Musical Theatre Essay

Musicals and Opera are both very similar forms of Musical Theatre that involve singing, acting and dancing. But they also have important differences. Musicals and Opera differ in the importance of the words, the number of people attending each year, and the style of music they use. Many people enjoy both kinds of musical theatre, both in performing them and being in the audience. It is a form of expression enjoyed by all generations.

There have been many debates on whether or not Broadway musicals are considered “serious” art forms. People feel that a musical can never be taken seriously if the character is always singing sporadically, which is very unusual in real life. However, musicals have been around for quite some time now, many musicals are being adapted into major motion pictures, many children are raised on the famous Disney musical cartoons and everybody( whether they’ll admit it or not) has seen at least one musical in their lifetime and are able to sing some of the songs from it. It seems that musicals have made an impact on society but yet are still not taken seriously.

The music played throughout all of the concerts adhered to be diverse. The instruments, the individuals performing, and the conductor all proved to be outstanding. The concerts proved to be interesting as I witnessed them, first hand.

The narrator leaves Jacksonville for New York because the cigar factory that he was working in shut down permanently. Instead of getting a job at a different factory in town, the narrator decided to join some other works and go to New York for work. On his first night in New York, he starts out at a house that has been converted into a bar. He plays at a craps table and finds out that he is actually really good. Later on in the night they go to a place called the Club. The music within the club is ragtime and it resignated with the narrator.

Gershwin based Porgy and Bess off of DuBose Heyward‘s novel Porgy written in 1925. Gershwin had been waiting to write an opera that could meld classical and jazz techniques and in 1926 he believed he had found the story that would allow for that. Gershwin was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera in 1930 to compose a great, uniquely American opera. However, in order for his opera to be performed in conjunction with the novel it had been based on, it needed an all Negro cast. At that time the Metropolitan Opera didn’t allow for Negro performers. All of the black roles usually at that time were done in blackface and that was not what Gershwin wanted. So Gershwin looked elsewhere and he and Heyward later found that it could be produced by Theatre Guild with an all Negro cast.

The main character of the story was William. William was a Native American from Spokane, Washington (54). He was a business man, and he had a wife and child. They were both Native American, as well. His wife’s name was Marie, and his daughter’s name was Grace. The cab driver’s name was Fekadu, and he was from Ethiopia.

Over the course of approximately one-hundred years there has been a discernible metamorphosis within the realm of African-American cinema. African-Americans have overcome the heavy weight of oppression in forms such as of politics, citizenship and most importantly equal human rights. One of the most evident forms that were withheld from African-Americans came in the structure of the performing arts; specifically film. The common population did not allow blacks to drink from the same water fountain let alone share the same television waves or stage. But over time the strength of the expectant black actors and actresses overwhelmed the majority force to stop blacks from appearing on film. For the longest time the performing arts were

In 1965 Robert Wise presented the world with his smashing box office hit film, The Sound of Music. Over time it has become known as one of the most loved and well-known musicals of all time. Shortly after its release it won many Academy awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Sound, Best Adapted Score, Best Film Editing, Best Film-Musical, Best Color Cinematography, and Best Costume design (Freiden par3). The movie is based upon the true story of the VonTrapp family and allows its audience to relive their family experience as well as their flight from Nazism just before the outbreak of World War Two.

Two great writers of American musical theatre, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, had one idea in common. They wanted to present to the American public a new and revolutionary musical that would stand out above the rest. They wanted to make an impact on the societies of the era. They wanted to be creative and do something that was considered rebellious. When they finally combined their ideas together they created an American masterpiece in musical theatre: Oklahoma!. It was the first Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration, starting the most successful creative partnership in the history of American musical theatre.

Music Production Schools Online: Who’s Doing It Right? Finding an accredited and trustworthy school online can be a hassle. The options may seem as though they are endless, but the real question still remains; How do you choose the right online production school? The journey of starting a career in the music production industry doesn’t require a degree but that doesn’t make it a simple industry to get started in.

Porgy and Bess is a play written by three Caucasian men. The play was written in the 1920s- 1930s. Around this time racism was strong as ever. White people already didn't think much of us. It took place in a small town in South Carolina called Catfish Row. The apartments sat close to a beach. Throughout the play, there was plenty of ways that portrayed African American in a negative way. Porgy and Bess is the epitome of how Caucasians thought of African Americans and the way we live.

Musical Theatre is an art that I always envisioned myself pursing at the collegiate level and what I want to make a career out of as well. My perfect musical theatre program that I would want, would be a program that would help me to achieve a better understanding of who I am as a musical theatre artist first and then hopefully I can expand my artistic goals and further develop myself through whichever institution that I am attending. The musical theatre training that I have received in high school through my creative arts high school New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) whether its been in dance, vocal, acting, or the productions that I have been cast

Composers rely heavily on ritornello form. More freedom in the form although a sinfonia proper is later developed.

     "The arts of the western world have been largely dominated by the artistic standards established by the Greeks of the classical period" (Spreloosel 86). It is from the Greek word theatron, meaning a place for sitting, that we get our word theater. According to James Butler, "The Greeks were the first people to erect special structures to bring audiences and theatrical performers together" (27). "The theaters were normally located near a populated area at the bottom of or cut out of a carefully selected, sloping hillside overlooking a seascape, a plain, or a city" (Butler 30). "They eventually with few exceptions consisted of three distinct parts: theatron

“In roughly built playhouses and cobblestone inn yards, an extraordinary development took place in England in the 1500s.” (Yancey, 8). At that time, an opportunity combined to produce literature achievement never before witnessed in the history of drama and theater. The renaissance, helped spark this movement by inspiring scientific and artistic creativity throughout the land. Models began writing dramas that portrayed life in both realistic and imaginative ways. This created work later captured the attention of the world that changed the English drama. The many aspects of Elizabethan theater helped to shape the acting and theater world forever.