The musical Rent is a representation of the Bohemian lifestyle of being different and being able to explore and be unique. What makes this musical so unique is its revolutionary musical style and a plot like no other. The lyricist and composer of the musical Jonathan Larson did something no one would ever imagine and go outside of the box. Who would have thought of putting lesbians, gays, HIV and AIDS victims, and the life of a Bohemian into one rock and pop based musical? This struggle to survive and accomplish things makes Rent amazing.
When Jonathan Larson and his friend were talking, Larson was given the idea to create a musical based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème. La bohéme is an opera about people in 1800s Paris struggling to find success and suffering from tuberculosis. Each character in Rent is loosely based on characters in Puccini’s La bohème. After structural editings, numerous readings, and focus group previews, the musical Rent opened on February 13, 1996 at the New York Theatre Workshop with a six-week sold out run. Rent follows a year in the lives of Mark Cohen, a struggling Jewish filmmaker, Roger Davis, the hopeful struggling musician with HIV, Mimi Márquez, the club dancer and a drug addict who has HIV, Tom Collins, a gay anarchist and college professor who suffers from AIDS, Angel, a transvestite who suffers from AIDS, Maureen Johnson, a lesbian performance artist, and Joanne Jefferson, the Ivy League lesbian lawyer who is in a relationship with Maureen, in East Village, New York City from Christmas Eve 1989 to Christmas Eve 1990. The protagonists in this musical are the six friends Mark, Roger, Tom, Angel, Maureen, and Joanne and their antagonist is the struggle to survive the hardships of AIDS, HIV, an...
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...melodies which made this musical so memorable and great. The song “Rent” at the beginning of the musical is a rock song which explains the struggle to get money to pay for rent and how the residents at the building will not pay the rent. Another choral number “Seasons of Love” is probably the most famous song from the musical and it talks about how the seasons are changing and life will still go on. Also the last choral number “Finale B” is also very renowned and it expresses the remaining friends’ joy of being together and realizing that they have this moment and that their lives will continue on. The musical also has many solo numbers including Roger’s heartfelt ballad to write that one song to be his “One Song Glory” and Maureen’s “Over the Moon” which attacked on the idea of building the Cyber Studio and expressed to her audience how corrupt those investors are.
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.
Generation X has finally taken out a lease on the future of theatre, and it looks like it is more than able to pay the "Rent" (Coulbourn 43). "Rent" is a musical for our time, for our generation and for generations to come. It has won numerous Tony Awards including best musical, book, score, lyrics, and ensemble performance. This musical is an excellent representation of cultural religion and it has had a profound impact on society both in the 90's and today. "Rent" is not only a representation of the culture of the new millennium but is an excellent representation of the faith of a new generation.
“He’d look out from under his eyebrows, his cigarette a smoke screen between him and the rest of the world, and nobody knew what he was thinking” (Beddow xi). This is how Margery Beddow describes Bob Fosse in her book, Bob Fosse's Broadway. There is no question about whether or not Fosse was extremely innovative in the world of theatrical dance. His technique, style, personality, and achievements throughout his career speak for themselves. You may have seen him in movies such as Kiss Me Kate, My Sister Eileen, Damn Yankees, The Little Prince, and Thieves, however, he also helped direct and choreograph several of other films such as Sweet Charity, Lenny, All That Jazz, Star 80, and more. Although Fosse did contribute a lot to the film industry,
Many songs were incorporated into the story line, such as “The Sound of Music,” “My Favorite Things,” and “So Long, Farewell.”
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.
What is critically known as the best American musical, Gypsy provides American musical theatregoers with dynamic characters, a captivating story and extraordinary music. Gypsy is an American musical that is based on the self-written book, “The Memoirs of ‘Gypsy Rose Lee’”. It is often referred to as, Gypsy: A Musical Fable. The musical made its debut on May 21, 1959 at The Broadway Theatre in Manhattan. The characters have been subject to many in depth analysis throughout its lifetime, adding a lot of new content and progressive thinking to the world of musical theatre. The history of the musical, musical acts, correlation to the real story of Gypsy Rose Lee, awards won and impact Gypsy had on musical theatre will be discussed in further detail.
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.
In the book West Side Story as Cinema: The Making and Impact of an American Masterpiece by Ernesto R. Acevedo-Munoz, the author makes an evaluative judgement on the musical West Side Story and details the history of the extensive production and the making of the film and also analyzes the cultural controversy and impact of the film on society. Through the use of primary sources and thoroughly researched claims, the author convincingly demonstrates how the production, presentation, and release redefined the conventions of the classical hollywood musical, and the role of cinema in culture as a way of observing and rehearsing social issues.
The broadway hit play Hamilton, written by Lin Manuel Miranda, is viewed as an educational play about Alexander Hamilton, one of the United States’ founding fathers and the first Secretary of the Treasury. The play captures the spirit of Alexander Hamilton’s ambition, eloquence, and mistakes in a revolutionary format-as revolutionary as Hamilton himself! Combining rap, musical theater, and history, Hamilton is an enthralling and entertaining play that is mostly accurate to the real Alexander Hamilton. The details of Hamilton’s life and relationships that were misrepresented in the play to achieve the theatrical flair.
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.
Also the songs really present the build up of certain situations on the stage and put a lot of attitude in the specific scene. For example the “ Jet Song” is the first song in the play. This is sung by a jet and it shows how much of a family they are. Another important song that is sung by Tony is “Something is Coming”. Tony sings this song to express his true feelings about the jets and how he has moved on from them. He has a gut feeling that something wonderful is going to take place soon in his life. Tony also sings a song called “Maria” which is about the girl he fell in love with at first sight. Maria sings a song called “ I feel pretty”. She sings this and explains how she is so in love with tony and she describes how nothing will tear her love with him apart. Riff sings a song called “cool” and it express his attitude and how he carries himself in fights, he means well and wants the best for the gang. All of these songs show how music can be a very powerful tool to express feeling and help be in that character 's
The musical Hamilton, by Lin-Manuel Miranda tells of Alexander Hamilton’s impressive journey from an all but irrelevant street child, to one of the most important men in American politics. It is based off of a true story of growth, heroism, and determination. In writing this musical, Miranda takes a dry, historic story, and turns it into a captivating performance. His project to take the story of Alexander Hamilton and make it relatable to the average American is extraordinarily successful, mostly because the methods by which he does this are unprecedented. His unique methods and practices have resulted in Hamilton being so popular that it was awarded a record breaking sixteen Tony nominations (Paulson). The musical tells how Hamilton doesn’t
The 2000s/ 2010s brought in a wave of movie musicals- adapted from the stage shows. These brought new audiences into the theatre world, and for the first time in 20 years, brought a love to some of the timeless musicals. With slightly altered songs to appeal to a newer audience, these films brought in much needed money into the industry, with films including: Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Hairspray, Mamma Mia, Fame- and many more. Together with this, musicals began to push the concept of the songs in them, with a wave of new styles being written. Rap musicals such as ‘Hamilton’ and ‘In The Heights’, Pop musicals including ‘Waitress’ and ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ and Rock musicals of ‘American Idiot’ and ‘Spring Awakening’. Together they pushed boundaries of a ‘traditional’ musical theatre sound, and brought in something never before seen. Due to the influence of ‘Rent’, controversial issues and themes began to be explored more, such as Teen suicide, Murder, Ethnic barriers and everything else, which brought with them, a world of opportunities. It was clear that musical theatre was once again showing for a promising
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.
Music is an important element of any theatrical work. It sets up the setting, mood, and emotions for the audience. Different songs can tell stories whether sad or happy. In “As You Like It” by William Shakespeare, there are many scenes where the traditional play music can be replaced with modern contemporary and still give the story the same meaning. There are songs that describe the blossoming romance and friendship of Rosalind and Orlando and the theme of reality. And there are others that set up the mood for the setting. The songs that can replace the traditional songs successfully are Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me” and “Spring Waltz by Yiruma. Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” relates to and focuses on the scene in Act One where Rosalind and Orlando begin to fall in love for the first time. Here, we are able to utilize this song and get a different feeling for the scene with a modern perspective.