Musical film Essays

On Saturday, October 21, I watched the film adaption of the musical, Rent. This musical takes place in New York City in the late 1980s to early 1990s and involves a dysfunctional Bohemian friend group and their struggles. The friend group features eight characters: Mark Cohen, a Jewish filmmaker, Roger Davis, a HIV-positive songwriter and musician, Mimi Marquez, an HIV-positive erotic dancer, Maureen Johnson, a bisexual performer, Joanne Jefferson, a lesbian lawyer, Tom Collins, a gay part-time philosophy

West Side Story by Arthur Laurent is the modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story is a movie musical in which the narrative is actually presented through the song. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a play where the characters speak and act out their mind utilizing the poetic verbatim of Shakespeare. Both these literary pieces have several distinct differences and some fascinating similarities. Being a modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story

The classical Hollywood musical can be characterized by elaborate song and dance numbers. In the past famous musicals only featured a white and wealthy cast which led to racist and sexist stereotypes. Filmmakers, Spike Lee and Julie Dash both use elements of the classical Hollywood musical in their films to critique black representation in Hollywood Films. Lee’s film School Daze features a range of musical styles, like Hip Hop, R&B and her uses this music as well as the musical performances as a means

The 20th century endured dramatic innovations in musical forms and styles. Music during this time became very diverse. Different types of ethnic groups brought their own spin on the musical background. Many traditions from different cultures started to come into play with the musical style during this century. Germany had an affect with its classical tradition that used outdoor concerts, inspired dancing, and lighter music in the early stages of the 20th century. Music became more of an art form

turn to choreography. Fosse’s choreographic style was known to be sexually suggestive, considering he grew up in Cabaret nightclubs. Bob Fosse’s signature style became popular and he began choreographing musicals such as, Pajama Games, Damn Yankees, Sweet Charity, Pippin, Chicago

no one else ” , many songwriters still sought out Ethel’s music knowing she was untrained such as Irving Berlin and Cole Porter who was known as major songwriters of the early 1900’s . Ethel is remembered for her great appearances in many great musicals . She started her career by singing at private parties and nightclubs . She was hired as a torch singer at Les Ambassadeurs and from there she began to gain publicity . She had a surgery on her tonsils a little while after she got the job , and

As many of the Cambridge Companion series do, The Cambridge Companion to the Musical, edited by William A. Everett and Paul R. Laird, provides a fine platform for bridging the historical facts and academic criticism on the musical. Instead of taking the musical into theatre history, the book focuses intently on the history of the American Musical itself and its status in contemporary American music and culture. The book is chronologically categorized into four parts with nineteen essays. These collected

Musicals are not only great entertainment with catchy songs and elaborate dance numbers, but some also hold cultural significance and represent an important time in American history. New York City can be seen as a city of dreams and hope, but it can also be seen as the city of suffering and struggle. These characteristics are all evident in the Broadway musical RENT. Loosely based on the Giacomo Puccini’s opera “La Bohème,” playwright Jonathan Larson establishes cultural significance in this rock

1) A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MUSICAL A musical may be defined as a production for stage or film that typically involves music, singing, dancing and dialogue. Musicals are performed all around the world and may be presented in large venues or in smaller theatres or spaces like school halls. Although music has been an integral part of theatrical presentations since ancient times, the modern musical only emerged during the late nineteenth century. Many of its structural elements were established by the

Richard Rogers had composed over 900 songs and 43 Broadway musical. He also produced and directed music for television and films too. He was born in New York City on June 28, 1902. Richard had help with music, broadways, and films too. His production was in 1920 called “ Poor Little Ritz Girl”. Straight out of college he work for a director name Lew Fields. Lew Fields was an American actor, comedian, vaudeville star, theatre manger, and producer. He also best know for working with Lorenz Hart, excluding

study the three genres of music; Musicals, Hip-Hop and Aleatoric Music. I have chosen to research Hip-Hop because I like the genre as a whole and I like listening to some of the songs in the genre. So, I think because of this, it would be interesting to find out more about this genre and say some of my opinions on it. I have chosen Musicals because they are very popular and I enjoy watching and listening to the songs. I’ve never really known what makes a musical song different to just any other song

I will be addressing the impact of a great figure in musical theatre, a man who made significant contributions in the history of musical theatre, the Russian born and Jewish American Irving Berlin. I will address some important phases in his life. I will start by giving an overview of his early life and family. Also, I will be talking about his major initial works as a lyricist and composer and some of his major early contributions in musical theatre. Moreover, I will discuss how he was able to establish

established himself as potentially one of the world’s best drummers. Rich’s natural musical talent helped him bridge the gap from being a child prodigy to playing in major big bands.

Musicals are widespread and loved throughout the world. They have been around for a long time, but became popular after World War I, and impacted American culture greatly. Musicals came to America at the beginning of colonization (Mark Lubbock, p. 1). They were constantly a focal point, but made their big debut during World War I, when people staying at home needed happiness and entertainment. They were always big in other countries, including France and Britain, so it was not a surprise when they

A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concept albums become rock musicals. The world of musical theatre had late responded to the rock-and-roll revolution in comparison to Hollywood, which in the year 1956 assembled films such as Rock Around the Clock and Rock, Rock, Rock. While Broadway came out

Teachers Take A Trip Down Memory Lane Paramount Pictures motion picture film, Grease came out in 1978, and was a huge sensation for teens and young adults in the 1970’s. And now, Branham’s faculty is bringing back “old school” in Branham High School’s Faculty Musical, Grease. Although this romantic comedy musical with professional actors such as John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, Branham High School’s depiction of the smashing hit film with our faculty certainly proved itself to be the amusing and captivating

Keghan Delacenserie MUST0802 The Art of Listening Audio Critique #1 – Meredith Willson’s “Till There Was You” 1. Musical characteristics: a. Melody: After an eight-bar introduction where Marian explains why she finally decided to meet up with Harold, she starts singing an A melody: “There were bells…”. After she repeats the A melody with a different set of lyrics – “There were birds…” – she switches to a B melody: “And there was music…”. After one instance of the B melody, she returns to the A melody

choreographer and brought the audiences around the world a different viewed about dancing on the stage and in the film. And “Sweet Charity” was one of his first successful film that help him gained the Tony Award for Best Revival. The film “Sweet Charity” was directed and choreographed for Broadway by Bob Fosse starring his wife and muse Gwen Verdon alongside John McMattin. It was a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. There were over 20 dancers were performing

person who is playing piano, I choose “Yiruma”, an Asian pianist and composer, for my composer report. I didn’t know about him until I listened to his piece of music, “Kiss The Rain”. After learning his biography, I was not only impressed by his musical style but also historical impacts in the classical music industry. “Yiruma” is known as pianist and composer who lived South Korean. “Yiruma” is a stage name of Lee Ru-Ma, he got that name because its meaning, “ I shall achieve” in Korean. Yiruma

century, two forms of musical theatre were popular in Britain: ballad operas (like John Gay’s ‘The Beggar’s Opera’, 1728) and comic operas (like Balde’s ‘The Bohemian Girl’, 1845). Other musical theatre forms developed by the 19th century, such as music hall, melodrama, burlesque and vaudeville. This became popular because most London theatres were licensed only as music halls and couldn’t perform plays without music. The comic opera is argued to be the earliest form of the musical theatre we know today