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Exploring Musicals: Key Features and Iconic Works in Theatre

This presentation provides an overview of key elements of musicals, emphasizing their role in storytelling through music. It discusses popular styles, structural components like solos, duets, and choruses, and how they are interwoven with dialogue. The historical evolution of musicals is traced from early successes like "Show Boat" and collaborations between renowned figures such as Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lloyd Webber and Rice. Additionally, it examines notable works, including "West Side Story," highlighting its modern interpretation of classic themes, and features songs from iconic productions like "Oliver!" and "Cabaret."

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Exploring Musicals: Key Features and Iconic Works in Theatre

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Presentation Transcript

  1. Songs from Musicals Popular Song in Context part 4 This presentation summarises the information which can be found in the Student’s Guide to GCSE Music (Rhinegold)

  2. The Musical – what is it? • A theatrical work in which music plays a central function. • Music is usually in a popular style – jazz/rock etc • Structures and devices are borrowed from opera • Music has to tell a dramatic story and create convincing characters

  3. …. • A musical will have: • Solo songs • Duets • Choruses • Ensembles • Recitative • All of the above is usually separated by sections of dialogue.

  4. Sources of musicals • Usually books, plays, could be the Bible … or original storylines. • Can you name the musicals from which these are the sources?....

  5. A Charles Dickens novel?

  6. A Victor Hugo Novel?

  7. Shakespeare plays?

  8. A TS Eliot collection of poetry?

  9. The book of Exodus?

  10. The story of a President’s wife?

  11. Background • Started in America – one of the first successes was Show Boat (1927) by Jerome Kern. • Rodgers (music) and Hammerstein (words) was one of the great collaborations in the 1940s and 50s

  12. Rodgers and Hammerstein

  13. 1950s • The musical declined a bit in popularity in the 50s and 60s – probably because of the onset of rock and pop music • However Bernstein’s West Side Story was one exception – and one of the greatest musicals ever written. We will be looking at it later.

  14. Lloyd Webber and Rice • Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Tim Rice (words) were another famous partnership of the 1960s and 70s, though ‘Joseph’ (1968) was originally written for a school.

  15. Lloyd Webber and others!

  16. Other hit shows • Lionel Bart had one major hit show – Oliver! • Grease and Saturday Night Fever were major shows of the 70s, though they started out as films • Anderson and Ulvaeus – the guys from Abba – had a hit in the 80s with Chess

  17. Schonberg and Boublil • A major partnership in the 80s and 90s

  18. The musical today • Some new musicals are being written, but the major hits are either revamps of older musicals – such as The Producers – or musicals which are collated from songs with a loose (often very dodgy!) storyline written around them – see over for examples…

  19. ‘Hotch potch’ musicals

  20. Case study – West Side Story • Up to date version of Romeo and Juliet set in 1950s New York’s violent West Side. • The ‘two households both alike in dignity’ become two rival street gangs – the Jets (locals) and the Sharks (Puerto Rican immigrants). • Tony becomes Romeo and Maria becomes Juliet. • The masked ball becomes a gym dance, and the balcony scene is played out on a rusty fire escape (‘Tonight’). • The theme remains the same – love across the racial divide. The story – as in the play – ends in tragedy.

  21. Types of ‘number’ in WSS • Solo/duet character number (‘Maria’, ‘I have a love’ – solos; ‘Tonight’, ‘One hand, one heart’, ‘Somewhere’, ‘A boy like that’ – duets) • Action song – ‘Something’s coming’, ‘Tonight’ (quintet) • Chorus – ‘Jet song’, ‘Officer Krupkie’, ‘America’ – lots of dancing • All these types of song have been borrowed from opera – Bernstein was essentially a ‘classical’ composer

  22. Two more songs from musicals • ‘Consider Yourself’ (Oliver) • ‘Cabaret’ (Cabaret)

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