A Chorus Line is a musical that focuses on Broadway dances who are auditioning for spots on a chorus line. Throughout the play, the different backgrounds and struggles of the different dances are shown to the audience, explaining the behavior of the dancers. As the past of each of the dancers is unfolded, the audience understands and appreciates the musical more and more. Not only does A Chorus Line portray the difficulties that performers must overcome to be successful, it also demonstrates the real world fact that not everyone can “make it.”
While A Chorus Line had an interesting plot, the actors brought it to life. Every face had excellent expressions, presenting their characters perfectly. Also, each actor added their own twist on the characters,
The lights helped the audience determine who was speaking, by putting a spotlight over the actor and dimming the rest of the lights. Also, the color of the lights changed according to each scene and the mood for that particular scene. For instance, a musical number about a character’s tragic past would include soft, golden lighting while a scene about dancing in dance class might include purple lights to show the overall mood of the scene. In addition, the costumes used in the musical added even more life to the musical by providing a visual representation of each character and his or her personality. The costumes allowed the audience to determine the character traits of each character while also deciding the type of homes the characters came from. For instance, one of the characters was dressed in pants and a shirt that would normally be seen worn by an older man or a father. This lead the audience to believe that the character might be an older person who has a family of his own. Later, it was revealed that the character actually had a wife and two kids, proving the audience
The lighting along with the music becomes dim and depressing when Doris reminisces because they also need to reflect her mood. There is also a great use of blackouts in the play. The blackouts represent a
Throughout the years, America has pursued the performing arts in a large variety of ways. Theatre plays a dramatic and major role in the arts of our society today, and it takes great effort in all aspects. Musical Theatre, specifically, involves a concentration and strength in dance, acting, and singing. This is the base that Musical Theatre is built upon. For my Senior Project, I helped choreograph multiple scenes in a community musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie”. Choreography is a way of expressing oneself, but it has not always been thought of for that purpose. Agnes de Mille’s expressive talent has drastically affected how people see choreography today. Agnes de Mille’s influence in the world of dance has left a lasting impact in the Performing Arts Department, and her revolutionary works are still known today for their wit, lyricism, emotion, and charm.
It is curious to see the great star of the musical Wicked on Broadway, Indina Menzel, giving her voice to a character in Disney’s Movie, Frozen. This movie, that is an example of success, has won many awards, among them the Oscar for the best animation movie and music. However, does a musical produced in a theater such as Les Miserables or Chicago have the same success and prestige as the movie version? The advance of technology in the field of cinema that has been possible to adapt and improve the stories of books, real facts, and of course, musical theater presentations, makes everyone think the answer is no. Hence, even though the musicals produced in theater and for movies are very similar in the presentations, they have certain differences, such as audience and production that make one more successful than the other.
This paper is an examination of the movie Drumline. It presents a few characters, their mentality, screw ups in the movie, and a short synopsis of the movie itself. Drumline, a movie fixated on the exceptional rivalry and pomp of the Marching Bands of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities of the South. The marching bands set the structure for Drumline a movie around a talented, yet cocky adolescent drummer who understands that it takes more than ability to succeed. Drumline is a heartbeat beating musical drama around a youthful, undisciplined, freshman drummer who tries to fit into a disciplined show-style marching band at an anecdotal school in Atlanta. Drumline is a fascinating, yet humanist, investigation of the dangers
short summary of what the play is about. The chorus is in the form of
The sound design and choreography intensified the overall musical. They created the time, place, and mood through rhythm and great energy. The actors had wireless, behind the ear mikes, that attached to the mike pack which amplified the sound, making it very clear. I could easily understand what they were talking about or singing.
In modern theatres today we do not have a chorus, as it would obscure the view of the play and maybe set the wrong atmosphere as modern audiences are less willing to suspend their disbelief and want things to be as realistic.
This fearlessness was something that Broadway idealized, ultimately opening the doors for playwrights and composers to speak their mind by means of the shows they produced. A few leading shows in this field were the musicals Chicago, Pacific Overtures, and A Chorus Line. Each of the three plays tackled their own social injustices all while also embedding individualized views of the glorified American Dream inside their works. Chicago and A Chorus Line take you behind the scenes in the world of Broadway, one tackling the injustices of the media and glorification of crime, and the other puts a light on the “small people” often forgotten in
The Music Man made interesting use of the technical aspects of theatre. Sound was used appropriately, as music from the monitors did not overpower the voices of the actors. Lights, however, did not leave any sort of impression on me. Hardly any lights were utilized to enhance the mood were present. This caused for less emphasization on spectacle than what would be expected of such a dramatic play. Although, intricate costumes and set made up for the dull lighting techniques.
As in all genres, the musicals have had its share of failures. Some worthy dramas have been pressed into service and musicalized and sometimes butchered in the process, and audiences have had to watch a fine play diluted into a mediocre musical. But the successes have been many and spectacular and they have left a long lasting effect on the American art and culture.
What is critically known as the best American musical, Gypsy provides American musical theatregoers with dynamic characters, a captivating story and extraordinary music. Gypsy is an American musical that is based on the self-written book, “The Memoirs of ‘Gypsy Rose Lee’”. It is often referred to as, Gypsy: A Musical Fable. The musical made its debut on May 21, 1959 at The Broadway Theatre in Manhattan. The characters have been subject to many in depth analysis throughout its lifetime, adding a lot of new content and progressive thinking to the world of musical theatre. The history of the musical, musical acts, correlation to the real story of Gypsy Rose Lee, awards won and impact Gypsy had on musical theatre will be discussed in further detail.
Within the last few decades we've seen a huge resurgence in the popularity of the musical. With shows like Hamilton, Wicked, and Once, musicals have become more modern, edgy, and overall more accessible to a wide range of patrons of the arts. In this, the movie musical has also seen a regrowth in popularity – with reinventions of classic musicals like Hairspray (2007), Sweeny Todd (2007), and Les Miserables (2012) and original movie musicals like La La Land (2016) and Across the Universe (2007).
thesis of how the musical brought our inner child out to realize our true struggles in life.
Theatre has heavily evolved over the past 100 years, particularly Musical Theatre- a subgenre of theatre in which the storyline is conveyed relying on songs and lyrics rather than dialogue. From its origination in Athens, musical theatre has spread across the world and is a popular form of entertainment today. This essay will discuss the evolution and change of musical theatre from 1980-2016, primarily focusing on Broadway (New York) and the West End (London). It will consider in depth, the time periods of: The 1980s: “Brit Hits”- the influence of European mega musicals, the 1990s: “The downfall of musicals”- what failed and what redeemed, and the 2000s/2010s: “The Resurgence of musicals”- including the rise of pop and movie musicals. Concluding
In a 20th Century production the chorus perform a seemingly less essential role. As there would be ample amplification of sound the chorus could be projected to the role of town folk who would fit into the structure of the play neatly.