MUL 2010 American Musical Theater
What would your musical be about?
My musical would revolve around election matters, especially voting rights and wrongs, with specific emphasis on the hardships the vulnerable experience when voting in person or by mail. Fulfilling this vision, we aim to raise the conscious awareness of this critical societal ailment through an art as popular as it is impactful: musical theatre.
What genre would your musical be? How would you decide this, and why?
The critical components in the musical would be elements of traditional classical composition and Jazz. Citizens struggling to vote were a target because classical music could help give voice to their suffering. Regarding parameters, Jazz might introduce more diversity and reflect the cultural heritage of some excluded minorities with voting restrictions. Such combined cinema direction would contribute to a much more layers approach to the subject matters that can be explored more profoundly and with less prejudice.
How would you combine music, dance, and spoken word to relay your message? Would you incorporate the elements from West Side Story that you find particularly compelling? Explain.
As in West Side Story, erasing the line between singing and speaking, I would choreograph music and lyrics, dance, and dramatic dialogue as various characters revealed their stance and expressed the central issue. Some of the segments that solution could be dramatized include dance numbers and music (Amazon MGM Studios, 2022). This would allow the characters to speak their story through spoken word and propel the movie's plot. Subqueues could differentiate groups, such as their approaches to song and dance, as in West Side Story. This is our grand and ambitious inspiration for creating a stunning, powerful, interdisciplinary piece of art based on the famous Nine to Five.
What would the music sound like? How would it portray your message?
It would feature lush orchestral pieces that evoke emotions of romance, nostalgia, passion, and adventure or organically incorporated jazz motifs. The classical would translate the severe consequence of disfranchisement, while Jazz would denote a culture of vitality despite limiting voting rights. Such a switch in musical genres effectively conveys the nature of conflict inherent in the given subject regarding sound and harmonization.
Who would the characters be?
It would probably feature main characters who are nonpolitical people who are attempting to vote with obstacles from institutional systems, secondary antagonists who are politicians, government officials, and proponents/ opponents of voting reform activism groups. This way, the different aspects needed will be covered, and the different angles surrounding the issue will be considered.
Would your musical be based on an earlier text? Why or why not? If so, which text?
Using it based on an existing work could have given a helpful narrative foundation. For example, it might be possible to analyze issues such as refugees, postcolonialism, and racism in immigration in relation to the plays of August Wilson or the poems of Langston Hughes. Incorporating it into the literature would lend credibility and establish its reputation in the academic community.
References
Amazon MGM Studios. (2022, April 12). WEST SIDE STORY (1961) | Official Trailer | MGM [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpKbrpPlExA&t=7s
