Musical theatre

词作：
流行歌 vs 音乐剧曲目

formally travelled the same road

因为音乐剧要紧贴剧本 所以走上了不同的道路

the theatre lyrics has maintained its sense of ‘form’ over the
century

1、 AABA Popular Song Form

Verse: set the mood that doesn’t return and isn’t reprised when
succeeding choruses are sung

R&h time: shorten to 10 lines

A- A strong statement
A- Repetition
B- Contrast with a new statement
A- Return to the original statement

2、 ABAC Song Tune Form

More intensity (final becomes climactic

Often “split down the middle”

3、 Verse Chorus Form

Verse ‘list song’ eight lines
Chorus not more than 4 lines

4、 Other forms: AABAA ABA…

5、 Free forms
Sondheim songs!
Closer to a classical or symphonic one

Lerner and loewe as well as Gershwin kern coward hart arlen and
Hammerstein always have a preponderance of AABA in their shows; younger,
perhaps more showbiz people like kander and ebb, jerry herman adams
and strouse johns and schimide generally lean forwards ABAC form. Cole
porter, always the master of form, usually come out 50-50 as did
Sondheim in his early works. ALW use verse-chorus forms

musical

the subtext

book/concept/jukebox/biographical/revue/musical comedy

book musical:

story-based; story drives the songs and characters; every song grows out of the plot

concept musical:

revolve around an idea; exploring the ways to tell a story; disconnected plot line

biograpichal musical

musical comedy: borrow the idea of operetta and melodrama

revue musical:

《曼珠沙华》——梅艳芳

《喝采》——陈百强 张国荣
song cycle: a collection of songs with or without a theme

Song for A New World (MTI)

TIMELINE

early forms of Entertainment

operetta-from Europe

vaudeville-variety show

burlesque-with adultery element

minstrel show-to mock black ppl

revue-big business

the golden age

R&H （fully-integrated）

The orchestration sound the way the costumes look

Oklahoma!:

话剧改编。 Keep it true.

1、 No star actors

2、 Unusual opening number

Oh what a beautiful morning

The dream ballet Agnes de Mille

Rodeo（Aaron Copland）

3、 conditional love song

(the “if” song) people will say we are in love

4、

60s-70s

Sondheim

British musicals
90s and disney’s

2000s and nowadays

show boat (1927)

first adapeted from a serious novel

solid storyline complicated subject matter

dramatic tension

in an era of willful nonsense

George and ira Gershwin： porgy and bess (summertime)

Cole porter: anything goes (1934) ragtime feel-good musical

Irving berlin: white Christmas (1942)

Annie, get your gun

Kurt weill: 三分钱歌剧 (波西米亚)

Soliloquy: a character speaks to himself or herself

Monologue & soliloquy

兩者如何互相轉化

La La Land

Audition Scene

City of Stars

Soliloquy: taking the audience through the journey

情感宣泄?
喃喃自语？
作为独白的作用？
刻奇发生在什么地方？
情感的单一性？
Self-reflection
Emotion expressing
多样化情感表达是缺失的
hook line