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Musical Theatre: Catherine Vice

Musical TheatrePerforming Arts (Performance)


Genres of musical theatre

• Opera*• Operetta*• Musical Comedy*• Variety (can include vaudeville and revue)*• Broadway Musical*• British Musical*• Pantomime*• Music Theatre


Structure of a musical

• Book• Music• Lyrics• Song structures• Function• Types• Sung through versus book musicals• Character and plot development


What is musical theatre?

• A musical is a stage, television or film production utilizing popular-style songs and dialogue to either tell a story (book musicals) and/or showcase the talents of varied performers (variety/music hall and/or revue).


Opera

• An introduction

• History

• Claudio Monteverdi

• Two main components of opera

• 1: Recitative (dialogue set to music)

• 2. Aria (emotionally invested songs)


Terms used in classical music and opera

• Oratario

• Cantata

• Overture

• Male and female singer classifications


Developments in opera

• 1756-1791: influence of Mozart

• Beethoven: Fidelio

• Late 1700s: two sub-genres:• Seria (grand, serious opera)

• Opera buffa (comic opera – lower working classes and precursors of operettas a precursor for the modern musical)

• Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi


French opera

• Importance of the text

• Standard construction of opera

• Opera Comique becomes more popular than opera seria


Venetian Opera

• 1637: Teatro di San Cassiano• Popular appeal• Love duet


Italian Opera

• Scarlatti

• Neapolitan opera

• Showcase for singers virtuosity


German Opera

• Georg Friedrich Handel (1685-1759)

• The Beggar’s Opera

• Beethoven


Developments in Opera

• Opera seria versus opera buffa, opera comique, ballad opera and Singspiel

• Influence of Gluck (integrated music with drama)

• Mozart ane the grand finale

• Influence of Wagner

• Influence of Debussy


Operetta

• Little opera

• Spoken and not sung through

• Precursor of the modern musical comedy

• La Belle Helene (1864) by Jacques Offenbach

• Die Fledermaus (1874) by Johann Strauss Jr.

• Gilbert and Sullivan


Gilbert and Sullivan

• Pirates of Penzance

• The Mikado


Other famous operettas

• Bitter Sweet by Noel Coward

• Candide by Leonard Bernstein

• King of Vagabonds

• Romberg

• Ivor Novello


French Revolution

• French revolution and growing romantic spirit• The rescue opera, i.e. Beethoven’s Fidelio (1805) (also termed as Romantic Operas)

• Typical plot: principal character is in prison as a result of political act; rescue achieved by ordinary characters in credible way.

• Music is fused with words and action, rather than a series of arias.

• Claude Debussy Pelleas: first modern opera. Debussy used exact words of a medieval play by Maeterlinck and not a libretto.


The Grand Opera

• Les Vestale (1807)• Les Huguenots• Visual spectacle


Opera Bouffe

• Equivalents: – opera buffa,

– opera comique– ballad opera

– singspiel


Realistic opera

• Verismo (verita = truth)• Real life characters and not classical

Greek mythological themes.• Wagner – orchestra becomes part of the

whole drama


The Musical

• Definition• Musical components• Composer• Lyricist• Book writer (script)


Comic Operas

• Early developments• Comic Operas• Seven Sisters


Musical Comedy

• Early developments• Farcical musical comedy• Cole Porter


History of musical theatre

• The Black Crook• The roaring twenties• The Gershwins / Cole Porter / Irving Berlin• Show Boat• Al Jolson• Jerome Kern


Twentieth Century

• British imports• Floradora (1900)• The Wizard of Oz• Schuberts and commercialism• George M Cohan• The Merry Widow (1907)


History of Musical Theatre

• Ziegfield and the Follies• Black musicals• Developments in the thirties• Rodgers and Hart


Burlesques and Pantomimes

• Burlesques• Pantomime• Burlesque Extravaganza


Variety Theatre

• Music Hall

• Vaudeville

• The Revue

• Irving Berline

• Tacky revues

• Noel Coward and the British Revue


The Golden Age of Musicals

• 1940s/1950s/1960s


Oklahoma

• Defining a new genre

• Integrated music, dance and singing

• New age of the composer, lyricist and book writer all serving one dramatic purpose.


Broadway Musicals changing

• Rock Operas

• Concept musicals

• Corporate Musicals

• Stephen Sondheim


British Musicals

• Ivor Novello

• Noel Coward

• Gilbert and Sullivan

• Oh What A Lovely War!

• Andrew Lloyd Webber

• Cameron Mackintosh


Music Theatre

• What is it?

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