Long-running musical theatre productions

Premiering in 1997, the musical Ragtime, written by the trio of Terrence McNally (Book/Script), Stephen Flaherty (Music), and Lynn Ahrens (Lyrics) was something along the lines of a smash hit. Featuring a star studded cast, with such luminaries as Brian Stokes Mitchell, Marin Mazzie, and Audra McDonald, the musical won four Tony Awards and was nominated for 14, including Best Musical. The musical is based on E.L. Doctorow’s 1974 novel Ragtime, a work of historical fiction that has various…

wonder how such a short novel could have inspired a chain of successful interpretations all over the world, but the answer lies in the simplicity and directedness of the words and dialogue. For instance, the process of conversion into screenplay or theatre is conveniently described by Gurpegui(1998):”En algunos casos la simple alteración del tiempo verbal convierte la narración en guión.” Drifting apart…

structure and purpose it also housed a duplex apartment above the main stage that Belasco utilized for his own occupancy. The room contained a window that allowed Belasco to remain in his quarters but still see the productions from afar. The Belasco opened on October 16th, 1907 with the Musical “A Grand Army Man.” The Architecture of the Belasco was one of neo-Georgian style. The Belasco is reminiscent of the neo-medieval and neo-renaissance style, with is grandiose flair of the dramatics and…

in 1951 starring Audrey Hepburn as the title role. Fredrick Lowe wrote the original music for the play. With great success from the original movie and the first run of the show on Broadway, Heidi Thomas took on the role of readapting the Broadway musical for audiences today. The revival…

Jerome Robbins' suggested the idea of developing a musical based off of the story of Romeo and Juliet to Leonard Bernstein in January of 1949 (originally proposed title: East Side Story, set in the less privileged areas of New York at the concurrence of Easter-Passover celebrations). In August of 1955, a gathering with Arthur Laurents took place where another idea emerged -- two teen-age mobs as the conflicting groups, one of them newly-arrived Puerto Ricans, the other self-styled…

In the musical production Hairspray, there were various differences in acting styles, technical elements, and demands of the actor in comparison to plays in general. With Hairspray being a movie that I had watched on Netflix, it was obviously not live and this also contributes to the differences of going to an actual live production in a theater. These differences help us distinguish between the realities of the products of a musical and the products of a play. Hairspray’s acting styles were…

There is a line in the musical Spamalot where Sir Robin sings to King Arthur; “In any great adventure, if you don 't want to lose ... you won 't succeed on Broadway if you don 't have any Jews!" (PBS, Broadway Musicals). If you can look past the sweeping generalization, Sir Robin’s surprising lyric turns out to be very true about musicals. Historians have recognized that Jewish immigrant culture heavily influenced the content of musical theatre when it was popularized in America during the early…

The World Goes Round at Theatre UCF was a spectacular conglomeration of musical performances that were brought to life through excellent acting and use of lighting. Throughout my years as a student I have seen a plethora of plays ranging from high school productions to off-off Broadway. Walking into this production I expected the same level of performance as in my local community college (with a slightly bigger budget). However, after the first song I knew that I was going to be proven wrong.…

Black and Pursuing Musical Theatre Imagine yourself in kindergarten and having your teacher ask you “What do you want to be when you grow up”? From a young age, my answer was always different each time someone asked me about my potential career. I wanted to be a professional dancer, a hair stylist, an author, and so much more. As I grew older, I discovered a career where I could be all of these things onstage. I was twelve when I first introduced the idea of pursuing musical theatre in college…

convinced I could contribute greatly to the education of the musical theatre students. For ten years I have coached musical theatre students in the university environment. My expertise is in vocal training in multiple musical theatre styles, including, legit, pop, jazz, musical theatre traditional and contemporary/pop. I utilize certain material within the classical canon to build muscular strength. I am especially skilled at teaching musical theatre voice, both legit and contemporary, as…