Lloyd Webber’s widely regarded masterpiece Phantom Of The Opera uses key motifs and themes throughout the musical to establish its characters and scenes in an effective manner. Throughout the production the motifs, themes and songs all develop to reflect the changes their respective characters undergo. This is particularly evident when analysing The Phantom, his motifs and songs, and how they develop throughout the story. Lloyd Webber has connected many reprises and motifs with The Phantom, all used for different purposes throughout the musical. During the opening auction scene set in 1905, Webber establishes the mood and atmosphere through the use of the three key motifs; the masquerade motif, mysterious phantom motif and the Phantom of the …show more content…
Starting with “A collectors piece indeed,” this motif is accompanied by a series of eerie and mysterious chords played at a soft dynamic by very few instruments. Along with the minor tonality of this phrase this motif establishes a mysterious and ominous atmosphere and in doing so it eludes and foreshadows the coming events of the musical. Furthermore, whilst the audience may not yet identify this theme with the phantom, Lloyd Webbers uses the above techniques and the excruciatingly slow tempo to associate this motif with a sense of danger and mystery. This early establishment of a key motif proves essential, as this recurring motif later signifies the presence of The Phantom, and thus a great sense of danger and …show more content…
This is the third motif introduced throughout the musical and directly follows the previous two. As the auctioneer introduces lot 666, the chandelier, he recalls the “mysterious incident of the phantom of the opera.” Whilst the Phantom is seemingly nowhere in the scene the earlier mysterious phantom motif instantly accompanies his brief story. At this stage Lloyd Webber clearly establishes the connection between the phantom of opera and the mysterious phantom motif, as the associated reprise signifies the presence or relevance of the Phantom to a certain scene although he is not directly there. As before, this motif remains ominous and mysterious as the minor tonality, thin texture and soft dynamic once again reflects the secretive and mysterious nature of The Phantom. However, in a slight development of the motif it transitions to a series of dark, low-pitched chords consisting of long sustained notes when the auctioneer says, “Perhaps we may even frighten away the ghost of so many years ago.” Accompanied by the rise in intensity, pitch and volume of the auctioneer’s voice, these dissonant chords establish a sense of tension, heightening the already founded mysterious atmosphere. This tension is finally released when the chandelier is illuminated and in a sudden change of mood, the Phantom Of the Opera motif is heard for the
	In Act I Scene I, the opening scene, there are many audio and visual aids used. When all of the girls gather in the woods, mysterious music is playing. As the women get further and further into the forest, the scenery gets darker. When all of the ladies are gathered around the pot, whispering is used to catch the attention of the viewers. As the scene continues one of the persons starts singing a voodoo song. A girl takes a dead chicken and drinks the blood from it. By now everyone is running wild jumping and screaming. One girl feels the urge to get naked and dance around. By now the governor has entered the scene. The maidens see him and recognize him. They all frantically run away, except two. One is screaming because of what she has seen. She claims to not be able to move. The other one is holding her staring off into an endless gaze.
Irving uses imagery to help readers imagine the past and also impact the theme of supernatural. Irving writes, “The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions; star shoot and meteors glare oftener across the valley than in any other part of the country, and the nightmare, with her whole ninefold, seems to make it the favorite scene of her gambols. The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a head” (Irving 3-4). Once again, Irving makes a reference to the hessian soldier, the Headless Horseman, which brings back the past of the revolutionary war, he does this by using imagery in explaining what he looks like. This also ties in with the theme of supernatural. Irving also describes, “ There was a contagion in the very air that blew from that haunted region; it breathed forth an atmosphere of dreams and fancies infecting all the land” (Irving 1). This helps us readers imagine the atmosphere and the theme of supernatural within the town. The mentioning of the hauntings brings up the past once
Based on a series of Brothers Grimm fairy tales, Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods (1987) focuses on fairy tale characters such as Cinderella, Jack and Little Red Riding Hood’s wish of life fulfillment. Numerous fairy tales are intertwined with one new tale in attempt to carry the childhood stories into an adult realm without ridding of their child-based sensibilities. (Knapp, 2009.) Little Red’s song, “I know things now” is performed after she escapes the wolf’s belly. It is a reflection song on what she has learnt from the experience of speaking to strangers. Sondheim cleverly integrates musical devises such as key, modulation, pitch, accompaniment, dynamics, motif and rhythm alongside language and literary devices to contribute to the development and growth of the character and story.
The first section, which lasts for the first 35 seconds, has a predominant non-diegetic foreground and a subtle diegetic background. The foreground segment corresponds to a musical score made by multiple violins playing a lengthy discordant piece. It is characterised for its high pitched notes which create a feeling of tension and anticipation to the audience. On the contrary, the background sounds, which encompasses both, the ripping paper and Marion’s body movements, are both diegetic and lower in intensity and volume in comparison to the forefront. It is possible to affirm that the background noises do not play a major role in the fragment but rather complete the picture the audience is
thesis of how the musical brought our inner child out to realize our true struggles in life.
Hanan, Partick and Yu Li. Silent Operas. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1990.
The Lion King musical is a well-known musical that has taken the stages of Broadway, West End and the rest of the world by storm (The Lion King, 1997). Regarding the process of the musical, Artistic Director Julie Taymor’s first thoughts for choosing the Lion King as the next big thing on stage, was classed as ‘impossible’ due to the film’s lack of theatrical material (The Lion King, 1997). Therefore, staging this particular work contained a great deal of uncertainty and the need for taking huge risks. Taymor (1997) suggests how ‘the Lion King was the worst idea possible to create a stage show.’ It has become evident that a number of significant barriers had to be overcome to secure the practicality of the production. In view of this controversy, this dissertation will critically analyse the success of the Lion King by exploring two significant aspects that have helped to make the musical a success. Firstly, the essential components that make up this theatrical production will be explored and secondly, the roles of each producer within the Lion King and their combined and individual influences they have had from the production will be evaluated. By analysing these two central themes, this paper will show how and why this musical has developed and achieved its phenomenal success.
The reader’s first impression that this play revolves around a recurring theme of dreams is from the title. As the title suggests, dreams are going to and do, essentially play a very important role in this production because major events that occur within the play are all centered on and around the characters’ dreams. A second clue regarding the role of dreams is found in ...
But while young people may be wooed to opera with overdone productions, they are not likely to become devotees unless they are captured with beautifully sung music. Otherwise, it's back to The Phantom Menace, where the scenery doesn't get stuck.
Mysterious, fun, dramatic, and contemporary summarized the main genres of music played. Occasionally, pop music from China played, to put a modern twist on the performance. To me, the music resembled adding cherries to the cake, as it added theatrics to the show. I also liked the lighting component. This department used different colors that represented the emotions of the story. Such as (Blue: calm, Green/Yellow: Happiness, Red: War, White: Peace and freedom). This enhanced the background scenery of the stage as well as the props. I had undergone quite a few emotions during this performance. Such as fear for the performers safety, shock for the stunts, and even anger for the show being too
The phantom takes the eerie and unpleasant scrooge on a journey to make him realize what he is leading himself into by being his old miserable self. The future does not look pleasant for scrooge as he is dead throughout the vision however, joy is the only emotion the ghost of Christmas yet to come can show scrooge over the passing of that lonely man.
Sound is what brings movies to life, but, not many viewers really notice. A film can be shot with mediocre quality, but, can be intriguing if it has the most effective foley, sound effects, underscore, etc. Sound in movies band together and unfold the meaning of the scenes. When actors are speaking, the dialogue can bring emotion to the audience, or, it can be used as the ambient sound. Music is one of the main things to have when filmmaking. The use of Claudia Gorbman’s Seven Principles of Composition, Mixing and Editing in Classical Film gives audiences a perspective of sound, and, how it can have an impact on them.
The Phantom of the Opera directed by Joel Schumacher is the 2004 adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1986 musical of the same name. The Phantom of the Opera stars Gerard Butler as the Phantom, Emmy Rossum as Christine Daaé, and Patrick Wilson as Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny, who are embroiled in a love triangle. The film was met with generally mixed and negative reviews: Schumacher’s use of mise-en-scène, cinematography and editing, as well as symbolism contributes to the production of The Phantom of the Opera.
Twelfth Night or What You Will is one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies. It has been performed hundreds of times and adapted into a number of modern films. The main plot of the play follows Viola, a girl who is rescued from a shipwreck and enters into the service of the Duke Orsino disguised as a man. Rising quickly in his estimation, Viola begins delivering messages of love on his behalf to Olivia, a noble woman who has no interest in Orsino’s advances. Over the course of the play Olivia falls in love with the disguised Viola, Viola falls in love with Orsino, and Viola’s twin brother Sebastian, who supposedly died in the shipwreck, returns. Following Sebastian’s return the twins are mistaken for each other, leading to both misunderstanding and marriage in the final scenes of the play. Alongside the main plot of Twelfth Night is an almost equally prominent subplot involving Malvolio, a servant of Olivia, who falls in love with her and who falls prey to a prank planned by the other members of the household who despise his abhorrence of fun. In the article “The Design of Twelfth Night” by L.G. Salingar, Salingar examines the plot and structure of the play and addresses the significance of the subplot. The purpose of this essay is to examine both evidence from the play and articles from other authors, with a focus on Salingar, who have written on the subject in order to determine the purpose of the subplot. In his article, Salingar comes to the conclusion that the purpose of the subplot is to provide a comic mirror of the main plot while amplifying the main themes of delusion, misrule and festivity. Salingar presents a solid argument, however he has neglected another lesser but significant element of the sub-plot which illustrate...
William Shakespeare's, Twelfth Night has many themes, but appearance vs. reality is the theme that illustrates a different picture from two perspectives, there are many characters behind their masks and disguises. Some are hiding love behind these disguises and some are trying to show their love through a different disguise. They both still being servants are using disguise differently. Malvolio, servant of Olivia, falls in love with the trap (the letter) thinking his lady likes him, and to show his love he uses a different appearance to express it. Viola, servant of Orsino, falls in love with him, but secretly, not wanting to express her love for him, because of her disguise as her barrier for that case. Viola/Ceasario is wearing a disguise and secretly loves Orsino. Malvolio, on the other hand, is also a servant but still changes his appearance to express love for the great lady Olivia. This essay will prove that disguises and appearances are symbolic of the characters named Viola and Malvolio and are differently used for both.