Musical Theater
Opera and Musical
(Musical Theater tells a story through more than one discipline. It combines music, acting, and movement)
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Our own 2019 Jukebox Musical Production
Our own 2019 Jukebox Musical Production
ZOOMusical - Playbill - copy.pdfS2MUS-A - Save Me - Playbill.pdfS2MUS-E - Back To The Past - Playbill.pdfS2MUS-F - I'm A Survivor - Playbill.pdfOpera
Opera
Opera is a form of theater in which music has a leading role and the parts are taken by singers.[1] Such a "work" (the literal translation of "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist [2] and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costumes, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor.
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera)
Baroque and Classical Operas
Romantic and Modern Operas
For a more in-depth look, check out this Prezi presentation.
Funny how Bernstein explains what a recitative is.
Check out 10 of the most popular opera arias.
Musical
Musical
A Musical is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals.
These videos give you good overview of responsibilities in musical theater productions.
Opera vs. Musical
Opera vs. Musical
Differences between Musical and Opera
Differences between Musical and Opera
Key difference: Musical is a form of theatre that combines songs, acting, dancing and dialogue. Opera is an art form in which musicians perform a dramatic work in a theatre, combining words and music.
People often get confused with Musicals and Operas. Many a times, there are entertainment shows where artists will be making music, and people start thinking it to be an opera, but in fact it is a Musical. This article helps to easily differentiate between them.
Musical is a style of theatre where songs, dance, and dialogue are combined together to tell a story. In modern times, a musical can be a stage show or film or television show, which uses contemporary and popular music styles and dialogues to tell the story. The story and its emotional content: humor, pathos, love and anger, are communicated through words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment in a musical. Musicals are performed in theatres.
Dialogue is the main emphasis of a musical, which does contain music at times. The performer needs to be an actor first, then a singer and a dancer. Musicals are based on popular music, dance and contemporary dialogues. For a hit musical, three main things are said to be required: intelligence and style in writing, raw emotions in the story and the ability of a director to do something creative.
Opera is an art form where music is the main focus of the performance. Operas are widely considered to be as traditional. Musicians and the singers combine musical scores and texts, to narrate a story. Singing is the main emphasis of an opera. The performer needs to be a classically trained singer, who at times is also required to dance and rarely act. Few operas have dialogue too. In an opera, the singers are trained and the performer sings the story, in the language in which the original story was written. There are many prominent opera styles, like the Italian opera, Russian opera, French opera, and English–language opera. Each opera has its own distinct style.
(Source: http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-opera-and-musical)
With Opera:
Typically sung in a language other than English
The emphasis when casting roles is on the ability of the singer to sing the music in the role, not so much looks. This is changing a little bit due to operas being telecast more than they have been in the past, but overall, casting tends to be mostly color blind (unless the role specifically calls for a particular racial makeup, like the roles in Otello-but that isn't very common)and not as particular regarding the age of the singer.
Opera singers are trained to make a particular type of sound/tone when singing-they don't utilize other sounds when singing. Purity of tone in the entire vocal range is paramount in opera.
Acting isn't really as important as the singing-the emphasis in opera performance is on the ability to execute the difficult music well. If you are an amazing singer, but are a weak actor, that is forgiven more than the other way around.
Most of, if not all of the opera is sung, not spoken. The closest opera comes to dialogue would be what is called the recitatitve-a portion of the aria that is sung like speech. It is not exactly spoken, but the rhythm and speed the recitative is performed at has the feel of speech. It takes time to get the hang of it, especially if you don't speak the language the opera is written in.
Required vocal ranges for opera are much more extensive-a vocalist has to have at least two octaves of performance quality notes in order to sing the rep. Squeaking out a high C is not an option, the quality of the tone at the bottom and the top of the singer's range MUST be consistent.
Opera performances are typically not miked-the singers are expected to be able to project over an orchestra without any amplification.
With musicals:
Singers only have to worry about one language for the most part: English.
Casting is heavily dependent on the actor's look-the actor must look the role first and foremost. Whether they are the best singer for the role is a secondary consideration. This is changing somewhat with the move by directors and casting people to consider diversity in casting to give minority performers more options for performing, but it will be a long time if ever, before audiences see a black Maria for Sound of Music, or a white Bess for Porgy and Bess.
Acting is more important than the singing.
Singers can, and do, sing in various styles-they can sing like an opera singer (called legit singing) or they can be expected to belt (think Ethel Merman), or simply chat their way through a song without really singing it.
Spoken dialogue is part of a musical-not all of the musical is usually sung.
The music does not require as much of the singer technique wise, nor does it require the extended range that opera does.
Musical theater singers are typically miked when they sing.
(Source: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-main-differences-between-musicals-and-operas)
A GLOSSARY OF OPERA TERMS
A GLOSSARY OF OPERA TERMS
Act: An act is a division or unit of the opera.
Aria: Italian for ‘air’, an aria is the major vocal piece where one singer expresses feelings and showcases the voice. Called a “static” moment in the scene, an aria freezes the action of the plot to focus on the emotion or thought.
Chorus: A group of singers who perform the vital role of providing support to the principle singers. The chorus sets the scene and creates the mood for an opera, much like the way a Greek chorus furthers the plot and propels the action. It is composed of all voice ranges.
Duet: An aria composed for two. Two singers express their feelings to each other or to the audience.
Libretto: Italian for ‘little book,’ a libretto refers to the script of an opera, written by the librettist. There is much debate over which is written for which: libretto for the music, or vice versa!
Overture: An opera usually begins with an orchestral piece of music called the overture, which functions as an introduction to the opera. The overture generally includes themes that will be heard throughout the opera, and can be anywhere from five to twenty-five minutes long. Before 1800, house lights were not dimmed while the overture played, and audiences would continue to talk, drink, and even play cards. This changed in the 19th century when the overture began to take its place as an integral part of the operatic performance. Usually, at the end of the overture, the curtain rises and the story of the opera unfolds through a series of scenes, which are usually organized into acts.
Recitative: Speech-singing, where the singer semi-chants the words in rhythm of free speech. Recitative is used to further the plot (“kinetic”) or set up an aria and can be seen as a precursor to hip hop music and spoken word poetry.
Singspiel: A German term, a singspiel is a highly theatrical opera involving fantasy and has spoken dialogue between arias.
VOICE CATEGORIES AND TYPES
VOICE CATEGORIES AND TYPES
Bass: The lowest of the male voices.
Basso Buffo: Italian for “buffoon bass”, who plays comic roles.
Baritone: A middle-range male voice.
Castrati: Castrati flourished during the period 1650-1750 singing both male and female roles in the soprano range. Their popularity was due to the strength and flexibility of their voices.
Coloratura Soprano: Singer with the highest range of notes.
Contralto: The lowest range of the female voice, rich voice quality. Mezzo and Contralto singers are almost interchangeable, and for this reason we almost never hear of contraltos.
Countertenor: A male alto who trains his falsetto voice rather than the lower range. Countertenors specialize in parts originally written for castrati.
Haute Contre: The “high tenor” usually sings higher than the other tenor roles.
Helden Tenor: Literally a “heroic tenor” with a strong voice and great stamina.
Mezzo-Soprano: A middle-range female voice.
Soprano: Singer with a high range of notes. Lyric sopranos are light in quality while dramatic sopranos have a full rich tone.
Tenor: Has the highest range of notes of the male voices.
DANCE TERMS
DANCE TERMS
Corps de ballet: A group of dancers in a ballet company separate from soloists and principals.
Renaissance Dance: Renaissance dance was the first dance style to be recorded. The High Renaissance dates from approximately 1400 to 1600 although none of these periods can be pinned down to exact dates. Renaissance social dancing varied from lively group dances such as the Branle, to stately court dances such as the Pavane. Theatrical dances were often versions of social dances with complex patterns. The dances of the Commedia dell’Arte were very acrobatic in contrast to the court ballets.
Baroque Dance: The Baroque period 17th and 18th centuries developed both theatrical and court choreographic styles greatly due to the Academy of Dancing established during the 1660’s at the behest of Louis XIV. Many Baroque dances have come down to us through dance notation. The vocabulary of steps is huge and far more virtuosic than in earlier periods.
Early Ballet: Early ballet began to evolve out of Baroque toward the end of the 18th century. It shares many aesthetic principles with the Baroque but is also an attempt to reflect Greek and Roman antiquity due to the discoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Romantic Ballet: Romantic ballet (approximately 1830 – 1860) was a revolutionary change in aesthetic with story ballets and a change from Greek myths to European fairy tales as subject matter.
Classical Ballet: Classical ballet came after the Romantic and is characterized by brilliant virtuosic technique, the short tutu, and the predominance of the ballerina.
Pas de deux: A dance for two.
(Source: https://operaatelier.com/education/opera-lovers/about-the-art/glossary/)
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