Musical Theatre, Realism and Entertainment

203 Pages·2012·1.021 MB·English

by  Millie Taylor

Musical Theatre, Realism and
Entertainment
Millie Taylor
Musical TheaTre, realisM and
enTerTainMenT
AshgAte InterdIscIplInAry studIes
In OperA
series editor
roberta Montemorra Marvin
University of Iowa, USA
Advisory Board
linda hutcheon, University of Toronto, Canada
david levin, University of Chicago, USA
herbert lindenberger, emeritus Professor, Stanford University, USA
Julian rushton, emeritus Professor, University of Leeds, UK
The Ashgate Interdisciplinary Studies in Opera series provides a centralized
and prominent forum for the presentation of cutting-edge scholarship that draws
on numerous disciplinary approaches to a wide range of subjects associated
with the creation, performance, and reception of opera (and related genres) in
various historical and social contexts. There is great need for a broader approach
to scholarship about opera. in recent years, the course of study has developed
significantly, going beyond traditional musicological approaches to reflect
new perspectives from literary criticism and comparative literature, cultural
history, philosophy, art history, theatre history, gender studies, film studies,
political science, philology, psycho-analysis, and medicine. The new brands of
scholarship have allowed a more comprehensive interrogation of the complex
nexus of means of artistic expression operative in opera, one that has meaningfully
challenged prevalent historicist and formalist musical approaches. The
Ashgate Interdisciplinary Studies in Opera series continues to move this important
trend forward by including essay collections and monographs that reflect the
ever-increasing interest in opera in non-musical contexts. Books in the series
will be linked by their emphasis on the study of a single genre – opera – yet will
be distinguished by their individualized and novel approaches by scholars from
various disciplines/fields of inquiry. The remit of the series welcomes studies
of seventeenth century to contemporary opera from all geographical locations,
including non-Western topics.
Other titles in the series
Melodramatic Voices: Understanding Music Drama
edited by sarah hibberd
Opera Indigene: Re/presenting First Nations and Indigenous Cultures
edited by Pamela Karantonis and dylan robinson
Musical Theatre, realism and
entertainment
Millie Taylor
University of Winchester, UK
© Millie Taylor 2012
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Millie Taylor has asserted her right under the copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988, to
be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing company
Wey court east suite 420
union road 101 cherry street
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British library cataloguing in publication data
Taylor, Millie.
Musical theatre, realism and entertainment. --
(ashgate interdisciplinary studies in opera)
1. Musical theater. 2. Musicals--history and criticism.
3. Theater audiences--Psychology.
i. Title ii. series
792.6'01-dc22

library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Taylor, Millie.
Musical theatre, realism and entertainment / Millie Taylor.
p. cm. -- (ashgate interdisciplinary studies in opera)
includes bibliographical references and index.
isBn 978-0-7546-6670-7 (hardcover -- isBn 978-1-4094-3832-8 (ebook)
1. Musicals--history and criticism. 2. Musicals--characters. 3.
Musical theater--history. 4. Music and language. i. Title.
Ml2054.T39 2011
792.6--dc23
2011024575
isBn 9780754666707 (hbk)
isBn 9781409438328 (ebk)
IV
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction 1
1 Musical Characterisation in HMS Pinafore and
The Rocky Horror Show 15
2 Encoding the Voice: Show Boat, Guys and Dolls, and
Musical Theatre Post-1960 33
3 Integration and Distance in Musical Theatre:
The Case of Sweeney Todd 55
4 Layers of Representation and the Creation of Irony:
Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Merrily We Roll Along and
The Last 5 Years 73
5 Alternatives to Linearity: Cabaret, Kiss of the Spider Woman and
Assassins 91
6 Illusions of Realism in West Side Story and
Actor-Musician Performances 111
7 Experiencing Live Musical Theatre Performance:
La Cage Aux Folles and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert 129
8 I’ve Heard that Song Before:
The Jukebox Musical and Entertainment in Jersey Boys,
Rock of Ages, Mamma Mia and We Will Rock You 149
Conclusion 167
Bibliography 173
Index 187
This page has been left blank intentionally
Acknowledgements
Although much of the planning and writing of this text has been a solitary activity,
I have spent many happy hours in the company of other people in theatres watching
musicals, and until 2001 working as a musical director. The performances I’ve
seen have provided the catalyst for the ideas in this book, and have been fun,
entertaining and thought provoking. They provide the memories and experiences
that underpin the understanding of musical theatre performances discussed here.
There are also very many people who have supported the writing of this book.
First, of course, are the peer reviewers and the editor of the series who helped
to shape the initial proposal. This book builds on a number of articles that have
been published elsewhere. The idea for this book derives from an article ‘“Don’t
Dream it, be it”: Exploring Signification, Empathy and Mimesis in Relation to
The Rocky Horror Show’ published in the inaugural issue of Studies in Musical
Theatre. Some parts of the article appear in Chapter 1, but the thinking behind the
article was the starting point for many of the questions about entertainment and
musical theatre that developed into this book. My thanks go to Dominic Symonds
and George Burrows, editors of the journal, for their suggestions for improvements
to that article and for their ongoing support.
Chapter 3 was first published as ‘Integration and Distance in Musical Theatre:
The Case of Sweeney Todd ’ in Contemporary Theatre Review. I am very grateful
to the publishers for permission to adapt and reproduce the article here, and to the
editors, Dan Rebellato and Dominic Symonds, and the anonymous peer reviewers
for their help in developing the article.
The majority of Chapter 4 was first published as ‘Layers of Representation:
Instability in the Characterization of Jenny in The Rise and Fall of the City of
Mahagonny by Brecht and Weill’ in the Bertolt Brecht Special Issue of Assaph
Studies in the Theatre 19/20 (2005): 159–76. I am pleased to be able to develop
this article here, and to acknowledge the contributions of the peer reviewers, the
guest editor Gad Kayner, and general editor Linda Ben-Zvi in developing the
article.
Most of Chapter 7 was first published as ‘Experiencing Live Musical
Theatre Performance: La Cage Aux Folles and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’
in the inaugural issue of Popular Entertainment Studies. Before that a paper was
presented to the working group on Popular Entertainment at the Lisbon meeting of
the International Federation for Theatre Research in 2009. I would like to express
my thanks to my peers in the working group at Lisbon for their thoughts on the
paper, to Victor Emeljanow, editor of the journal and convenor of the group, for
his helpful contributions to the reshaped arguments, and to the anonymous peer
reviewers for their suggestions.
viii Musical Theatre, Realism and Entertainment
Several other sections of the book have been presented as conference papers.
‘Illusions of Realism in the Musical’ was first presented at Song, Stage, Screen II at
Leeds University in March 2007. ‘A British Tar is a Soaring Soul’, which contained
the analysis of HMS Pinafore in Chapter 1 of this book, was presented at West End
Musical Theatre 1880–1930 at Goldsmiths College, University of London in April
2008 and at Music and the Melodramatic Aesthetic at Nottingham University in
September 2008. On all of these occasions helpful comments contributed to the
subsequent development of the paper. Finally, the many delegates and contributors
to the Kinaesthetic Empathy conference gave me the opportunity to challenge and
check my understanding of neuroscience and entertainment.
I am fortunate to work in an institutional environment at the University of
Winchester that offers support to my research activities. On this occasion I was
awarded a semester of study leave and funding to spend two weeks in New York
visiting the New York Library for the Performing Arts and seeing shows on
Broadway. At the Theatre on Film and Tape collection at the library Steve Massa
and Rhony Dostaly provided access to the materials I needed and made sure that
I could see as much as possible during my short visit. Their patience, knowledge
and good cheer was immensely helpful in making the visit extremely productive.
Then there are my colleagues and postgraduate students at Winchester with
whom many of these ideas have been discussed. It is often impossible to trace the
generation of an idea or the people who have assisted its germination, but they are
likely to include: Cathy Turner, Synne Behrndt, Marianne Sharp, Helen Grime,
Marilena Zaroulia, Yvon Bonenfant, Michael Goron, Benjamin Macpherson and
Amanda Smallbone. Also from Winchester, Stephen Greenhalgh was invaluable
for his detailed proof-reading and indexing.
Once drafted, the manuscript was sent to Roberta Montemorra Marvin and
more anonymous peer reviewers who helped to refine my thoughts and shape the
book. I am grateful for their suggestions, and for the editorial support of Heidi
Bishop and Gemma Hayman.
And finally, thanks to my family and friends who are always there when
needed.
Introduction
What is musical theatre? Most people would agree that it is a combination of
song, visual spectacle and verbal text that is performed live in theatres. It can be
difficult to be more specific, however, since there is enormous diversity in works
of musical theatre. Its popularity suggests it must entertain its audiences, which
provokes a supplementary question; what is it about musical theatre that audiences
find entertaining? One might say something about the self-referential quality of
the texts or discuss whether the plots reflect current social concerns, but how do
these features relate to an understanding of what it is about musical theatre that
audiences find entertaining or why musical theatre remains popular?
Musical theatre works and performances vary widely.1 Some have very
little dance, though they have spectacle of a different type, for example
The Lion King; others tell their stories through dance, such as Cats. Some works
are through-composed, like Les Misérables, while others use music diegetically
or metatextually as Cabaret does. Some musicals contain a linear narrative that
is presented in an ‘integrated’ or ‘realistic’ fashion, such as My Fair Lady; others
dispense with linearity and use other narrative constructions, as Assassins does.
Some performances require the vocal range and musical style of rock music, as
in The Rocky Horror Show, or other popular music styles, such as the gospel and
R’n’B influenced Dreamgirls. Other works rely on a nineteenth-century romantic
aesthetic in tonality and vocal range, as, for example, in Phantom of the Opera;
while still others rely on the development of a ‘Broadway’ vocal sound and a big-
band-inspired musical language like that used in Gypsy. Some use stories made
popular in film, for example Beauty and the Beast; others use literary sources
– Show Boat for example, which is based on a novel of the same name – while
yet others use biographical information to flesh out a story around the music of
a well-known composer or performer, like the bio-musical Buddy. What these
works have in common is that all of them contain some combination of sung
music, narrative and live visual performance, and all are vibrant and entertaining
to varying audiences. In this study I will use the term ‘musical’ to refer to all these
types of performance, while analysing the ways in which different combinations
of musical, vocal and narrative construction, signifying in association with live
performance, characterisation and spectacle, contribute to the potential for musical
theatre to be entertaining. The aim is to investigate how pleasure is stimulated in
1 Musical theatre is used here as the generic form that includes musical drama, musical
comedy, jukebox musicals, dance musicals and all the sub-genres that are performed live
in theatres. In the rest of this book the term ‘musical’ will be used interchangeably with
musical theatre to signify these works. The term will be assumed to exclude film musicals.