if you had to choose...
if you had to choose...
if you had to choose...#0
Posted: 6/14/05 at 6:46pm
Which is better a play or a musical?
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
re: if you had to choose...#1
Posted: 6/14/05 at 6:53pm
It is like apples & oranges. You cannot compare the two. To tourists, it is musicals but to the true theatergoer, it is musicals & straight plays (drama & comedies)
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/04
re: if you had to choose...#2
Posted: 6/14/05 at 6:56pm
for me anyway, musicals.
there's just something about music - it can convey emotions that even the best actors can't get across using just words.
and yeah, it's unrealistic...but so is re-enacting a situation in front of hundreds of people watching you!
however - there are plays that i like better than most musicals and musicals that are worse than virtually any play....i really like both...but with my music background - i love that aspect of it.
basically, i love both! but i have a weakness for a good bartione...
Broadway Star Joined: 1/29/05
re: if you had to choose...#3
Posted: 6/14/05 at 7:00pmAs Mr. Roxy said: it's apples & oranges. Generally speaking, there's no way to compare them, but there are specific musicals that I would chose over specific straight plays, and vice versa.
re: if you had to choose...#4
Posted: 6/14/05 at 7:47pmI personally love being in musicals. But, I also love to see a good straight play.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/30/05
re: if you had to choose...#5
Posted: 6/14/05 at 8:03pm
"there's just something about music - it can convey emotions that even the best actors can't get across using just words. "
What? Well when they sing they are just expressing the words through song which i think can take the point away! Judy Dench practically spoke the whole of Send In The Clowns... if you heard her without the msuic i think it would be far more moving!
I would say i prefer to watch a decent musical but im a huge fan of gritty realism. An actor is supposed to make you beleive that you are watching real events (and unless your watching a very Brecht play) then you should be able to escape into the script. In plays they are often a lot more blunt and hard hitting. Musicals tend to sugar coat things and i don't beleive that's always a good thing. Theatre is something that used to used to inform people, kinda like the news. I love watching a really gritty play and have seen plays done in small theatres with next to no set and costume challenge any performance given on a Broadway stage. It's all about the material you've got to work with and the talent of the cast. However there are some very dull plays where a song or two would liven it up... but then there is works like Closer, Road, Find Me etc that just completely tear your heart about and make you think!
re: if you had to choose...#6
Posted: 6/14/05 at 9:01pmyou hit the nail right on the head BG i completely agree with that statement
Broadway Star Joined: 9/12/04
re: if you had to choose...#7
Posted: 6/14/05 at 9:31pmWhen I was younger, I would have said "a musical" with no hesitation at all, but old age (!) is forcing me to branch out(well, that and moving to the middle of nowhere!). I really appreciate a good presentation of Shakespeare now and am able enjoy the plays our regional theatre puts on. As has already been said though, it's really apples and oranges........
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