Alternative Paths to Performance

The American Musical

Musicals were once simple stories told through song and dance. Throughout time, musicals have changed and transformed themselves to adapt cultural phenomenon of the time periods in which they occurred. Early on, musical theatre explored multicultural textual elements and themes.  They explored racial themes before society as whole even began to deal with such issues.

South Pacific Musical

 

An example of a musical that explores multicultural textual elements and themes is South Pacific Musical. In this musical, an American nurse falls in love with a French individual. It takes place at a U.S Naval Base during World War II. The French individual has two children who are mixed-race. The American Women has a hard time accepting his children because of the race fact. Additionally, in the musical, a second romance occurs between a U.S. Lieutenant and a young Asian Woman. Throughout the musical, the issue is explored deeply. 

Hairspray

 

One of the major elements in Musical Theatre is dance. Over time dance began to change from entertainment to playing a vital part of the dramatic text. For example: dance is used to further the plot or reveal a character's state of mind or emotions.

 

Mama Mia

Musical theatre tends to have very little to no dialogue at all. Instead, dance sometimes combined with lyrics, represent the pure sensation and emotion. An example of this can be Mama Mia the musical, in this scene both actors do minimal talking and instead use dance and lyrics to convey their emotions, in this case, love.

 

Phantom of the Opera

 

Musicals can range from a variety of genres. Some are funny, romantic and others are discuss serious topics. A personal favorite of mine is the Phantom of the Opera. It is about a musical disfigured genius who is obsessed with a beautiful young performer. Although, this musical does not utilize a lot of dance, it relies on the emotions being conveyed through song as depicted above.

Works Cited

Felner, Mira, and Claudia Orenstein. The World of Theatre: Tradition and Innovation. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon, 2006. Print.
Hairspray the Musical at Royal Variety Performance 2007. YouTube. YouTube, 09 Dec. 2007. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.

Lay All Your Love On Me. YouTube. YouTube, 07 Dec. 2010. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.

The Phantom of the Opera. YouTube. YouTube, 20 Jan. 2010. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.

You've Got To Be Carefully Taught. Perf. Matthew Morrison & Paulo Szot. YouTube. YouTube, 06 Sept. 2010. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.


Pajama Game

Audience Perspective

I attended Lynchburg College Theater Department’s evening show, Pajama Game, on Saturday March 2^nd, 2013. It was an experience within itself; I arrived about 30 minutes before the show started in order to avoid the ticket window chaos. Apparently, more than 40 other individuals had the same idea.  I was surprised to see a long line for the ticket window; I was also discouraged when I found out that I had to stand in the same long line even though I had brought my tickets online.  As I stood in line, I observed around and I overheard an individual talking about how word had gotten out that the production was amazing and thus many people decided to check it out. I was surprised when I heard this and it gave me a good vibe, since prior to this evening, I had no expectations of the play; I was just attending because it was a class requirement.

As I stepped into the theater, I was taken aback to see the theater almost completely filled.  The seats in my row were almost complete as the leftover seats were for my boyfriend and me. I sat close to the wall, which did not provide such a good angle but nonetheless I was glad to be able to sit down.  There was an elderly couple next to me and they seemed eager for the show to start. The elderly lady was talking to another lady about one of the performers and how she was doing so well. I examined the audience before the play started and realized that there was a strong generational gap. Most of the audience members were older members of society, with the exclusion of a very few young Lynchburg College students who were also in attendance.  

 

The play started with the character Hines breaking the fourth wall with his humor and commentary on the play which he continued throughout the performance. In general, many of the comments he made broke the fourth wall and satirized the very nature of musical themselves. For example, during the song, I’ll Never Be Jealous Again; Hines made a joke about how both cast members in that scene randomly broke out into song, and mysteriously knew the exact same song and dance routine. Hines provided an excellent comic relief as well as setting up the background for the entire show.

 

 

I'll Never Be Jealous Again

Throughout the first act, the audience was great, attentive and responsive. They were laughing at all the jokes, and their claps were loud and powerful. As the play transitioned smoothly from one scene to the other during the first act, the audience seemed to go right along it. During the second act, however, the play did not seem to have the same energy and flow as the first half. Each actor continued to perform well, but overall each scene seemed disconnected from the one before. The play still ended well and the audience cheered very loudly for the grand finale.

 

Lynchburg College's Pajama Game Cast

 Immediately after leaving the theater, I was overwhelmed with the amount of people in the hallway. They weren’t moving at all, and made the exit a bit more cumbersome. Additionally, I did not have a chance to congratulate the actor Kenley Hoover on a job well done due to a swarm of people surrounding him. As we walked away from the building, we both agreed that the talent of the individuals in the play was magnificent but the flow of the play could have been a bit better.