Do you refer to musicals as "plays" ? — Page 2

#26

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 3:35am

Agreed, it gets confusing when talking to people who refer to musicals as plays...at least in my mind, that automatically means no singing present. The recommendation thing has happened to me, too, where someone asks for a play recommendation and then they'll start listing musicals.

I think the cast recording/soundtrack thing is way more irksome, though...

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#27

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 3:39am

Sometimes I do but then I just correct myself.

#28

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 7:42am

I once stood behind someone in the very short TKTS "Plays Only" line who it turns out was looking for musical tickets. He asked me "Aren't musicals 'plays'?", to which I could only answer "Unfortunately not in Broadway-speak." I felt bad for him, but I do wonder what he thought that really, really long line next to us was for.

If the divide were play vs. musical, it would be less ambiguous. "Show" or, in this case, 'not a play' can be a bit vague for people not versed in Broadway-speak.

#29

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 7:52am

I typically call it what it is ~ a musical is a musical, a play is a play ~ but I don't give people (read: my parents) a hard time if they use the "wrong" term.

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#30

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 7:52am

I once stood behind someone in the very short TKTS "Plays Only" line

Hmm, never noticed the ambiguity there. I'm sure this happens 10 times a day. I wonder why they don't change the sign to:

Plays Only
(No Musicals)

#31

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 10:37am

Well, when there's a movie, like Hairspray for instance, you can't just say "musical," because both versions are musicals. Usually I use "musical play" or ".... onstage."

I refuse to call it a "stage show." It conjures images of Siegfried and Roy.

Usually I call them "shows," though...

#32

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 10:38am

Why wouldn't you say "movie" for the movie version? (Or in the case of Hairspray "remake" since that's really what it was.)

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Updated On: 7/8/08 at 10:38 AM

#33

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 1:47pm

I wouldn't consider the original Hairspray movie a musical. They're both movies, though.

#34

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 1:54pm

We have a local theatre critic who's been known to review musicals - calling them plays, and never once mentioning in the entire review that there was singing or dancing.

Then again, we've also had critics who, after reading in the program, "Book by Terrence McNally", put in their review that the musical was based on a novel by Terrence McNally.

Updated On: 7/8/08 at 01:54 PM

#35

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 2:00pm

I think it's just a matter of semantics. You can argue that a musical is a play that is sung. What the heck! Call it a play or call it a musical. Just go and see a show! As you become a regular patron, you will learn the proper term to use. Common usage often dictates what is proper. Just like "Houston" - the way you properly pronounce it depends on whether you are referring to the city in Texas or the street in Manhattan.

#36

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 5:09pm

Woah, TKTS has a Plays Only line? Brilliant! *notes that in her brain for future reference*

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#37

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 7:20pm

Yep. All the way over on the left.

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#38

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 9:14pm

I call musicals, musicals, and plays, plays but I agree that show is universal.

#39

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 9:20pm

Honestly, I always call musicals musicals when I'm with my friends and family who know me. But if I'm in a mixed group of people who don't know me, I always call them plays. It makes meeting women much easier if they don't assume you're not straight because you're mega into musicals.

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#40

re: Do you refer to musicals as

Posted: 7/8/08 at 10:55pm

"I wonder why they don't change the sign to: Plays Only
(No Musicals)"

Yes, they probably should. But they do seem to have 'traffic-wardens' who come around and explain the plays only line, but this guy had been in the line a significant while before the window opened, and the 'wardens' didn't start making announcements until right about when the windows opened, so the musicals line had grew a mile while he was in the wrong place. Oh, well for him.

#41

re: Do you refer to musicals, or not.

Posted: 7/9/08 at 1:16am

We generally call a non-video recording of a musical a cast recording; and a non-video recording of a movie a soundtrack.

What would you call such a recording of a play? Simply audio recording? And would it make a difference if each character part was presented by a different speaker, or if all parts were read by a single reader (with or without differing accents or inflection)?


p.s. At Les Miz tonight, at the Walnut Theatre in Philadelphia, two people stood toward the side of the stage and "signed" the entire production. If someone took a video of that, what would it be called?

#42

re: Do you refer to musicals, or not.

Posted: 7/25/08 at 8:53pm

I'm glad I'm not the only one! God, I HATE hearing audience members refer to musicals as 'plays' (and vice-versa). Anyone who thinks that the Complete Works of William Shakespeare belongs to the same genre as the works of Irving Berlin/Rogers & Hammerstein/Disney... is (usually) a tourist. And as most of my NY theatre experiences involve seeing popular/long-running SHOWS, I get REALLY embarrassed when I hear fellow audience members sounding like gauche, uneducated hippies.

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#43

re: Do you refer to musicals, or not.

Posted: 7/25/08 at 9:23pm

Don't worry, TonyVincent, I'm the same way.

#44

re: Do you refer to musicals, or not.

Posted: 7/25/08 at 10:01pm

I agree. But to me, show still implies musical, just because I watch musicals and rarely watch plays, so I'm typically saying show from my mouth= musical. But either works I suppose for those who see both more frequently.

and a play is definitely not a musical.

#45

re: Do you refer to musicals, or not.

Posted: 7/25/08 at 10:21pm

If you understand the simple definition of "play", then it should be very easy to understand that a musical IS a play. It is not incorrect to call it so.

Move on with your lives.

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#46

re: Do you refer to musicals, or not.

Posted: 7/25/08 at 10:34pm

Some I call a waste of three hours of my life.

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