to musical or not to musical...?
Sat, 21 Aug 2004, 08:16 amWalter Plinge10 posts in thread
to musical or not to musical...?
Sat, 21 Aug 2004, 08:16 amrecently i had a discussion about the musical vs "legitimate" theatre, with some friends of mine, they expressed the veiwpoint that musical theatre cannot be construed as anything close to "real" theatre but as nothing more than a few songs and dances pushed together in an effort to try and make some kind of story... being a student of musical theatre myself i was horrified that anyone so closely involved with the artistic world (one being an actor the other a director of short films) could have such a strong conviction against the musical, i was forced to listen to argument after argument about how there were no real characters, no emotional depth etc etc. i would just like to know if this is a veiwpoint many of the theatre community have adopted or just a minority???
darian
(i did try to post a poll suggestion but either my computer literacy skills are even worse than i thought or it wasnt working!!! ;)
darian
(i did try to post a poll suggestion but either my computer literacy skills are even worse than i thought or it wasnt working!!! ;)
Re: to musical or not to musical...?
Thu, 26 Aug 2004, 05:05 pmWalter Plinge
Paul Treasure wrote:
>
> In the middle of the third act the chorus comes on and starts
> singing:
> “The King is dead. The King is dead. The King is dead. The.
> King. Is. Dead. Dead. Dead. The King. The King. Is dead. The
> King is dead dead dead dead dead dead. The King is dead. The
> King Is Dead. The King, the King, the King. He is Dead.
> Dead. Dead. Yes. Dead. Yes. He. Is. Dead.”
> And in the middle of the front row two American tourists will
> turn around to each other and say:
> “Wilbur, what happened?”
> “I think someone died, Ethel!”
>
> :-)
I was performing in Batavia at the same time as I was rehearsing for Othello, and I remember telling Stephen Lee about the slowly-becoming-legendary ritual murder scene at the tail of the second act. When the name is drawn of the poor unfortunates who are to be executed in order to preserve food stocks, the principals and chorus join forces in a (musically quite terrifying) unravelling of pent-up tension, over a single line of dialogue - the name of the victims: "Franz Jansz of Horn, ship's barber, his wife and son."
This horrifying ensemble escalates and then escalates and then escalates some more, until the poor bastards are dragged onstage by (in this production) yours truly.
Unfortunately, for a confirmed operaphobe like Stephen, it only confirmed his worst prejudices, and as the whole stage ranted on for several minutes over a single line of text, he and my good lady girlfriend (go and see Blood Brothers at Grads!) sat in the gallery sniggering.
Bloody heathens.
> A friend of mine went to see HandelÂ’s Alcina a couple of
> years ago because she knew the lead soprano, when asked what
> she thought she replied that it would have been great if the
> singers had just shut up and let her listen to the musicÂ…
Wasn't it Sir Thomas Beecham who said that opera would terrific if it weren't for the singers?
> There is an old, old argument in opera: “Prima la musica?
> Prima la parole?” [Is that right, David?] First the music or
> first the words.
Antonio Salieri wrote a one-act opera (in a good-natured contest with Mozart, which also resulted in the latter's "The Impresario") called "Prima la Musica, poi le Parole", which literally means, "First the Music, then the Words."
The argument is not new.
> It all depends what you want: do you want MUSICAL theatre or
> do you want musical THEATRE.
Well put. Thanks Paul... I think I'm going to pinch that. :o)
dm.
(who's also not going to be able to see "Faust")
Thou infectious rump-fed bladder!
>
> In the middle of the third act the chorus comes on and starts
> singing:
> “The King is dead. The King is dead. The King is dead. The.
> King. Is. Dead. Dead. Dead. The King. The King. Is dead. The
> King is dead dead dead dead dead dead. The King is dead. The
> King Is Dead. The King, the King, the King. He is Dead.
> Dead. Dead. Yes. Dead. Yes. He. Is. Dead.”
> And in the middle of the front row two American tourists will
> turn around to each other and say:
> “Wilbur, what happened?”
> “I think someone died, Ethel!”
>
> :-)
I was performing in Batavia at the same time as I was rehearsing for Othello, and I remember telling Stephen Lee about the slowly-becoming-legendary ritual murder scene at the tail of the second act. When the name is drawn of the poor unfortunates who are to be executed in order to preserve food stocks, the principals and chorus join forces in a (musically quite terrifying) unravelling of pent-up tension, over a single line of dialogue - the name of the victims: "Franz Jansz of Horn, ship's barber, his wife and son."
This horrifying ensemble escalates and then escalates and then escalates some more, until the poor bastards are dragged onstage by (in this production) yours truly.
Unfortunately, for a confirmed operaphobe like Stephen, it only confirmed his worst prejudices, and as the whole stage ranted on for several minutes over a single line of text, he and my good lady girlfriend (go and see Blood Brothers at Grads!) sat in the gallery sniggering.
Bloody heathens.
> A friend of mine went to see HandelÂ’s Alcina a couple of
> years ago because she knew the lead soprano, when asked what
> she thought she replied that it would have been great if the
> singers had just shut up and let her listen to the musicÂ…
Wasn't it Sir Thomas Beecham who said that opera would terrific if it weren't for the singers?
> There is an old, old argument in opera: “Prima la musica?
> Prima la parole?” [Is that right, David?] First the music or
> first the words.
Antonio Salieri wrote a one-act opera (in a good-natured contest with Mozart, which also resulted in the latter's "The Impresario") called "Prima la Musica, poi le Parole", which literally means, "First the Music, then the Words."
The argument is not new.
> It all depends what you want: do you want MUSICAL theatre or
> do you want musical THEATRE.
Well put. Thanks Paul... I think I'm going to pinch that. :o)
dm.
(who's also not going to be able to see "Faust")
Thou infectious rump-fed bladder!
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