Musical theatre. The lights, make-up, costumes, dance routines..... It's all show business!

It's hard to pinpoint the first musical theatre (MT) show that was released but for more than a hundred years MT has been sensationally popular. New York's Broadway and London's West End make up a huge portion of the countries' tourism industry and attract people from all over the world!

Music and theatre have gone hand in hand for many generations and stage performers have often included songs in their plays and acts. In a classical sense, composers have written operas for even longer.

The accepted definition for musical theatre normally centres around the book musical. This is a play which has specific music written into its book (or script). The music is not optional and becomes completely integral to the story and drama of the performance.

• Rodgers and Hammerstein are perhaps the most famous musical theatre duo. Their shows really pioneered the book musical art form and they wrote musicals that dealt with more serious topics, showing how musical theatre wasn't just about fun and entertainment (e.g. Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific). "I Have Confidence" is not merely a song but a narrative or soliloquy told by Maria as she summons the courage to leave the abbey and become a governess.

• Stephen Sondheim was mentored by Oscar Hammerstein and created music and lyrics that were even more sophisticated and complex, allowing for such masterpieces as Sweeney Todd (a horror/thriller), Into the Woods (a complex re-telling of various fairy tales) and Sunday in the Park with George (which stems from a famous painting). Listen to the soothing ballad, "Not While I'm Around" from Sweeney Todd which features creepy dissonance reflecting the horror and violence of the story.

• Andrew Lloyd Webber has written music for a large number of shows (and is still going now!). His musical style brought about a number of very expensive shows that used advanced and sophisticated sets and mechanisms (e.g. the roller skating scenery of Starlight Express and the famous chandelier drop in Phantom of the Opera). His song "Music of the Night" from Phantom is one of his most famous tunes which is incredibly heartfelt and expressive.

• Modern musical theatre is being created all the time! Current stars include composers like Lin Manuel Miranda (In The Heights, Hamilton) and Pasek and Paul (The Greatest Showman, Dear Evan Hansen). Musical theatre has taken a lot of influence from rock/pop music in the last 20-30 years and this is evident in most contemporary musical theatre songs. "Never Ever Getting Rid of Me" uses lots of Country and Western styled musical features including the use of the slide guitar.

Sara Bareilles, who wrote the music for Waitress, is unfortunately one of just a few female composers in what has been a very male-dominated industry.

Wicked was originally a novel and was adapted for the stage in 2003 with music and lyrics written by Stephen Schwartz. It is a fictional back story of the well known Wizard of Oz that involves quite a few plot twists (but no spoilers here!).

The central two characters are Elphaba and Glinda. They eventually become the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of the North. The musical starts before the events of The Wizard of Oz, when Elphaba and Glinda meet at college.

Their first song together is "Popular" and it is sung soon after they meet highlighting the fact that Glinda relies on her looks to enjoy life and that Elphaba (through being green!) is a recluse who enjoys working hard.

The set work, "Defying Gravity", comes at the end of the first act and is sung by the two characters. They have met the famous wizard of Oz and found out that he is not going to help them, as they were hoping.

Elphaba is determined to fight and stand up for what she thinks is right in the world. Glinda is not so sure and feels like they should go back to their normal lives.

Over the course of the song they agree to go their separate ways.

Reading the lyrics below, you can see how well Schwartz has not just written a song to reflect one particular emotion, but takes the audience through the characters' states of argumentative frenzy, angry exclamation, determination, acceptance and excitement. At the very end, the ensemble or chorus sing to show their fear and resentment of Elphaba who - in their eyes - has become a wicked witch.

This set work is all about understanding how these various emotions are supported by the music in a musical theatre context.

Scroll further down for the song lyrics.

Accent, added note chord, alla breve, allegro, andante, arch-shape, ascending, augmented chord, bitonal, book musical, belt, bridge, caesura, call and response, chordal, chorus, chromatic, close harmony, coda, colla voce, comping, contrary motion, crescendo, cut time, diminuendo, disjunct, dissonance, dominant 7th, dotted rhythm, fermata, forte (f), fortissimo (ff), homophonic, hook, introduction, inversion, legato, leitmotif, maestoso, melody and accompaniment, mezzoforte (mf), mezzopiano (mp), moderato, motif, ostinato, parallel motion, perfect cadence, piano (p), pizzicato, polyphonic, push rhythm, rallentando, recitative, reprise, reverb, scalic, semiquaver, sforzando (sfz), slash chord, slur, stabs, staccato, stepwise, subito forte (sf), syncopated, tessitura, transition, tremolo, triadic, triplet, underscore, unison, verse

[Having] acceptance, agitated, all-embracing, [having a sense of] amazement, ambitious, angry, [having a sense of] anguish, [having a sense of] anticipation, argumentative, aspirational, assertive, [having a sense of] awe, [having a sense of] bewilderment, bold, broad, calming, catchy, [having a sense of] certainty, clashing, climactic, colossal, conclusive, confident, contemplative, contrasting, [having] conviction, determined, disjointed, disorientating, distinctive, dramatic, dreamy, [having a sense of] drive, ecstatic, emotional, energetic, epic, exciting, exhilarating, expansive, expressive, [having a sense of] fear, fiery, firm, [having a sense of] grandeur, hazy, heartfelt, heroic, hesitant, hopeful, hypnotic, imploring, intense, intimate, intriguing, jolting, lofty, magical, mellow, [having] momentum, mysterious, mystical, nervousness, noticeable, oppositional, persistent, reassuring, recognisable, relentless, [having a sense of] resentment, restless, reticent, retrospective, rich, salient, self-assured, smooth, sophisticated, sparkly, spiteful, stable, still, stormy, strong, subdued, supportive, suspenseful, sympathetic, tender, tense, thoughtful, turbulent, [having a sense of] turmoil, unexpected, unlimited, unsettled, unsure, [having a sense of] urgency, valiant, varied, warm, weird, [having a sense of] wonder