The purpose of Project 4 is to compare two genres of musical theatre: opera (usi
The purpose of Project 4 is to compare two genres of musical theatre: opera (using the two works that we have studied – The Marriage of Figaro and Carmen) and the “Broadway” musical. More specifically, it is a discussion of how the various components of your chosen musical (i.e., solos, ensembles, choruses, etc.) function similarly or differently to the two operas.
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LIST OF MUSICALS
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Choose one of the musicals listed below. The list includes a mix of older and newer shows. Plan on watching the musical in its entirety.
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Annie
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Chicago
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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
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Fiddler on the Roof
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Grease
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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
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Les misérables
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Mary Poppins
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Rent
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The Lion King
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The Phantom of the Opera
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The Producers
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The Sound of Music
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The Wizard of Oz
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West Side Story
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With opera, videos come in two varieties: a) live recordings of staged theatre productions, and b) specially created filmed productions, with indoor and outdoor “location” footage. The videos of The Marriage of Figaro and Carmen that you watched were both of the former type. (For a variety of reasons, I am not a fan of the second type!) Musicals, too, exist in both guises. A musical will typically start out life as a stage production, but will often end up being made into a film. (Occasionally, the reverse is true, for example, The Lion King.) However, unlike opera, it is hard to find staged productions of musicals on video. Go to YouTube, and what tends to come up are high school productions. If you are looking for professional performances, you are often limited to the film version. For the purpose of this project, however, that’s ok. Though there may be some content differences between stage and film versions of a particular musical, in terms of what I am asking you to do, a film version will work. Between the various streaming services (purchases for about $10 or $15, or rental for maybe $3 or $4, if you don?t have a subs?r?ption), you should be able to find what you want.
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PROCEDURE
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As you go through the instructions below, keep uppermost in your mind that the purpose of this project is to discuss function or, as I put it in the title of the project, “construction”. It is not meant to be a discussion of either style or sound. What do I mean by this?
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It is pretty much a given that a musical will be composed in a different style from an opera. The approach to melody, harmony, rhythm, etc. is generally going to be more “pop-like” and less “classical”. There are of course exceptions. Two of those listed – Phantom of the Opera and Les misérables – are a bit more operatic in conception than most musicals. But for the most part, the style of someone like Andrew Lloyd Webber is going to be very different from someone like Bizet, who in turn was very different from Mozart. In addition, the style of singing in a musical is closer to that of pop, in both its vocal technique and its use of amplification, whereas opera singing is more classical in its technique and is generally unamplified, other than in certain special circumstances, such as singing in large arenas (i.e., not opera houses) or stadiums. All of these aspects make for interesting studies in their own right, but they are not the purpose of this particular project.
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1) Give a very concise plot synopsis of your musical. This synopsis is to function purely as an introduction to your paper and to provide a point of reference for some of your later discussion. This project is not “about” the story, so do not get distracted by this. If your synopsis is more than around 10 or 15 percent of your total paper, then it’s too long. If nothing else, this is a good exercise in concision – extracting the maximum information using the minimum verbiage.
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2) Does your musical have an overture? If so, what is its dramatic function? Does it contain themes heard later in the musical or is it a totally independent piece?
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3) In our discussion of Baroque opera and oratorio, we defined recitative and discussed its function. Later, we heard recitatives in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. Though the role of recitative had somewhat expanded by Mozart’s time – often portraying conversation, as opposed to the simple “news update” more typically found in Baroque opera – its purpose was still distinct from that of arias or ensembles. Does your musical contain recitative, and if not, what has been used to replace it? In other words, how are the functions that were, in Baroque opera or in Mozart, fulfilled by recitative now achieved in your musical?
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4) Compare the role of the aria in opera with that of solo song in your musical. What purpose do arias generally serve in an opera, and do solo songs serve the same purpose in your musical? Provide an example to support your discussion – i.e., compare an aria from either The Marriage of Figaro or Carmen with a solo song from your musical.
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5) Repeat question 4, this time discussing ensembles. Your opera comparison should be from The Marriage of Figaro.
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6) Repeat question 4, this time discussing choruses. Your opera comparison should be from Carmen.
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7) You have studied just one act of The Marriage of Figaro and one act of Carmen. However, even just these two acts should be enough to make you aware of some significant differences between the way that the two operas are structured – and that is not even taking into account the musical differences that I asked you not to consider for this project! With this in mind, consider the following statement: “Although Carmen and The Marriage of Figaro are both operas, there are some respects in which Carmen is closer to the genre of the “Broadway” musical than it is to its fellow opera, The Marriage of Figaro.” Write a paragraph or two explaining why this statement has validity.
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8) Don’t forget the little piece of Carmen extra credit.
