| Title | 6. Music Always Does Something |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | Analysing Musical Theatre |
| Contributor | Millie Taylor(author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0469.06 |
| Landing page | https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0469/chapters/10.11647/obp.0469.06 |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Millie Taylor |
| Publisher | Open Book Publishers |
| Published on | 2025-10-24 |
| Long abstract | Because of the interdisciplinary nature of musical theatre, researchers often put together a group of methods to create a framework within which to analyse a musical performance across disciplines. The strategy proposed in this chapter has three steps. First, consider the context within which the work was first created and analyse the conditions within which its performance was produced. Second, through analysis of chosen moments within the work, explore the ways in which the music, its signification, repetitions and genres, casts light on the narrative and characters. Third, reflect critically on the performance in relation to context, politics and theoretical frameworks. By analysing the recent Dutch production of Jesus Christ Superstar (directed by Ivo van Hove) using this method, it was possible to identify ways in which the musical narrative and the staged production presented different approaches to the work, such that the performance text appears unclear, and the press expressed criticism of the work. A second case study, a production of The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK, reveals a more cohesive political concept that can be discerned not just in the direction of the actors, but in the signification of music, voices, sounds and silence. |
| Page range | pp. 125–144 |
| Print length | 20 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
Millie Taylor holds the Van den Ende Chair of the Musical at the University of Amsterdam. After twenty years as a freelance musical director, during which time she worked on many musicals as diverse as West Side Story, The Rocky Horror Show, Little Shop of Horrors and Sweeney Todd, she switched to research and lecturing. Since then, she has written (or co-written or co-edited) eight books and numerous articles and chapters, mostly about musical theatre. She is currently working on the Second Edition of the textbook Studying Musical Theatre.