Transcript Musical Theatre`s Essentials 20141016

Musical Theatre’s
Essentials
Ms. Lirette
Fall 2014
Structure
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Shows since Rogers and Hammerstein
Succeed due to their structure
Even when the audience doesn’t know it.
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Until Show Boat (1927), musicals were
mostly revue-style shows
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Librettos with stock characters
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Cliché situations
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Songs and plots not necessarily linked
Tin Pan Alley
Vaudeville
Spice of 1922
Shuffle Along
Broadway
1921
first financially successful
Broadway play to have
African-American writers and an
all African-American cast
Songs and Theatre
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Intellectual and emotional response
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Connected to the plot?
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What is the aim of a song?
Possible aims of a theatrical song
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Pleasant musical interlude
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In integrated musicals
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Tell something about the character
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Create the proper mood for a scene
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Advance the plot
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Disadvantages to this model? Songs may NEED the context of the show to succeed.
Sell the show “production number”