Musical Drama

In reading this week’s reading I found it interesting that even as we Americans bash European Opera, the shows that we enjoy (contemporary musicals) all originated or came from Europe. For example: the Broadway Musicals, Cats, Les Misérables, and Phantom of the Opera. What people don’t realize is that these modern musicals are a uniquely American invention and very close to classical opera. Music drama (whether opera or musical) affords one of the most powerful means of expressing deep emotion in an elaborate dramatic setting. It is worth your time, effort, and money to see if it speaks to you.

I totally agree with this statement. The only thing that I would add to this statement is that it is worth your time, effort, and money to see if it speaks to you, if it’s a quality performance. I would rather pay a higher amount to see something of quality, than for nothing. In trying to define the uniquely American genre of the musical, Leonard Bernstein once said, “The glittering world of musical theater is an enormous field that includes everything from your nephew’s high school pageant to [Wagner’s] Götterdämmerung”. This is one of the things that I like the most about musicals. There are the serious ones, the crying ones, the dramatic ones, the hilarious ones, the sad ones, and then those that couldn’t be funnier. Musicals are like music in that way; there is something for everyone, as long as you like your plays sung.

I was in the school play every year in junior high, and then this last year in high school. In junior high I was in Crazy for You, and Oliver, and in high school I was in Beauty and the Beast. What I loved about the junior high plays was that the drama teacher, Ms. Dodge, let anyone who wanted to be in it, play a part. Whether they were just a member of the chorus or one of the leads, everyone who wanted one, got a part. Perfection wasn’t the goal, quality was. Even though there was ever type of personality and level of skill, each play was molded and shaped by her patient hands into a beautiful masterpiece that everyone enjoyed. People are heard to say that Ms. Dodge’s plays are the best junior high plays they’ve ever seen. I know they are, and I’m not just saying that because I was in two of them, but because they always have been and they still are. In high school we were going for perfection and quality. I loved being in al of them; they were all fun and learning experiences. In the book it said, “It seems like this American original still has some life left in it” and I couldn’t agree more.