In thinking about next year’s musical I don’t want you to think of specific musicals, but the type of musical do you want to perform. We are a school, thus focused on education and your teachers, Ms Houge and Ms. Figg-Franzoi would like to make the most of your four years here by exposing different types of musicals to you. We also would like to know your thoughts, you might sway our opinions and choices and you might not, but we’d like your voices to be heard.
Musical Theatre History/Genres
Opera
: a drama set to music and made up of vocal pieces with orchestral accompaniment and orchestral overtures.
- Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas
- Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)
- Gioachino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)
- Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata
- Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
Ballad opera
- The Beggar’s Opera, a ballad opera in three acts by John Gay
Operetta
- Candide by Leonard Bernstein
- Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta’s
Book musicals
: a musical adaptation of novels or stories
- “Cats” based on T.S. Eliot’s witty collection Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
- “Man of La Mancha” based on Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
Concept Musical
: a ‘concept musical’ is a musical where the show’s metaphor or statement is more important than the actual narrative. Concept musicals were introduced in the late 1960s, and became more popular in the 1970s. The concept musical’s non-linear structure and focus on theme are suggestive of the works of Bertolt Brecht
- Leonard Bernstein’s Candide and West Side Story
- Allegro (1947) by Rodgers and Hammerstein
- Love Life (1948) by Weill and Lerner.
- Pippin, written by Stephen Schwartz
Film Musicals
: a musical based on a film. These could be filmed musicals, animated shows or films with music written for them to turn them into a musical. While many people enjoy them more, they are traditionally less challenging since the conception of the musical is by a Hollywood director and not trained composer and writer team.
- Monty Python’s Spamalot
- Any Disney musical
- Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
- Little Shop of Horrors
- Xanadu
Jukebox musical
- American Idiot Green Day
- Rock of Ages
- Mamma Mia!
Mega-musicals
: these behemoths, substance took a backseat to the spectacle, and occasional hints of humor were buried in oceans of soap opera sentiment. Although these tech-heavy presentations came with a high price tag, the best mega-musicals ran for decades, selling tickets to millions of people
- Les Miserables
- Phantom of the Opera
Famous Musical Teams
: two people work together for years creating many musicals.
- Lerner and Loewe (1940-1960’s)
- Brigadoon
- My Fair Lady
- Gigi
- Camelot
- Rodgers and Hammerstein (1940-1960’s)
- George and Ira Gershwin (1920-1930’s)
So, now that you know more, what type of musical would you like to do next year?
Act Out 