Do you love all things musical theatre? Are you enthralled by the magic of Broadway? If so, Broadway Bound, opening this Thursday at Studio 1, is the show for you. Broadway Bound not a “regular” show with a storyline, but a sampling of some of the most loved shows that have hit the stage, including West Side Story, Les Miserables, Matilda, Kiss Me Kate, Bye Bye Birdie, and many more. You as an audience member will enjoy both thrilling group numbers and breathtaking solos, one right after another. In addition, performers share information about each show in between numbers, so thus attendees will not only be entertained but educated as well. All singers and dancers are school-aged, and will impress you with their talent that is beyond their
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.
People have dreams of what they want to do or accomplish in life, but usually musical theatre is just pushed into the non-realistic void. It isn’t a dream for me. In the past four years, musical theatre has been clarified as my reality. Musical theatre has been the only thing I have seen myself wanting to do. My first love was The Phantom of the Opera, seeing how I watched it almost every day and it was one of the first shows I saw. Of course, I started doing all of those cute shows in middle school and making a huge deal about it to my family and friends, but I have never felt so passionate about something. The minute I get up on that stage I throw away Riley for two and a half hours and it’s the most amazing feeling! Being able to tell a story
The Rialto Theatre located in El Dorado Arkansas was first built in 1929. The Clark-McWilliams Theatre Company commissioned the Rialto to be built by the local architectural firm of Kolben, Hunter and Boyd. It was commissioned to be built in response to the demand for high-class entertainment by the enlarged population due to the oil-boom. The construction cost was the most in South Arkansas at $250,000. The Rialto Theatre as stayed in the hands of the McWilliams family of El Dorado. Today it is owned by Richard H. Mason. Although the Theatre closed in the late 1970’s, it was reopened in 1987. It was used as a three screen movie theatre as well as live Arkansas performances. Not much has changed from the original design. The main differences
Musical theatre has been around for quite a while. But where exactly did it come from? The book Anything Goes, written by Ethan Mordden looks to explore just that. From operas to musical comedies, Mordden covers the basic history of musical theatre and why it’s important for the world to know.
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.
On a Wednesday night I saw Texas State Theatre and Dance Department's performance of A Chorus Line. The main plot of the musical entails the audition of 17 dancers for several Broadway roles on the chorus line. However, during their auditions the director Zach asks for personal stories of each dancer's life. Though the plot of this musical is seemingly simple in its twist on the traditional audition, it explores themes that reveal the human experience, the search for individuality, and the sense of self.
This fearlessness was something that Broadway idealized, ultimately opening the doors for playwrights and composers to speak their mind by means of the shows they produced. A few leading shows in this field were the musicals Chicago, Pacific Overtures, and A Chorus Line. Each of the three plays tackled their own social injustices all while also embedding individualized views of the glorified American Dream inside their works. Chicago and A Chorus Line take you behind the scenes in the world of Broadway, one tackling the injustices of the media and glorification of crime, and the other puts a light on the “small people” often forgotten in
Green, Stanley, and Cary Ginell. Broadway Musicals Show by Show. 7th. Milwaukee: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, 2011. Print. (Green and Ginell )
As in all genres, the musicals have had its share of failures. Some worthy dramas have been pressed into service and musicalized and sometimes butchered in the process, and audiences have had to watch a fine play diluted into a mediocre musical. But the successes have been many and spectacular and they have left a long lasting effect on the American art and culture.
The city of Stratford-on-Avon was founded in 1832. The settlement was named after the birthplace of English playwright, William Shakespeare (Stratford-upon-Avon, England), by Thomas Mercer Jones. The population of the city consisted of English, German, Irish and Scottish settlers (cite). Located in Perth County, Southwestern Ontario on the banks of the Avon River (formerly known as Little Thames River a tributary of the Thames River), Stratford is north of London and east of Toronto. Before the 1950s, Stratford, Ontario was an industrial city. The city was a hub for furniture making and the railway industry. The Grand Trunk known widely as Canadian National Railway (CNR) set up steam shops and a large steam engine repair building. Before
By now, you’ve probably heard of—or at least seen commercials for—Lin-Manuel’s 2015 musical Hamilton, and depending on how long you’ve been alive, this may have been the most excitement towards a new musical that you have ever witnessed. Since Hamilton’s premiere this year, the “American musical” won the hearts of critics, Broadway aficionados, and even people who are not typically fans of musicals. Fans of all ages are coming from all over the world to see the timeless, inspiring story of Alexander Hamilton brought to life with R&B style music and a whole lot of hip-hop choreography. Even for a Broadway show, Hamilton’s level of instant success is rare, and it can be compared to some of the successes of the classic, timeless musicals that have earned household names. From the operettas of the 19th century to modern favorites like Hairspray and RENT, musical theatre has long been a popular art form our society.
Although the Broadway budgets are composed by multiple elements, there are some outgoings that can represent a considerable section of the expenditures. According to the New York Innovative Theatre Foundation, the highest proportion of a show budget corresponds to the performance space rental, which can represent, on average, 36 % of the of the overall production expenses. Besides that, other remarkable show expenditures are the publicist, which may represent a 7% of the budget, and the actor fees that may represent, on average, a 9% of the budget (New York Innovative Theatre Foundation
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
In this paper, I will be focusing briefly on my knowledge and understanding of the concept of Applied theatre and one of its theatre form, which is Theatre in Education. The term Applied Theatre is a broad range of dramatic activity carried out by a crowd of diverse bodies and groups.
My experience watching a live theatre performance on stage was a fascinating one, most especially since it was my first time. I attended a staged performance of “The History Boys” in a small theatre called “The Little Theatre of Alexandria” at 8:00 pm on Wednesday June 8, 2016 in Alexandria, Virginia. The overall production of the play was a resounding experience for me particularly the performance of the actors and the design of the scene made the play seem real.