Type of Submission
Podium Presentation
Keywords
Musical theatre, American musical theatre, spectacle, narrative
Abstract
American Musical Theatre is known for its entertaining qualities, but what holds the audience’s attention to stick around for the second act? Is it the dance numbers, the fancy lighting, and the spectacular numbers or is it the story and the characters? Musical theatre always uses a combination of the two elements, but one of two tends to drive an individual musical forward and engage the audience's attention. The conflict of emphasizing spectacle or narrative can bee seen initially at Musical Theatre's conception all the way down to recent shows written by Webber and Sondheim. Spectacle can be understood as the dances, musical numbers, and effects in a show that are used to dazzle the audience. Narrative, on the other hand, is the use of storyline and character development to engage the audience. Through its history, musical theatre has combined these two forces and each show places a higher emphasis on one or the other.
Faculty Sponsor or Advisor’s Name
Dr. Sandra Yang
Campus Venue
Stevens Student Center, Room 246
Location
Cedarville, OH
Start Date
4-16-2014 2:40 PM
End Date
4-16-2014 3:00 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
What Are the Hills Really Alive With?: Spectacle versus Narrative Driven Musical Theatre
Cedarville, OH
American Musical Theatre is known for its entertaining qualities, but what holds the audience’s attention to stick around for the second act? Is it the dance numbers, the fancy lighting, and the spectacular numbers or is it the story and the characters? Musical theatre always uses a combination of the two elements, but one of two tends to drive an individual musical forward and engage the audience's attention. The conflict of emphasizing spectacle or narrative can bee seen initially at Musical Theatre's conception all the way down to recent shows written by Webber and Sondheim. Spectacle can be understood as the dances, musical numbers, and effects in a show that are used to dazzle the audience. Narrative, on the other hand, is the use of storyline and character development to engage the audience. Through its history, musical theatre has combined these two forces and each show places a higher emphasis on one or the other.
