Quarter 4 - music
MUSICAL PLAYS
Musical plays
The musical play is a popular and generally
lighter form of musical drama than the
opera.
The themes are usually more contemporary,
and the musical melodies are more
manageable by the average singer.
The acting is less intense and dramatic, and
the choreography and dance sequence s
provide entertaining breaks in the unfolding
plots.
BROADWAY AND WEST END MUSICALS
Musical plays are perhaps most widely associated
with the Broadway plays of New York and west end
productions in London.
Showboat – first major broadway musical in 1927
Many other themes:
Siamese royalty in The King and I
English aristocrat in My Fair Lady
Austrian history in The Sound of Music
Medieval English tragedy in Camelot
Interracial gang rivalry and romance in West Side Story
BROADWAY AND WEST END MUSICALS
Other Hit productions
South Pacific
Cabaret
Les Miserables
Phantom of the Opera
Miss Saigon
Cats
Lion King
Beauty and the Beast
Wicked
Mama Mia
BROADWAY AND WEST END MUSICALS
Lea Salonga – Filipino artist who attained superstar
status on both London’s West End and Broadway
- best know for her portrayal of Kim in the
musical Miss Saigon, a role which she won the
prestigious Tony Award for theater in the USA and
Laurence Olivier Award in London.
- also garnered the Drama Desk Award and
Outer Critics Award in the USA.
- the first Filipina who won so many
international awards for a single role.
Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon – is a musical by Claude-Michel
Schonberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Richard
Maltby Jr.
- it is modern adaptation of Giacomo Puccini’s opera
Madame Butterfly, which also tells the tragic tale of a
doomed romance involving an Asian woman who is
abandoned by her Caucasian lover.
- the setting of the plot is relocated to 1970’s Saigon in
Vietnam War, with Madame Butterfly’s love story between
an American lieutenant and a Japanese geisha modified
into a romance between and American soldier and a
Vietnamese bar girl.
The Phantom of the Opera
Is a broadway musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and
Richard Stilgoe, with lyrics by Charles Hart and music by
Lloyd Webber.
One of the longest running broadway musicals of all time.
The story focuses on a beautiful singer Christine Daae as
she is seduced by a mysterious disfigured musical genius
known as “the Phanton of the Opera”.
The phantom lives beneath the Paris opera House and
terrorize those who work there.
He demands that Christine be the star of the theather’s
production.
Les Miserables
Nicknamed “Les Mis” is a musical
composed in 19080 by French composer
Claude-Michel Boublil with libretto by Alain
Boublil, based on the novel Les Miserables
by Victor Hugo.
It is perhaps the most famous of all French
musicals and one of the most well-loved
musical performed worldwide.
Les Miserables
It tells a story of paroled convict Jean Vanjean who, failing
to attempt to find work as an honest man, breaks his chains
and conceals his identity in order to live his life again.
Characters on the story:
Inspector Javert – police inspector who becomes obsessed in finding
Valjean
Fantine – a single mother of Cosette, who is forced to become a prostitiute
to support her daughter
Marius – a French student who falls in love with Valjean’s adopted
daugther, Cosette
Epipone – the young daughter of Thenardiers who falls in love with
Marius.
The Thenadiers, who own an inn
Enjolras and other students who are working towards freeing the
oppressed lower class of France.
Philippine Musical Plays
In the Philippines, the musical plays is a
more recent development than its Broadway
and West End counterparts, relying most on
adaptations of novels, literary works, or
biographical sketches of famous artists.
Andres Bonifacio: Ang Dakilang Anak-Pawis
It is a five-act work comissioned by Alfonso
Puyat in 1979, depicting the life of
revolutionary hero Andres Bonifacio. Music
by Jerry Dadap.
Atang – Dulang may Musika
Written by Floy Quintos, directed by Alexander
Cortes, and with music by Von de Guzman, was
performed at UP Diliman in 2008 as part of the
Zarzuela Festival organized by the UP College of Arts
and Letters.
It is a musical based on the life of the first superstar
of the Philippines, Atang de la Rama
Katy!
Is about the life of bodabil star Katy de la Cruz.
It was initially presented by Actors Studio East
Production in 1988.
The music and musical arrangement were by
Nonong Buencamino, based on the book and lyrics of
Tony Perez
The play commissioned by Ryan Cayabyab for the
music, Jose Javier Reyes for the lyrics, and starred
Mitch Valdez in the title role.
Florante at Laura
The musical was presented by Tanghalang Pilipino at
the CCP Little Theater (Tanghalang Aurelio
Tolentino) from July 7-24, 1988 in celebration of the
200th birth annivesary of the author Francisco
Balagtas-Baltazar.
It was selected as the official Philippine entry to the
first ASEAN Theater Festiva in August 1988.
Daragang Magayon
A production for poetry and mixed media, portrays
the myth surrounding the origin of Bicol’s famed Mt.
Mayon.
It is based on a poem by Merlinda C. Bobis, and was
first presented at the Cultural Center of the
Philippines’ Loading Dock on March 1 and 2, 1991.
Noli Me Tangere
Was staged at the CCP Little Theater from February 1
to 4, 1996 as the production of Tanghalang Pilipino.
The creative team included Ryan Cayabyab as
composer and musical director, National Artist
Bienvenido Lumbera as Librettist, Edna Vida as
choreographer, National Artist Salvaodr Bernal as set
and costume designer, and Nonon Padilla as stage
director.
The musical play assumes a more contemporary
approach in the musical compositions owing to
Cayabyab’s chromatic and rhythmical innovative style.
