The Stage and the School

Chapter 9: Producing the Musical Play

Overview

Opera, or "total music," originated in Italy as an attempt to recreate ancient Greek theater. Since then, many new types of musical theater have emerged, including the operetta, the comic opera, the musical revue, and the musical comedy. Oklahoma! is the production that introduced the musical play— a type of musical theater that emphasizes real characters and situations—to audiences desirous of more sophisticated musical theater.

The musical play is more difficult to staff than a regular play. A musical play generally needs an instrumental director, a vocal director, and a choreographer in addition to a play director, a costumer, a business manager, a technical director, and a publicity director. The director must understand the structure of the play and the role music plays within that structure. Actors must be able to sing and dance as well as act. The director must remind the cast of certain important principles for performing a musical play, including stressing the first beat of each measure, singing "through the eyes," and playing in a state of action. Everyone needs to know the difference between rhythmic and melodic numbers and play them accordingly.

Musical plays can also be complex to stage. They usually have many scenes so that some scenes must be played in front of a drop, or a painted curtain. While scenery is switched, change music is played by the orchestra or combo. The orchestra pit and the stage must communicate effectively in order to keep the cast and the musicians in sync. For this and many other reasons, musical theater demands extra rehearsal time and requires everyone involved in the production to work well as a team.