Question for Theatre Geeks - Professional or Not

[I'veGottaBeMe!]

Posted: 4/12/10 at 11:33pm

I thought this might be the perfect place to inquire:

I'm working on a short story that involves some musical theatre teenage performers (think Glee), and was wondering if you might know of terminology/dialogue that might be relevant? Like, really in the know, you know?

For example:

There was an episode of Glee, called: HAIROGRAPHY

Was that term created by the writers of Glee or had it already been common in the dance/theatre world?

I'm looking for stuff like that. One word like Hairography that could perhaps even influence a storyline or theme.

Anything funny, current, satirical, risqué, in-the-know... when it comes to musical theatre, dance, choreography, song, shows, singers, auditions, etc. Whatever!

Something you could see one of the kids on Glee roll off his or her tongue.

Anything you can think of would be helpful.

This is my definition of research. ha!

Thanks SO MUCH for your time. I really appreciate it!

~John

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 12:03am

I happen to be a teenage theater geek, and what I find from talking to others is that most people don't invent terms so much as compare people to famous performers. For example, one might say "she has Kristin Chenoweth vibrato" or "She swallowed Carol Channing, and Carol is trying to fight her way out of her throat". Also, there was a website I looked at a while ago called something along the lines of "Musical Theater Dictionary" that listed many terms that I could imagine some of my friends saying.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 5:44am

I think those things you are looking for are indicitive of individual groups. They all come up with their own "slang" and inside jokes. What my HS kids might coin wouldn't make sense to another group....unless it came up often while they were hanging around...and then it spreads to another group.


So...any help you get is NOT likely to be well spread. You'd almost need to develop things FOR your story. However, another thing LOTS of kids do is throw in quotes from recently seen or wildly popular shows and break into song when a known song cue is spoken out of context.

[I'veGottaBeMe!]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 2:03pm

Thanks to both of you SO MUCH. Your replies, especially AwesomeDanny's, have proven very helpful.

If anyone else would like to chime in, I'd love to hear.

With respect, John

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 11:40pm

There's a golden rule that most good writers adhere to: Never write about things you aren't completely familiar with unless you are Taylor Caldwell. Ms Caldwell was able to write historical novels that were pretty darn accurate even though she never did any serious research into their backgrounds.

Unless you are willing to fully immerse yourself in the lives of GLEE freaks, choose a milieu you are more familiar with. A few hints that you might pick up here will not be enough to give your story any authenticity.

Sincerely yours,

A 62 year old "Theatre Geek"