Musical is a comprehensive stage art. On the whole, its components include almost all the existing art varieties in the world today-from literature, drama, poetry, music, dance, sculpture, painting and architecture to humorous art, comedy performance and acousto-optic art, and even movies, acrobatics and magic.
Music is highly integrated with these different aesthetic categories, different aesthetic ways and different artistic charms. Provide the audience with a comprehensive theater aesthetic effect that is not limited by time and space, pays equal attention to hearing and vision, and has both expression and modeling.
Characteristics of musicals
First, comprehensive.
Musical drama is an organic combination of music, dance, performance (especially drama performance) and other artistic forms. Music created to express stage stories usually combines various forms and styles, especially opera, operetta and jazz.
Second, modernity.
Musicals no longer use traditional music and dance and simple stage techniques. First of all, in music, we no longer insist on bel canto, but use the singing method that best meets the needs of contemporary audiences. Therefore, there were musicals dominated by jazz in the early days, followed by musicals of rock music and country music. In a word, the style is very modern. In terms of dance, there are not only American tap dances in the past, but also many modern dance languages such as ballet movements and gymnastics movements. At the same time, the stage technology is also very modern, and some advanced technologies in setting skills, impressions and lighting have entered the stage of musical.
Third, diversity.
Musical music is no longer confined to a single art form, which can be seen from its classical singing and various popular singing methods. The theme of musical is from ancient times to modern times, from light comedy to heavy comedy, from science fiction to myth. Music is also eclectic and is not bound by any formulaic model. Music traditions include jazz, rock music, country music, disco, soul music and large-scale mixed music. Some like opera, some like operetta and some like vaudeville. Dance is also a variety of genres, colorful.
Fourth, flexibility.
The creation and performance of musicals are not dogmatic, but bold. In music creation, musical instrument accompaniment and language selection, it is innovative and based on market demand, and is not limited by tradition. Formally, Broadway musicals are influenced by the tradition of musical comedy, and there are more cheerful comedy themes. Of course, there are also some heavyweight tragic works, such as Phantom of the Opera House, Miss Saigon and Les Miserables.
Verbs (short for verb) are highly commercialized.
Musical is a popular form of entertainment, and its development to such a large scale today depends on excellent commercial operation. Musicals attach great importance to organizing musicians, producers and commercial organizations in the form of companies. Musicals are outstanding in dealing with all kinds of copyrights. Musical drama is an image product of stage performance that is not easy to sell, and it will only be put on the screen when it is performed to a certain extent. It is subdivided and commercialized in copyright processing, and economic benefits are placed in a very prominent position in the production process and when hiring actors. I think this also reflects the needs of the audience.