Musical Theatre

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The use of choreography and music in a musical is not only entertaining, but can illustrate the social issues present in society. Dance in musical theatre has changed dramatically. Until 1936 dance was used as a diversion from the story line. Agnes DeMille was the first notable female choreographer to use dance as a major plot device and central role in as musical. Since then choreographers such as Bob Fosse, Gower Champion and Jerome Robbins use dance to portray symbolism and add depth to the music and the lyrics (Miller, G 2014). Furthermore, Dr Larry A. Brown states "The addition of music to a standard play heightens emotion, reinforces the dramatic action, evokes atmosphere and mood in ways that words alone cannot." (Brown, D. L. A. 2014) The text determines the lyrics that are needed to add to the storyline, the characters emotion and the motive behind the song determines the tempo and style, dance expands on this adding symbolic meaning to the musical number. The choreography used in Annie's 'Hard Knock Life', Wicked's 'Dancing Through Life' and Hairspray's 'New Girl In Town' use dance as a tool to enhance the storyline of the musical. These three musicals will be discussed to show the extent of how music and choreography is used to create a musical number that is entertaining and conveys social issues. The Broadway musical Annie explores the social issues of homelessness and poverty. The choreography to the iconic song 'It's a hard knock life,' sung by Annie and the orphans, adds additional meaning to the song beyond acting and singing. Lilla Crawford, as Annie, guides fellow orphans through a song that is critical to the story. The orphans are displaying how they are aggravated and annoyed at the unfair c... ... middle of paper ... ...e Dramatic Function of Songs in Musical Theater. [report] Dr. Larry A. Brown, p. 1.  Miller, G. 2014. Musical Theater Dances. [online] 2014. Available at: http://dance.lovetoknow.com/Musical_Theater_Dances [Accessed: 25 Mar 2014].  PBS Video. 2014. Watch now: ANNIE: It's the Hard-Knock Life | Annie: It's the Hard-Knock Life, From Script to Stage | PBS Video. [online] Available at: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365032177/ [Accessed: 24 Mar 2014].  YouTube. 2014. Annie. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J09mJiEUj_c [Accessed: 1 Apr 2014].  YouTube. 2014. Dancing Through Life/Elphaba Dance. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyEzuJjiua0 [Accessed: 28 Mar 2014].  YouTube. 2014. The New Girl in Town - Hairspray (Movie Clip). [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRi2T6mgH3Y [Accessed: 25 Mar 2014].

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