Musical Theater Essay

Center Stage: Careers in Musical Theater

Can you imagine being the director of a famous musical, teaching future famous actors and actresses, becoming a Broadway star? These are what careers in Musical Theater can offer, dreams being made or coming true. I have been involved in music since I was five years old, starting out with piano, and then moving on to guitar and voice. I started thinking seriously about a music career after I attended International Music Camp in the seventh grade. The musical theater program there taught me so much and inspired me to join dance and consider musical theater as my career path. Musicals have the ability to capture audiences with their dancing, music, and with the stories they tell; but what is musical theater

As stated by New World Encyclopedia, “Musical Theater is a form of theater combining music, songs, spoken dialog, and dance” (“Musical Theater”). There isn’t a specific kind of music or dance, there’s many different styles used depending on the story or setting of the musical. According to New World Encyclopedia, “The three main components of a musical are the music, the lyrics, and the plot” (“Musical Theater”). A musical is like a book, movie or play, it tells a story. The difference is at certain points of the musical, the actors on stage break out into song and dance relating to the story. Also like books and movies, musicals have happy endings and sad endings, more commonly known as comedies and tragedies. There are many specific types of musical theater as said by New World Encyclopedia. “Types of musical theater include: ‘comic opera’ (or ‘light opera’, denoting a sung dramatic work, usually with a happy ending); ‘operetta’ (a genre of light opera which is ‘light’ in terms both of music and subject matter); ‘musical play’, ‘musical comedy’, ‘burlesque’ (theatrical entertainment usually consisting of comic skits); ‘musical hall’ ( variety of entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy, and specialty acts); and ‘revue’ (multi-act theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches). So what is the layout of a musical? A musical usually breaks down from the entire show, into separate acts, then into scenes, and then into songs. Today, musicals are usually separated into two acts, with a ten to twenty minute intermission (“Musical Theater”). Some popular musicals today include Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Chicago, Les Miserables, Fiddler On the Roof, and many more. All of these musicals are Broadway shows. Most people associate musical theater with Broadway, or the professional theaters located in Manhattan New York. So how did the world of Musical Theater get to the professional levels, such as