the.com/music theater
the art of making people sing their feelings instead of just having them.
means a live performance form that tells a story through a blend of song, spoken dialogue, and dance.
from grew out of 19th-century operetta and vaudeville, fused with american jazz and pop sensibilities in the early 20th century until 1927's show boat proved a musical could carry real dramatic weight, not just gags and legs.
book vs scorethe spoken dialogue is called the book
11 o'clock numbernamed for when broadway shows once ended
sung-through showssome have zero spoken dialogue at all
jukebox musicalsbuilt entirely from pre-existing pop songs
for instance
hamilton — lin-manuel miranda's 2015 hip-hop retelling of a founding father
les miserables — running continuously in london's west end since 1985
a chorus line — 1975 show built from real dancers' taped audition stories
hamlet the musical — a running broadway joke, mocked in kiss me kate