different ways to accentuate different aspects of the plot. The first text setting described portrays a dramatic story of Leonardo conquering his dreams of flight (or so it seems), and the second, by Eric Whitacre, telling the same story in a less dramatic and more ethereal style. This text provides a great example of how the musical setting can completely change not only the listener’s experience, but the story itself.
In my opinion, Shrek The Musical was a great play that brought the childhood fairytale story of Shrek to life on stage. The costumes, props, and backgrounds on the set were well made and it was obvious that much time and effort were put into the play. The story of Shrek was brought to life on Broadway and was very realistic and produced very well.
Wells, E A. (2011) West Side Story Cultural Perspectives on an American musical. Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Horowitz, Mark Eden. "The Craft Of Making Art: The Creative Processes Of Eight Musical Theatre Songwriters." Studies In Musical Theatre 7.2 (2013): 261-283.Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
The first piece is “My Favorite Things” from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The Sound of Music, vocals by Julie Andrews The genre of this piece is musicals. The medium for this is vocals, sung by Julie Andrews with an orchestra accompaniment as strings, woodwinds, piano, and brass can be heard throughout the piece. This song is a secular polyphonic piece that is tonal and based on a minor scale. The piece I felt was consonant and definitely had a melody line. This piece of music had a lot of legato notes. I would consider the tempo of the piece to be allegro. It has some crescendos that can be heard. The dynamics of the song is forte ranging up to mezzo forte,
Shusterman, Richard. "Moving Truth: Affect and Authenticity in Country Musicals." Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 57.2 (1999): 221-33. EBSCO Host. Web. 12 May 2014.
Lapine’s off-Broadway experienced definitely helped him create his style of writing, which in turn rubbed off on Sondheim even after their time as collaborators was over. Lapine felt that he championed visual theater with less reliance on text to tell the story (Stempel, ...
Lloyd Webber’s widely regarded masterpiece Phantom Of The Opera uses key motifs and themes throughout the musical to establish its characters and scenes in an effective manner. Throughout the production the motifs, themes and songs all develop to reflect the changes their respective characters undergo. This is particularly evident when analysing The Phantom, his motifs and songs, and how they develop throughout the story.