Study the text and find out more about the two most famous music theatres.

Anna Faszcza The Power of Music and Dance

A

Big cities are usually places of culture with a wide variety of attractions to both residents and tourists. There are hundreds of must‑see and must‑go spots on their maps. One of the most specific and absolutely unique magnets for story and music lovers in each city is the musical theatremusical theatremusical theatre. Musicals are believed to be the only native American theatre forms that go back to the beginning of the 20th century.

B

In London, there are plenty of music theatres in the West End, which is located in a region in Central London, north of the River Thames. The district is home to several major entertainment venues, theatres, shops and businesses. Broadway, on the other hand, is located in the Theatre District and the Lincoln Centre, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Broadway and London’s West End together represent the highest commercial level of live theatre in the English‑speaking world. Generally, West End has more activity than Broadway, with more non‑musical plays being staged. West End also typically features greater experimentation and serious topics. Broadway features more musicals and family‑orientedfamily oriented showfamily‑oriented shows.

C

Musicals primarily use music and dance sequences to tell the story. The story is smoothly explained by means of strong expressions, lyricslyricslyrics and dance with any kind of music: hard rock, jazz, rap, classical and dance: from classical ballet, modern and tap dancetap dancetap dance. There wouldn’t be any gasps of admiration but for sound and light special effects. Today, modern technology offers more opportunities to the theatres to apply a more dynamic background or even a pyrotechnic explosionpyrotechnic explosionpyrotechnic explosion, for instance. Thanks to a multimedia projector, it is possible to design breathtaking effects that may change quickly if only needed during the show. That obviously saves time to prepare all the decorations and cuts the costs of the props.

D

The production of a musical is a huge financial undertakingfinancial undertakingfinancial undertaking. A producer is in charge of organising the event and fundraisingfundraising [fundraise] fundraising from the investors. Broadway musicals are financed by more than one investor on the principles of limited partnership. It is hard to imagine how many people are involved in the production of one musical. A music theatre wouldn’t exist without a team of musicians, the orchestraorchestraorchestra, in charge of which there is a conductorconductorconductor. A composercomposercomposer creates a scorescorescore for a particular show, which contains interludes and background music. Next, there must be a playwrightplaywrightplaywright with a scriptscriptscript and the rest: castcastcast, directorsdirectors [director]directors, choreographerschoreographers [choreographer]choreographers, scene‑paintersscene‑painters [scene‑painter]scene‑painters, light and sound operatorslight and sound operators [light and sound operator]light and sound operators, not to mention make‑up artistsmake‑up artistmake‑up artists and hair stylistshair stylists [hair stylist]hair stylists or costume designerscostume designers [costume designer]costume designers. The production ensembleensembleensemble must cooperate to be successful.

E

When the musical finally gets on the stage after long months of rehearsalsrehearsals [rehearsal]rehearsals, the audience looks forward to watching it. All the actors know their lines, music piecesmusic pieces [music piece]music pieces, and places on the stage. The main character is supposed to perform downstagedownstagedownstage in order to be near the audience and to be well seen by them, while supporting actors stand upstageupstageupstage. There are two more terms describing the location and direction in a theatre building; stage leftstage leftstage left and stage rightstage rightstage right where actors can be placed.

F

In spite of the enormous effort devoted, not every musical turns out to be a blockbusterblockbusterblockbuster, though. Some simply do not catch the interest of people and quickly disappear from the repertoirerepertoirerepertoire while some others achieve a long‑awaited and desired success. According to Reader’s Poll published in the Rolling Stone among the 10 best Musicals of All Times there is “West Side Story”, “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “Les Miserables”, “Cabaret” or “Hamilton”. Some of the most well‑known West End plays include, “The Mousetrap”, which also happens to be the longest‑runninglongest‑runninglongest‑running play in the world, “Les Miserables” and “The Lion King”.

G

Theatre districts are often packed and getting tickets at the box officebox officebox office for a blockbuster isn’t always easy. So, if you need a ticket for a famous musicalfamous musicals [famous musical]famous musical, you will have to arrange it well in advance to make sure you will enjoy the show.

1 Źródło: Anna Faszcza, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.