musical theater

A live theatrical production, a musical typically offers a simple but entertaining plot with spoken dialogue interspersed with music, song, and dance. It is also called musical comedy or musical theater.

The emotional content of musical theatre, mainly its story and aspects like love, anger, humor, and pathos, are communicated via words, movement, music, and technical enhancement, all integrated together into one. Musical theatre is unique because it falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of dance to opera.

Musical theater majors often produce shows as part of their educational experience, and may assume roles in the production that involve dancing, singing and acting. They may also be involved in directing other performers in the production, and may also help with special effects, props and set pieces.

The most important element in a musical is that everyone is writing the same show. Musical theatre is one of the most collaborative art forms there is; composers, lyricists, directors, actors, choreographers, orchestrators, and producers all have their fingers in the pie.

Most songs in musical theatre have a verse and a chorus. Often the verse is sung by one character, and several characters join in for the chorus, like in Summer Nights in Grease. Many songs also include a bridge or coda. Musical songs will be about 32 bars long in an AABA form.

Musical theatreMusicals set out to entertain through a combination of:

• Catchy music in a popular style.
• Solo songs, duets, choruses and ensembles.
• Orchestra or band accompaniment.
• Spoken dialogue.
• Dance sequences, stage spectacles and magnificent costumesMusical theatre combines music, songs, spoken dialogue and dance.

Music can reveal the inner emotional life of a character, foreshadow a vicious attack or budding love, or comment on the action onstage. According to the first theatrical scholar, Aristotle, the six elements that make up any drama are plot, character, thought, diction, music, and spectacle.

Traditional Musical Theatre Vocal characteristics include crisp, percussive diction, strong chest belting, interesting vocal dynamics and more dominant female characters and voices.

Characteristics of music include: sound, melody, harmony, rhythm or the driving beats in a measure or section of music, structure or form, texture, and expression. Music is made or created by using sound from human voices or instruments.

Most importantly, musical theatre fosters a social awareness through exposure to the social issues, events and cultures that are portrayed in the scripts. These very things help students to develop an ability to understand works of literature, performance and expression in general.

The key elements of a musical include dialogue, music, song, choreography, and characters. Musical theatre is a captivating and immersive art form that integrates these elements seamlessly to create powerful and memorable theatre.

Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole.