As for the choice of musical, I think pretty much anything works as long as you enjoy it enough to analyse it! Another one I know that does cool things with the music is Wicked, but I don't know the genre a tonne - If anyone else has any suggestions give a shout!
Ask and you shall receive, Jamon
Hi there! For my year 11 music task, I have to come up with a viva voce question on a particular musical. We have to base it around the concepts of music (pitch, duration, tone, colour, texture, structure, dynamics and expressive techniques. I am currently thinking of doing "hairspray" and doing a comparative analysis of 2 songs in the musical; my focus question being something along the lines of "How are the concepts of music used to create excitement and tension throughout the musical Hairspray in the songs “run and tell that” and “you can’t stop the beat". However I am not sure if this is a good musical to analyse so I am very open to any other musicals that you think would be better to analyse and also looking for ways on how I can improve on my focus question.
Hey, Sara!
I am a huge musical theatre nerd and would be so excited to do a task like what you have. I think your focus question is solid and really reflects the songs you have chosen really well. As long as you maintain your discussion on the concepts of music, you’ll deliver a sophisticated analysis regardless of what musical you end up deciding to do.
As for some suggestions for musicals that have really strong musical ideas, I can think of heaps off the top of my head but I’ll narrow it down to a few that I think stand out and some songs that would suit your discussion focus.
Hamilton- I could go on for days about how much I love ‘Hamilton.’ Lin Manuel Miranda is a musical master in developing his material. You could look at the domestic and public interplay within the musical with ‘Take a Break’ and ‘My Shot’ respectively whereby excitement and tension are both present.
Heathers- Not the most kid-friendly musical but definitely a great one if you want to focus solely on tension. ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Meant to be Yours’ have brilliant constructions that you can investigate into.
As suggested by Jamon,
Wicked- I’ve performed so many ‘Wicked’ songs that I think my school must be sick of the musical by now. Excitement and tension flows in ‘What is this feeling?’, ‘No Good Deed’ and ‘Defying Gravity.’ They’re all driving songs in the musical and are situated in major plot moments. That’s a key reason why they have excitement and tension in them.
Les Miserables- By far, my favourite musical of all time! Who doesn’t love seeing young boys die in a failed French Revolution?
I think this is a very good option if you want to make your analysis strong because it is such an admired musical by the theatre community. ‘One Day More’ and ‘Red and Black’ are fantastic ensemble numbers which give me shivers all the time.
I hope this helps! It certainly gave me so much joy writing this all out because I love love love musical theatre
Even if you don’t end up choosing any of these, do give these songs a listen so you can expand your knowledge or use them as practice for aural listenings. Musical theatre is very fun to analyse because there’s crazy stuff happening everywhere. Good luck with your task and let us know how it goes or if you need any help!
Angelina