A Lyrical Stage

I guess I must have been 12 years old. Sitting in my school auditorium and watching the ‘Wizard of the Oz’. I got transported into a whole new world of storybook characters that completely intrigued me and left me mesmerized. The impact was such that when I came out of the hall, a few lines of the song sung by one of the characters got stuck in my mind and I still remember it.

Musical theatre, a larger than life genre, is full of theatrics, songs, costumes, multi-sensory props and dance. In the last century, it was seen as a great way of developing one’s imagination, creativity and communication skills. Nowadays, this form is popularly known as ‘musicals’. Theatre is believed to enhance one’s physical expressiveness, flexibility, co-ordination and musicality. Musicals were initially performed with the aim to highlight the troubles of the society and to boost the spirit of the youth during times of war.

Through music, movement and mime, passionate performers become imaginary characters enacting scenes from different fairy tale books and literature scripts. It’s a magical fusion of action, romance, melodrama, comedy and tragedy. This mode of the entertainment originated in North America and Britain and in time spread throughout the world. Creative heads like choreographer, music director and the director are mainly responsible for deciding the fate of a performance. Musical theatre involves a great deal of technical perfection. From lighting arrangement to costumes to stage properties to special effects, all enhance the impact of a performance.

The first portion of a musical tends to be longer than the second half where dialogues are generally exchanged through recitation of songs. Musicals are a very intricate art form. The performance involves more music and less verbal dialogue. Thus, it becomes a challenge for the lyricist to compress the emotions of verbal dialogue into an artistic song to be sung by an actor.

Through role playing and improvisation this art gives its performers an opportunity to display their spontaneity and on stage confidence. It’s one such art form where the actor concentrates not only on improving voice and rhythm, but also character development and movement. Musical theatre gives its followers an opportunity to explore the realm of the unknown that stimulates the mind and contributes to the overall development of a person.

-Priyanka Wali, Bespoken Words Team