Aimee Ann Sexton

The Elements of Tragedy in Musicals

http://www.filmsite.org/wests3.html

Definitions:

          Musical (noun) – a stage, television or film production utilizing popular-style songs and dialogue to either tell a story (book musicals) and/or showcase the talents of varied performers (revues). (http://www.musicals101.com/musical.htm).

            Tragedy – The story begins with a problem that is significant to society, its leaders, or its representatives. The action consists of an attempt to discover the truth about the problem and to restore justice. The tragedy ends with the resolution of the problem and the restoration of justice, often accompanied by the death, banishment, or quieting of the tragic hero. (Dr. Craig White, Tragedy handout).

Example:

          West Side Story (1961) is based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This musical tells of the struggles and heartaches of two rival gangs in 1950 America.

Representational Genre:

            Musical = Narrator + Dialogue (spoken and song form)

Narrative Genre:

            Tragedy, Romance, Comedy

Subject Genre/Audience Appeal:

            Musical Theater, Off-Broadway, Disney Movies, Romance, Action, etc.

Identifiable highlights of genre in example:

          There is normal dialogue broken at times by dialogue in the form of music. The musical starts with a significant social and societal problem that the main characters strive to solve throughout. In the end the tragic hero dies and a form of justice is served.

Alternative names/related genres:

          Theater, opera, song, poetry, film, etc.

Additional examples of genre:

          Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon

Questions:

1.      Should we consider a new genre, Musical Tragedy?

2.      Do musicals with predominantly tragic elements seem more true to life or realistic than musicals with predominantly comic elements?

Discussion:

            Presenter: Should we consider a new genre, Musical Tragedy?

Student 1: I think there are. I mean there are happy go lucky, you know, romantic comedies. Even looking at her letter I thought about the comedic elements in Hamlet and that you can’t bear the tragedy of that. I mean, I guess you can bear the tragedy of Oedipus because that tragic element happened off stage, and we don’t see all of it, but in Hamlet, I mean, you need the clowns, you need the comedy, you need Ophelia and her flowers and all of that to even handle the your uncle killed your father and your mother married your uncle thing.

Presenter: I’ve seen Miss Saigon and you need the dancing and the music to even handle the weight of it.

Instructor: What was you example Kristi?

Kristi: Musicals as a Genre.

Instructor: Right, sorry about that.

Presenter: We are dealing with a message that is heavy. There is a message that is heavy, and I think that message parallels what we go through today. Maybe not exactly what we go through today, but some of the same: the gang killings, the violence, etc.

Instructor: Related to genre and opera; I thought that this reminded me of opera. Now we didn’t get that much music in that episode you showed but like that overture. You heard the overture in the background.

Presenter: Musicals are very much like operas.

Instructor: Operas are often tragic.

Presenter: Oh, yes. Do musicals with predominately tragic elements seem more true to life or realistic than musicals with predominately comic elements?

Student 2: I think they are still rather unrealistic. I don’t know about all that stuff. I just have a hard time buying it.

 Student 3: I think it manages to still hold the fantasy effect. It made it unreal. That you know two lovers are not going to start blurting out in a song. You just don’t do that. And that’s what I like about musicals – you have the fantasies.

Student 4: I’ve seen that musical and the thing about that song is that she already sang that song to him. She was reminding him of something before he died. They had sung that song to each other before.

Student 5: They were planning on going away together.

Instructor: That wasn’t their first performance.

Student 4: She thought of something they sang to each other in the past.

Instructor: Very romantic song too. That is very important on the romance genre, being the romance genre deals with transcendence.

Student 4: I think some people will go see musicals and some people won’t. For instance, I don’t like action movies and most people wonder how that is possible. But I think that when you go see a musical you need to know what it is about for the same reason you would go see a comedy or a romance.

Presenter: I think that with musicals you have to pick up a theme, the issue, more than what’s actually going on. It’s the issue that’s more realistic than what you are seeing.

Presenter: Because they are not doing the blood even though you know the guy got shot and died. Again it’s the issue, the problem and the way it’s solved.

Instructor: Kristi was the title of your presentation musicals or musical comedies?

Kristi: Musicals as a genre.

Instructor: I’m sorry for asking questions of Kristi, but when you say the word musicals you automatically think musical comedies or does it include this as well?

Kristi: I guess when I think of musicals I think of the singing, the dancing, the music, but I didn’t try to detail it into any type.

Presenter: A lot of times it’s the fun and frivolous ones that people think about. When you say, “Off the top of your head name a musical”, you are probably not going to name one of these. People are going to name musicals like Oklahoma or Grease or something like that.