Wizards and Villains and Playbills, Oh My!: The Niche Musical and the Internet
In the study of current-day musical theatre, it is easy to see the staggering range of specific topics used as the subject of new musicals. For example, Avenue Q, a loving parody of “Sesame Street”, and Wicked, an adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s novel of the same name, which is an adaptation in itself of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, are two massively different shows which premiered in the same year. These are two shows with fairly specific subject matter built with a fairly specific audience in mind that managed to do well, critically and financially, on Broadway. However, not all shows with specific subject matter are destined for Broadway: some may have too limited an audience to make a Broadway premiere seem feasible or are simply not designed with a Broadway audience in mind, and yet ‘niche musicals’ like this may still manage to find a large national audience. [title of show], A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel, and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog are all ‘niche musicals’ that have been able to find greater audiences than they would have with simply a stage production through the connectivity of the Internet.
Of these shows, [title of show] is the only show to have a premiere on Broadway, which it did in 2008 after a successful run off-Broadway in 2006. The show, with music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen and book by Hunter Bell, first came into being when the two friends decided to write a musical for the first ever New York Musical Theatre Festival with only three weeks of notice. They had wanted to write an original musical but found that none of their ideas were working. However, they eventually realized that their conversations ...
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...market where a consistent audience is needed to succeed. However, with the Internet, these shows open themselves up to a worldwide audience that can access their material regardless of location or time. Therefore, in the age of the Internet, the ‘niche’ in ‘niche musical’ can be bigger than ever before.
Works Cited
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McKee, Jenn. ""A Very Potter Sequel" Thrills Opening Night Fans." AnnArbor.com. 15 May 2010. Web. 13 May 2011. .
"Title of Show." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 5 May 2011. Web. 13 May 2011. .
Whedon, Joss. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: The Book. London: Titan, 2011. Print.
If there is truly tradition to be found among the great theatres both on and off Broadway, then certainly the Sullivan Street Playhouse and its long running production of The Fantasticks rates as one of the most celebrated of New York theatrical traditions. Maintaining its place as the longest running production Off Broadway, The Fantasticks remains an enchanting and insightful tale of both young love and bitter disillusionment. It also reminds one, in this age of spectacle and the mega-musical, how powerful and truly inspiring theatre itself can be. Clearly, one of the great strengths of this production and a large part of its appeal for audiences over the last four decades lies in the fact that both the story and the style of presentation compliment each other so completely. Here we find the non-essentials are stripped away, and we are left to rely simply on the imagination of both the audience and the performers to create a magical evening.
Kislan, Richard. The Musical: A Look at the American Musical Theater. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1980. 84, 110, 116-121, 125-127, 128, 134, 163, 195, 201, 209. Print.
Motion pictures from Hollywood had taken Broadway’s place as the king of entertainment. The main reason behind this was that because it was culturally relevant and coming out with new flashy techniques such as Todd-AO and Cinerama.
Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog. By Joss Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen. Perf. Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day. Hulu, 2008. Online.
Kenrick, John. Musical Theatre A History. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2008. Print.
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were both writers and producers in the theatre, but, their collaborative venture in the 1940’s introduced a new era of musical theatre. First, they wrote the first musical in which every element: music, lyrics, narrative, and even dance contributed to telling the story, each part blending and woven into the whole. Their new idea was a huge sensation with audiences, and brought with it, new recordings of shows with albums and records to follow and revival productions around the world. The duo changed the fate of musical theatre practically overnight, but, it couldn’t have been done without the projects, big or small, that got them there, their
Musicals, a play in which singing and dancing are essentials parts that developed from light opera in the early 20th century. Now because of our technological advances musicals are able to come to life in movies such as the West Side Story. This is not the only change that has happened, there is also the genre of music used to tell their story. Hamilton is a great example of this change.
I experienced Chicago, the Broadway musical, and because I had seen the movie many times before, I knew all the songs and dances by heart. I loved it, but it was actually the movie that influenced me to become a “Chicago fan.” The movie is based on the 1996 Chicago revival of the original musical version of 1975. It was thrilling knowing that the making of the musical into a mainstream production would increase its accessibility and widen its distribution into all the corners of the world; now there is no excuse for people not to experience Chicago, and though not everyone can go to Broadway to see it, just about anyone can indulge themselves in this dazzling movie in the comfort of their homes. In addition to a fantasy world of singing, dancing and Vaudeville, the film also provides a narrative that is explicitly presented through Roxie’s point of view, creating a counter-human side to Roxie’s fantasy world so that the audience can easily identify and engage.
Musical theatre originated from something called an Operetta. An Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.
Miller, D. A. Place for Us: Essay on the Broadway Musical. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1998. Print.
The music industry is an ever-evolving revolutionary entertainment industry for the masses. Music provides entertainment to all different masses due to the variety of genres produced. Music is a very profitable and complex industry. Music has expanded to a worldwide industry for musical artist to express their art through the form of song to the masses. Music not only appeals to the ears but to every aspect of a person. Music allows for individuals to explore and let their imagination expand as they here a song. Throughout the years the industry has undergone dramatic changes. Whether it is genres, forms of how it is distributed, or even the impact the artist have had. The industry is diverse and ever changing as the years continue. In the past 20 years the industry has changed with help of the technological breakthroughs and adoptions.
The genre i have studied is musicals. A musical is a film which has musical performances from the actors to express their feelings. The films from this genre that i studied are 'Singin' In The Rain' (Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, 1952), 'Grease' (Randall Kleiser, 1978) and 'Hairspray'(Adam Shankman, 2007). I studied two characteristics of the musical genre (Breaking Into Song And Dance and The Grande Finale) that are shown in the films studied. The identifying characteristics of 'Breaking Into Song And Dance' and 'The Grande Finale" are always seen in musicals. These characteristics are expected to be in a musical by the audience and ultimately make a musical what we predict it to be, a film that expresses characters feelings through song while
Theatre has heavily evolved over the past 100 years, particularly Musical Theatre- a subgenre of theatre in which the storyline is conveyed relying on songs and lyrics rather than dialogue. From its origination in Athens, musical theatre has spread across the world and is a popular form of entertainment today. This essay will discuss the evolution and change of musical theatre from 1980-2016, primarily focusing on Broadway (New York) and the West End (London). It will consider in depth, the time periods of: The 1980s: “Brit Hits”- the influence of European mega musicals, the 1990s: “The downfall of musicals”- what failed and what redeemed, and the 2000s/2010s: “The Resurgence of musicals”- including the rise of pop and movie musicals. Concluding
“The theatre was created to tell people the truth about life and the social situation,” says Stella Adler. Theater is unique and intriguing because it blends literary and visual arts to tell a story. Before Theater 10, I viewed theater on the surface level: cheesy plot lines with dramatic scenarios for entertainment purposes. Throughout the course, I have learned what it means to appreciate theater, such as understanding Brechtian and Chinese theatre; however, I believe understanding theater’s ability to convey crucial historical and social messages, such as in the production of RENT, is more relevant and important for theater appreciation.
The Lion King musical is a well-known musical that has taken the stages of Broadway, West End and the rest of the world by storm (The Lion King, 1997). Regarding the process of the musical, Artistic Director Julie Taymor’s first thoughts for choosing the Lion King as the next big thing on stage, was classed as ‘impossible’ due to the film’s lack of theatrical material (The Lion King, 1997). Therefore, staging this particular work contained a great deal of uncertainty and the need for taking huge risks. Taymor (1997) suggests how ‘the Lion King was the worst idea possible to create a stage show.’ It has become evident that a number of significant barriers had to be overcome to secure the practicality of the production. In view of this controversy, this dissertation will critically analyse the success of the Lion King by exploring two significant aspects that have helped to make the musical a success. Firstly, the essential components that make up this theatrical production will be explored and secondly, the roles of each producer within the Lion King and their combined and individual influences they have had from the production will be evaluated. By analysing these two central themes, this paper will show how and why this musical has developed and achieved its phenomenal success.