As one of the people involved in the musical theatre world, Johnathan Tweedie, said: 'musical theatre is higher form of art'. Sometimes in everyday life people can't find words to express exactly what it is that they want to say, so in the form of musical theatre they break into song and they can express themselves through movement, because I feel that singing and dancing allows a person to express themselves in many different ways and on a deeper level than words can express. Musicals aren't anything new, as the history proves its connections with ancient Greek and Roman theatre. Usually they have a light tone and also have some humour. There can be many different stories told from love stories to murder stories. In several ways, musical theatre differs in comparison to other types of stage work. A revue has song and dance but no story, while operas can resemble musical theatre, but have less dialogue plus they use classical music. It is common for a musical to use more “popular” music. Altogether, a musical is a play that includes songs, but would be able to be dramatically complete if the music was removed. So how is the musical theatre doing nowadays? Is it expanding or in recession? There are two main centres for musical theatre in the world – it's London in the UK (West End) and New York in America (Broadway). Suddenly, in the last five or ten years there has been an enormous global explosion of the love for the musical theatre. Some of the places are really surprising – for example Korea, with huge musical theatre interest and from 55 to 100 professional productions going on any time just in the capital of Seoul. Other places are Hong-Kong, Singapore, India, Australia, China (has very recently shown a huge interest in musi... ... middle of paper ... ...only to entertain, but also to open sides of us with music that normally would be left closed. Musical theatre can be seen as riches that will keep us in pleasure and in joy for years to come. As Johnathan Tweedie mentioned in one of the interviews - 'at the moment productions are primarily focused on making money. Producers aren't prepared to take the risk. They are going with productions that they know will be successful, that people, the average public, know of, a preexisting piece of work and in England it is difficult to get new musical theatre work up and running, on a grand scale, in something like the West End'. Hopefully within the future there will be producers who are prepared to take the risk on a large, commercial scale, to give this musicals a platform on which to perform, and give this new writers the opportunity to show just what they are capable of.
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.
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.
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Ever heard of a story that sings of the “Angel of Music” and the “Phantom of the Opera”? A tale that once you have listened to the sweet melody that you will realized that you've pasted the “Point of No Return”? This love triangle has captivated multitudes ever since the 1910 original Phantom of the Opera was published in France by Monsieur Leroux, although most story lovers recall the musical of the same name by Andrew Lloyd Webber or the motion picture adaption. Although this story has been entertaining people for over a century, in this new era have prerecorded voices and movements begun to overshadow the talented performers of live theater? Although “The lavish screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera (2005) only deepened the damage” of the dislike of musicals made into film “with non-stars in the leads and an unimaginative production,”(Musical),which version, the live performance or the film, makes the story more attractive? To answer these questions, permit this essay to analyze two methods of storytelling: 2011 live performance Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall and the 2005 film, and decide if music and story lovers everywhere have too “turned from true beauty”.
Musical theater became an important development to the 20th century. This type of comic opera depended on romantic plots, appealing melodies, choruses and comedy. Composers like George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, and Stephen Sondheim brought the genre to new level of sophistication. They composed masterpieces like “Porgy and Bess”, “South Pacific”, and “Sweeney Todd” respectively.
Jukebox musicals began in film and later shifted to theatre. They had begun to make theatre more popular with the public, which had begun to gravitate towards film and music. By combining the two, they gain some of the same as well as a whole new audience. I will discuss how this came to be by speaking of the shift that occurred.
Since theatre was established as an art form, it has constantly been changing and developing as new methods of theatre styles came to light. This is also true with how musical theatre developed into how we know it today. Vaudeville and burlesque were forms of theatre in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that forged the way for the American musical to emerge. The elements that writers used from vaudeville allowed for not just musical acts to be performed during the course of the story, but eventually became a way for the story to further be told. The American musical was not always as big as it is today, and vaudeville and burlesque acts made it possible for such a type of performance style to develop. Musical writers used multiple elements, not just the song element, in their stories. This change did not just happen overnight. The evolution from vaudeville and burlesque was a gradual one, taking years to further develop the performance styles into the Broadway musical we can see today.
“I’m the end of the line; absurd and appalling as it may seem, serious New York theater has died in my lifetime.” This quote was said by the famous playwright, Arthur Miller. He was not the only person thinking that Broadway’s end is near. Theater industry members, scholars and journalists believe that Broadway is going extinct. “Many belief that American theater is suffering an artistic death” (Wollman). Many people think that Broadway is dying. I strongly disagree with that opinion. Broadway is alive and well and appearing nightly in the Time Square area of New York City.
Musical theatre is a type of theatrical performance combining music, dance, acting and spoken dialogue. Written by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, ‘West Side Story’ is a classic American musical based on William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The through-composed score and lyrics are used to portray different characters and their cultures, the rivalry between the Jets and Sharks, and the emotions felt as the story progresses. This essay will be exploring the music and how effective the score is in realising the world and characters of the musical. Furthermore, it will discuss how Bernstein and Sondheim relate characters’ diverse ethnicities to particular musical ideas and motifs.
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
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
Theatre serves to reflect society. From Shakespeare to Sophocles, a playwright’s work illustrates the different mechanics within a culture or time period or society. Theatre offers viewers the experience of taking a step back and looking in on themselves. In this way, theatre is a mirror for the world and the way it functions.
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.
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.