As far as what we've done this year, and how it has affected my point of view, there are quite a few things of note. For instance, I really enjoyed studying plays with their musical counterparts, and beginning to understand the tendencies that occur when a show is rewritten into a musical format. I think that, based on what we have studied this year, I have come to a few conclusions as to what these tendencies are.
1. Music is added to create a heightened mood or sense of being for the characters (as we have been told since the beginning of the year - a character sings when they mere words cannot express what they want to say). I believe this assists the audience in following a character's journey through the plot of the show.
2. In rewriting a show with music it is often the goal of the writer/directing team to create something new, or perhaps a better word is, relevant. For example, with Spring Awakening, the difference between the two versions of the show is over 100 years, and yet the issues that are raised are still valid concerns in today's modern world. The introduction of popular sounding music and adding a sort of suspension of disbelief with the sudden shifts from early 20th century speech to modern rock, I believe, makes the show more accessible to audiences today.
To end this post I think it might be prudent to examine a piece from a certain Stephen Sondheim show that we are about to audition for. "Into the Woods" is an excellent example of what I was saying above; you can't get much more classic than the fairy tales that are being told in this show. However, Mr. Sondheim and James Lapine manage to take those fairy tales and make them relevant to the audience of today by throwing them on their head in the second act, creating three dimensional characters out of what used to be sheer stereotypes, and having their actions be riddled with consequences, not at all like the classic fairy tales we grew up with.
Apologies for the awkward text at the beginning, it's not like that the whole way through I promise.
Theo, I like everything that you said about adaptations and adding songs into shows. I think that its interesting to hear the point of view from someone who has a strong music background. It is interesting to look at how songs are integrated in an appealing way for auditiences, and in a way that allows for suspension of belief- nobody sings impromptu songs in everyday life yet audiences everywhere continue to fall in love with musicals.
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