January 6, 2021

 Today

We started off the day with everyone presenting the musical that they researched for homework yesterday. We shared a synopsis of the plot, as well as identifying characteristics of each musical and what era of Broadway it fits into. We talked about songs in our musicals and explained their purpose in the show.


We also watched a video called “The Musical Episode” where we learned about the fundamentals of what a musical is and how they differ from other art mediums. Songs are used in musicals to create emotional connections between characters and the audience. Music is also used in musicals as a way to communicate things that people would typically not talk about through song. The video talked about how music can be a very powerful tool in a staged production but it needs to be used well. Adding songs to performances can make them have a much larger impact on the audience or they could just annoy the audience. It is important to not have the actors simply burst into dance at random, they should be used to emphasize moments and make them more powerful. Play first, Music second. This is an important thing to keep in mind when we make our own musical because we want ours to flow well and be enjoyable to the audience.


We also presented the musicals that we had researched for homework. In no particular order, we had Nathaniel’s musical with Rent, Patricia did Beetlejuice, Nora did Be More Chill, Cidette did Legally Blonde, Sabrina did Dear Evan Hansen, and Katie did Hades Town, and the musical that I shared with the class is a Jukebox Musical using music from The Go-Go’s called Head Over Heels. All of these musicals were very different from each other but they still had a good deal of connection to each other and we found out where they all fit in the eras of the modern musical. We were able to find the purpose of the songs in each musical and find out what works and what doesn’t when trying to sell a scene.



Jack Gross

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